![]() What we’re trying to do with Search is to make sure the same rigor and critical thought is applied to our strategies from the outset. How does this process differ from or improve upon what was done before?ĬJ: For years, philanthropy has dedicated an enormous amount of resources to evaluating the impact of specific grants after the fact. For now, we are looking at the enabling environment-is there evidence of cross-pollination, e.g., are ideas being shared or replicated across actors, sectors, or geographies? What’s the innovation capacity? Are there active change-makers around or organizations that are capable of testing or scaling innovations? And what’s the institutional environment? Are there legal, policy, or business structures in place that promote or hinder innovation in this area? We have adopted approaches that assess innovation potential at a national level or at an organizational level, but will support further research in the future to refine our frameworks. How do you assess the potential for innovation in a particular problem space?ĬJ: There is very little research that has focused on how to measure innovation potential in a sector with regard to a problem space, so we are really entering new territory here. Through this process, we often find connections and inter-relations among several trends that surface across problem spaces. ![]() We identify problem spaces based on a wide range of inputs, using broad, sweeping horizon-scanning activities, alongside secondary research, expert interviews, and the work Rockefeller has done to date. For example, if our central problem is food waste and spoilage, we must also think about farmers’ limited access to finance and reliable buyers for their crops-those are part of the problem space. “Before we can solve a problem, we need to know exactly what the problem is, and we should put a good amount of thinking and resources into understanding it.“Īnd so, “problem space” is just a fancy phrase for the framework through which we study a particular challenge, which includes a number of interlinking and underlying issues that must be addressed in order to find a solution. And because today’s problems are so complex, we know they can’t be solved by being broken down into specific components. ![]() This approach is deeply embedded into our process: Before we can solve a problem, we need to know exactly what the problem is, and we should put a good amount of thinking and resources into understanding it. In a conversation with Insights, Juech talks of how searches are framed, why the process is unique, and the team’s guiding motto.Įvery search is framed around an identified set of “problem spaces.” How does The Rockefeller Foundation define a problem space?ĬJ: Albert Einstein, a Rockefeller Foundation grantee, said “given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.” And that’s exactly what you’ll find in the pages to follow and the additional resources offered online at /insights. To do so, under the care of managing director Claudia Juech, who joined in 2007, the Foundation developed a highly strategic, analytical search process appropriately, and fondly, referred to as “Search.” In 2012–13, Juech’s strategic research team led 11 topic searches, which involved coordinating internal staff, consultants, and nearly 200 outside experts.īut the process is not as important as its outputs, and whether or not the Foundation decided to deploy funding into a particular space, the research yielded insights that could benefit the entire social impact field. This transformation would require the Foundation to re-think its entire strategy model, from the issues it focused on, to the process of finding, testing, and funding solutions. When Judith Rodin took over as president of The Rockefeller Foundation in 2005, she had a vision to re-imagine how the Foundation understood and intervened in the pressing challenges that confronted a 21st-century world. “Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.” ~ Albert Einstein
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