Honored to have delivered, Keynote Address at the 73 National Foundry Day Celebrations of IIF Southern Region, hosted by IIF Chennai Chapter.

Innovation

Innovation need not be an invention, it’s a myth. Innovation can be incremental too. Innovation is heralded, when it is disruptive. the new displaces the old, economic growth comes with social cost of displacement as a new market is created within existing industry boundaries. Focus is on technology innovation. However, in nondisruptive creation the economic growth comes without social cost of displacement as a new market is created outside or beyond existing industry boundaries. Focus on value innovation. Innovation should come with humanness in the process.

Innovation and beyond …

Design Thinking is a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity - Tim Brown. Design thinking offers a framework that, reorients mindset from “what can I do next” to “where do users need help the most” approach. Design thinking offers solutions that are beyond incremental but not necessarily disruptive.

Design Thinking Principles are fundamental ideas or general rules that are true regardless of the circumstances, propositions that serve as the foundation for design thinking. Human Centered Design - empathizing with end users. Embrace Ambiguity & Diversity - accepting uncertainty as a reality. Openness to Radical Collaboration - learning from diverse perspectives. Co-create Impactful Solutions - promoting emotional engagement. Implement & Iteratively Improvise - pro-actively working on perceived shortcomings.

Design Thinking Practices are action’s, tools, techniques or process by which the expected outcomes of the principles are achieved. Empathy Map - a 2x2 matrix, explores what the user is saying, doing, thinking, and feeling [includes pains and gains]. User Personas - characterization of a user who represents a segment of the target audience. How Might We - crafting actionable statements by pre-fixing ‘How Might We’. Business Model Canvas - describes how an organization generates value for its customers from across various dimensions of the enterprise. Value Proposition Canvas - describes how well an organization’s products and services fit the market. Other Practices are – Journey maps, Storyboarding, Interviewing, Brainstorming, Affinity diagrams, Morphological analysis and Raskar’s hexagon.

Stanford d-School’s framework. Empathize - Understanding who we are designing for and what is important to them. Define - Summarizing outcomes from empathize stage into meaningful user requirements. Ideate - Exploring various solution options and generate as many as possible unique ideas. Prototype - Bringing the user close to the final product by giving it a real-life feel. Testing - Taking the product / solution to the end users for evaluation.

Design thinking with all its credentials, however is still an Industry 4.0 play. 2020 saw the rise of Industry 5.0 which is all about Personalization, it’s not another revolution, it’s a complement or correction to Industry 4.0 focusing on a human-centric, sustainable and resilient industry. Design thinkers are now embracing this reality and are extending human centered design to humanity centered design, Thinking humanity.

Innovation and beyond … Think Humanity

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership.

Illustration of Design Thinking applied to E, S & G, leveraging the Standford d-School Framework for SDG #9.

The Goal reads - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. Target 9.3 - Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, particularly in developing countries, to financial services including affordable credit and their integration into value chains and markets. Indicator 9.3.2 - Proportion of small-scale industries with a loan or line of credit.

Empathy – The relevant Principle is Human Centered Design. Related Practice is Empathy Maps. Key activity is Needs Assessment. SDG 9 | 9.3 | 9.3.2?? - Understand the existing SMEs and economic activity in the community, Prepare Empathy Maps for SME Owners, Financial Service Providers.

Define - The relevant Principle is Embrace Ambiguity & Diversity. Related Practice is User Personas. Key activity is Baselining. SDG 9 | 9.3 | 9.3.2???? - Baseline financial services available for SMEs across the value chain. Prepare User personas for all stakeholders.

Ideate - The relevant Principle is Openness to Radical Collaboration. Related Practice is How Might We. Key activity is Interventions. SDG 9 | 9.3 | 9.3.2 - Ideate on How Might We increase line of credit to SMEs.

Prototype - The relevant Principle is Co-create Impactful Solutions. Related Practice is Business Model Canvas. Key activity is Evaluate Outcomes. SDG 9 | 9.3 | 9.3.2 - Plot outcomes on Business model canvas to get a holistic perspective.

Test - The relevant Principle is Implement & Iteratively Improvise. Related Practice is Value Proposition Canvas. Key activity is Measure & Monitor. SDG 9 | 9.3 | 9.3.2 - Measure gains from intended outcomes. Monitor for unintended outcomes, if any.

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