Developing Knowledge to Achieve Deeper Impact

Synergies:

  • Employ market research to deepen our understanding of social clients' needs and wants as well as mainstream market players' roles and responsibilities in perpetuating and solving the social problem.
  • Leverage R&D activities to develop appropriate technology that better fits social clients' abilities, needs and wants (e.g. development of specialized equipment).
  • Leverage R&D activities to develop mainstream processes that support the use of mission-strengthening resources (use of eco-renewable resources, social clients as workforce, etc.).

Tensions:

  • Be wary of one-size-fits-all streamlined technology solutions as they might prevent harder-to-reach clients from being served.
  • Be vigilant not to fall for the innovation smokescreen (“new is better”) while failing to take your core stakeholders along with you.