How do you define innovation? 

We focus on a definition of innovation that looks at the impact footprint of the innovative output and outcomes than on the technical innovation definition. In that sense, we believe that any new or novel product or service, process or way of delivering these to communities could be an innovation. This can be incremental or disruptive, but more importantly, for us to focus on this innovation, it needs to intervene at the intersection of three dimensions – the sustainable, inclusive and commercial transformation arena.

The reason for this focus is that, for too long, we have primarily seen these agendas as entirely separate, prioritising commercially viable innovation and seeing the sustainable & inclusive negative results be treated as externalities to be managed by a civil society sector that is usually underfunded and often limited in its risk and innovation management capacity.  It is time to unleash the fantastic ingenuity & innovation capacity of people on the most important innovation challenge of our time – building a world that is just, sustainable and economically viable for people and planet. And many solutions are already underway!

Impact Hub uses the SDGs as a lens when building entrepreneurial communities. How does innovation bring about transformational impact?

Innovation usually stems from a challenge, chance, curiosity or a new relationship. And in order to be effective at channeling innovation towards the achievement of SDGs, we need to follow its natural pathway.

Impact Hub approaches this through offering both a structured offering – i.e. programs for innovation generation, testing and scaling alongside innovation principles and methodologies we developed over the years with various types of public and corporate partners. A few examples include the WWF & Impact Hub innovation processes on topics like Food, Community Enterprises or Finance, the www.socialchallenges.eu or corporate innovation processes with partners such as Roche (Health), IKEA (Food) or Go Daddy (BAME communities). But also, through an unstructured approach that allows serendipitous connections and chance encounters to happen, through our community and innovation space offering where change makers from all walks of life can meet, learn, connect and innovate together. Both offerings happen in a setting of inspiration, connection and enablement around the three dimensions of sustainable, inclusive and commercial transformation, hence, building the bridge towards the SDGs.

How has the experience been running an impact-first incubator?

We are currently delivering over 200 entrepreneur support programs a year in over 60 countries around the world. Over the years, we have codified methodologies and tools for effective impact first ideation, incubation, acceleration and scaling. Check out some examples in our latest Impact Report.

Impact first incubation is a practice and discipline that is still evolving and, often, it is a difficult process in managing the tension between the impact focus of an initiative and getting to a viable revenue model that can sustain the impact prioritisation when at scale. It is also particularly difficult when the financing landscape in many contexts does not prioritise impact, is mostly risk averse and usually biased towards initiatives led by non-minoritised backgrounds. However, interventions that are successful usually bring the market and user/customer testing perspective first; focus on revenue generation models alongside definitions of impact models; and offer both financial (impact outcomes focused financing) and non-financial support (coaching, mentoring, peer support, technical expertise and supportive community).

What makes an individual innovative and what’s your advice for budding entrepreneurs who want to make a difference?

We are on a mission to bust the myth of the hero innovator or the myth of innovation mainly stemming from technological or commercial endeavours. We strongly believe in the ability of everyone to be innovative, just by the simple imaginative capacity we all possess!  And in particular, when the focus of innovation is our everyday reality - the social, environmental and economic issues we face day to day. For us to achieve the SDGs, we need a mass transformation. Whilst we need pioneers to show some of the possible pathways, we need even more entrepreneurs who empower communities to innovate and take control of their own sustainable, inclusive and economically viable development.

So, in short, our advice for budding entrepreneurs is to channel their talent to real needs in their communities, explore creative impact solutions – either local or international – alongside their communities and build effective teams around them that can sustain the growth of the initiative beyond its start.

What are some examples of positive transformation that you’ve seen through innovative practices?

We have spent the last 15 years working with impact entrepreneurs that are building a more just and sustainable world and have connected them through a 16,500 strong network spanning 59 countries. Our global community and support programs have shown us how the post-pandemic world can address the two most urgent global issues of our time: inequality and climate change. HearX, for example, is providing smart hearing health solutions accessible for everyone; while Syzygy Plasmonics is revolutionizing the industrial gas, chemical, and energy industries to reduce environmental harm; Piipee eliminates in 100% water usage in urination and cost less than the flush and Impact Terra is a free online platform and app reaching 2.5 mio+ smallholder farmers in 95% of townships in Myanmar.

What’s one thing we can do every day to practice innovation with a positive impact?

Engage in our communities to understand, feel and connect with needs that we and others have for innovation. Take the risk to try something (anything!) new to get comfortable beyond your current comfort zone – that’s where innovation lives.