Discussion on innovation-exchange-concept

[dwi...@edf.org]

I'm curious about reactions to the "Leveraging EDF" graph. Do these
three layers - representing the direct partnerships that EDF has with
companies, increased outreach for the products from those
partnerships, and then a broader global networking role - make sense?
What can or should the relative impact and growth in impact be - how
should we prioritize? You can play with spreadsheet here.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pPg8h5Oj4SJBDmkkLn0KtAA

[Dennis D. McDonald in Alexandria Virginia]

Dave-

As an outsider without much knowledge of the inner workings of EDF,
and without familiarity with the key players (I don't know who Tom
Murray is, for example), I have hard time following some of the
specifics.

The impression I am developing is that the Exchange has two objectives
-- create intellectual property related to EDF goals, and build a
network of individuals who can connect EDF with businesses.

These are clearly closely related to existing EDF programs, so I would
first need to know what these programs are and how the Exchange
relates to them in order to be able to evaluate any strategy that
explicitly incorporates the Exchange. Also, I'm not sure how this
Google Group relates to the EDF Blog or the EDF web site as a whole.
For example, is this Google Group to be the focus for developing the
network of individuals, and are EDF staffers and writers already
members of this group?

-Dennis

[dwi...@edf.org]

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for taking a look. I'm sorry the site it too "inside
baseball." I'll work to improve that. The Innovation Exchange is
focused on a public good, to "Facilitate rapid and widespread adoption
of environmental innovation in business." The assumption is that,
while business will tend to get more environment-friendly with changes
in public policy and social demands, this won't happen rapidly enough
to respond to pressing environmental demands without additional
intervention.

You identified two main assets EDF is hoping to use. We do have a lot
of applied experience making positive change in business and want to
make sure this experience is reusable. We also want to build a network
of people interested in green innovation for business. Not so much to
connect us to business (though that is good too) as it is to grow the
influence of these ideas beyond our direct contacts. We think the
scale of the environmental issues we are facing is so big that we must
have widespread, distributed, engagement.

This google group is intended to discuss the best approach for
accelerating and expanding green innovation in business. It is
explicitely to inform what EDF will do with the Innovation Exchange
project and to identify a cohort of advisors and partners we can work
with. EDF staff is participating in this forum. We also welcome
other groups involved in the green business realm (there are many) to
contribute their own niches and needs. We figure we're working on a
big public goods problem and the best way to address it is openly with
intent to partner.

Does this make the problem any more tractable for you?

dave



On Apr 29, 5:24 pm, "Dennis D. McDonald in Alexandria Virginia"

[Marla]

Dave,

It seems that the goal of the Innovation Exchange is to use the close-
knit family of EDF's current relationships as the seed for a larger
open community that can share intellectual and social capital within
the domain of environment-friendly business innovation.

My first question is: who is already doing this? Every brand always
wants to reinvent the wheel for the benefit of the world and their
brand, but sometimes it is better to find someone who is already doing
this and go help make them successful instead of competing for a piece
of the same audience of innovators. There are ways to do that without
sacrificing the benefit to the EDF brand.

Next observation is that your related activities (Narrate our work,
Share our learning, Build our direct network) are all direct and free
benefits of working in the open. That is a scary idea to some
businesses at first, but it should not be and EDF seems in a perfect
position to sell this idea as win-win in every possible direction.
Maybe you already do work in the open? To me that would mean
narrating your work while it is happening. Put as much actual content
in the open as possible, but at the least, have the key players (in
the family) blogging about the work as it is happening. That would
have much more impact than after-the-fact stories, though those also
have value as a more polished and scoped story of what happened.
Heck, you could have people following your work online as closely as
they follow their favorite reality TV show! You could even do regular
video casts or podcasts.

A successful online community has two sets of participants: readers
and contributors. You need a steady stream of useful information to
make the readers keep coming back, and a compelling opportunity for
conversation that will entice the contributors to participate in
discussions or actual work within your community, rather than spending
their effort elsewhere. EDF probably already has a large reading
audience coming to its blog and website. For the contributors, what
do you imagine them doing, contributing, at the EDF Innovation
Exchange?

Marla