Erik Micheelsen on Simple Systems Innovation

CK Prahalad has made a brilliant point about the bottom the pyramid, which is that the 4 billion poorest people of the world who live for less that 2$ a day should not be seen as victims. Look instead at them as tomorrows middleclass.

This argues for business in the developed world to work on innovation from the point of view of aiming at third world needs. Obviously, looking to new and emerging global markets is attractive. But where is the gateway? And what are the steps to adressing these kind of markets? Today, the best answer is still CSR or CSI, using for instance UN’s Global Compact program.

The CareCubicle program looks at the whole of this topic pragmatically from a very different point of view. The CareCubicle team is really looking forward to show you how it works, which should be sometime next year.

What we want to show is how you can make a web based program that asks the people with the need to state the needs. Most likely through NGO’s or other help organizations.

Then have ordinary people and specialists called upon to build amazing social innovations right there on the internet! This has not been seen before.

And through a whole new micro-investment model; have the design of the innovations listed in such a way that businesses can pitch in with tangible resources to bring those innovations into reality.

Now, when the local population is involved in implementing those innovations, we have a bottom of the pyramid strategy. But why stop there with something good when we can something that can be astonishing.

The thing is that this kind of thinking is of a world that is evaporating before our very eyes. It is the idea of capitalism 1.0 and the idea of “us” versus “them. Today, things are different. I’ll save that discription for a later post. Here, I’ll just note that they have knowledge and knowhow that so far has been just as inaccessible as ours has been to them.

Business wise, the question from the developed question has always been how to argue bottom line for such a strategy. I wont say that it has been left unanswered because that is simply not true. The consequence for business venture is a “fend and figure it out for yourself” situation.

This is where CareCubicle is really interesting. We argue that once a social innovation has been delivered by a combined effort of businesses, organisations and network of individuals – the same innovations can be re-designed to address premium markets. And the network that helped innovate the social innovation is still there to co-design and turn that social innovation into products and services.

A quick example. Let’s say someone comes up with a whole new tent/habitat for refugees. Energy producing, water preserving etc. Now let’s re-design it; We could aim at traditional campers. We could also aim at wilderness campers and certainly extreme exploreres (mountain climbers or trips to the north pole etc).

This is just the beginning. We have many many many very practicle ideas we think will make heads spin. What we would like to say now is that Bottom of the Pyramid strategies are no longer about THEM buying our stuff. They are about all of us combining efforts to create a whole new level of social innovations.

I heard that Barack Obama wants to rebuild the US with new infrastructure. Here’s my guess: I don’t think that anyone truly gets how brilliant that idea is and I’ll tell you why.

Infrastructure either makes things easier or makes things possible. I lived in London for a number of years and there comes a point where you suddenly see and hear that the London infrastructure either works brilliantly or quite like a 3rd world country.

The Tube can transport several million people during rush hour from zone 5 and beyond into the centre of the city. The electrical grid is ALWAYS on. You can ALWAYS count on water schrrrraaaachhhh! Weeeell no you can’t. I remember one Christmas while living on Charleston Street (W1), it was minus 6 degrees and I had NO water. The pipes had frozen. Actually, they had frozen all over the city. And when the broke, there was water everywhere. What a mess.

Now, what about Banks? In the Simple Systems description; Banks are a societal “accelerator”. Not unlike irrigation in ancient Egypt, roman roads or schools, they ensure the structure that allows extra-ordinary wealth. Until the administrators forget their societal “accelerator” role and turn the “accelerator” into a “business”. These kind of businesses will always be a monopoly and leave the whole of the society handicapped. Not because such “accelerators” have a business role but because they loose their infrastructural role.

That’s what Obama has seen. Building the US with infrastructure is not just about re-building smoldering bridges but doing so with new materials. new distribution systems, incorporating smart systems and much more. Any of these infrastructures from idea to delivery represents a value chain and as such can be exported.

I think we’ve all come to like the idea of Clean-Tech but we’ve also come to recognise it as a hype concept. Any Clean-Tech must be a part of an “accelerator” and can not be a business by itself. If it is possible to incapsulate what ever total package a Clean-Tech is a part of, well, that’s a different matter.

You see, if you go the other way around and define what Total Package you are looking for, you’ll find out that you might have some of the ingredients but you might need something else, something different, something innovative.

Ultimately, this is what CareCubicle is about. Considering any local need with a local community value proposition – what Total Package can deliver THAT value. The position is that if you can deliver that value you can be sure that many many others have the same basic need. It’s a brilliant suggestion and it will work.

We’ve got all the climate innovation workshops set up for the next four months and this is going to be a blast! There’s just one thing I want to add – this is about making infrastructures due to the change of our climate, because new technologies make new things possible and because the way we are going to innovate these infrastructures is with such a radical approach that it’s worth introducing to the world.

Have a look at CareCubicle.

I’ve got LOADS for ya! I’ve been working non-stop for three years on new tools, methods, approaches especially for innovation on the internet. One road kept leading to another but I guess I’ve made full circle. I’ll be focusing on climate innovations and a brand new project my team is designing called CareCubicle. It’s a full web based “Bottom of the Pyramid” program and I’ll be going through it in detail over the next months as well.