One the final sessions of the SB '15 London conference on Wednesday saw Mandar Apte, engineer, Social Innovation Expert and GameChanger at Shell, facilitate a workshop about social innovation inside large organizations like Shell and how this empowers the employees and the community at large.
Apte started the session by demonstrating the power of the relationship economy. He drove home the idea that in this world of instigating innovation, it is important to build relationships.
“An idea can come from anywhere, and whether you recognize that as a brilliant innovation depends on your state of mind. If a person senses you are ignoring or criticizing them, they will not speak to you again. Engage with everyone - you never know how you can help each other,” he said.
Eric Cornelissen, the Swellflex Shell GameChanger, was visiting a toyshop in San Francisco when he saw a toy that swells to six times its original volume once immersed in water. This inspired him to use swellables for oil well applications. Ideas can come from anywhere.
The Shell GameChanger Program
The Shell GameChanger program started in 2010. They look for innovators with radical ideas that others call “too risky” or “too weird,” could be worth investing in. The open innovation incubator helps develop these “revolutionary disruptive ideas” and bring them to life. The concepts have the potential to drastically impact the future of energy.
Apte developed the Shell GameChanger program after receiving the Ashoka‘League of Intrapreneurs’ award for ‘EMPOWER’ a program where over 2000 Shell employees experienced capacity building and innovation through the practice of meditation.
Can Meditation Lead to Innovation?
“Radical innovation is about mindset,” said Apte. He developed the innovation programme based around the culture of innovation using meditation techniques as an instigator to trigger people’s innovation abilities.
This could inspire other people to be Social Intrapreneurs within their own organizations. Social intrapreneurs are changemakers, people who can see beyond the way the company functions and creates value and can see new opportunities to scale social impact within and through their position in larger organization.
Who are the Radical Innovators?
Apte introduced the audience to the story of Apopo NGO– who train rats in Tanzania to detect deadly landmines and help free communities from fear and support development. So how can Shell have a social impact by collaborating with Apopo?
The rats were taken to clean landmines in fields in Iraq where usually 1500 Shell workers would risk their lives to do. The rats weight does not trigger the landmines so they are safe.
The Shell GameChanger programme moves beyond social philanthropy and CSR and moves into innovations that are at the business and charity interface. Where an innovation has potential to increase revenue or decrease costs, the company will take the risk to invest. Michael Porter calls this “Creating Shared Value.”
Apte takes it a step further by calling it “creating transformational value” because organizations who collaborate with projects or innovations will not remain the same – the same person or team or organization.
The session established that the 4 criteria for Shell to back an innovation are:
- Novelty – Is the idea is revolutionary or evolutionary?
- Doable Plan - Help the proponent to create an experimental plan to design the proof of the concept.
- Potential Value – What is the highest level of benefit that can be reached should the concept be proven to work?
- Why Shell - How does this idea relate to Shell’s core business? Is there a business case for Shell to invest in this concept?
The VSee telemedicine platform is a typical project that was invested in by the Shell GameChanger program. VSee connects American doctors to consult with patients in remote locations in Nigeria to through a low-bandwidth video teleconferencing technology. The technology was deployed to a place in Nigeria where Shell has set up an oil field. This is an example of creating shared or transformational value for the company and the community.
The Innovation Paradox
Every successful organization cannot only focus on its core business. It needs to be brave and innovate continuously to keep the business at the forefront of evolution and impact or risk becoming obsolete. Both the core business and the innovation should be integrated into the business model.
“Innovation takes threats and turns them into opportunities.” – Robert C. Wolcott