ACCELERATING
URBAN INNOVATION
IN SOUTH AFRICA
2 cities. 6 months. 20 creators.
the start of an African innovation story
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UNDER NDA
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2018/19
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– Co-director
– Brand Architect
– Writer / Editor -
– AWARDED $50,000 IN RESEARCH FUNDING
ask
To develop a conceptual framework, a research-backed concept, and a 360º marketing plan for a program and space in South Africa that provides real value to South African startups, designers and entrepreneurs.
CONTEXT
We were approached by a multinational firm looking to invest in entrepreneurial development focusing on urban innovation in South Africa. Why cities? The United Nations predicts that by 2050, nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in cities – cities that were never designed to hold so many people.
Our challenge was to connect the dots and propose an entrepreneurial intervention that would meaningfully address the mounting challenges facing South African cities.
STRATEGY & Process
keep the ecosystem interconnected.
If innovation is to be inclusive, broad-based, contextually relevant, and scaleable, it’s design must be interconnected at its core, because good ideas thrive in diverse and connected environments. (1)
So we map the factors required to cultivate innovation-friendly environments, then narrow the distances between gaps in each area, and between diverse ideas and the people who have them. (2)
(1) Stephen Johnson––Where Good Ideas Come From: A Brief History of Innovation
(2) Global Startup Ecosystem Report, Startup Genome, 2018
THE WORK
output 1: Research + Marketing
Zero To A Hundred
The film
Moving between the cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town – South Africa’s main centres of opportunity and urbanisation – a team of creative entrepreneurs reached out to fellow creators, entrepreneurs, and investors across industries to find out: what innovation means to them, what the state of opportunity is, and where it’s all going.
Output 2: concept
The Collaboratory
What if urban imagination could be sparked, nurtured, prototyped, refined, and plugged directly into its surroundings? What if innovators in different fields could access the resources they really need? What if technology, design, art, business, and policy could work side-by-side more often?
Enter The Collaboratory: where big ideas come to play.
Final concept under NDA. All illustrations by @muusonda
“you’ve presented a compelling vision and am hopeful we might find a way to work together and bring this to life.”
— Principal client feedback, New York City