Commitment Webinar Series

HACKING FOR CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT: DESIGNING SOLUTIONS FOR IMPACT

JAY SULLIVAN, CGI U COMMITMENT MENTOR: CONSERVATION

Who am I?

Band-e-Amir National Park

A Return to Arcadia

(utopia, unspoiled wilderness)

Humans were bad for nature

To save nature remove humans

Then nature would interact, evolve, & be fine

Trend of National Protected Areas

So, how are we doing?

Impact of Conservation Programs

Hoffmann, Michael, et al. "The impact of conservation on the status of

the world’s vertebrates." science 330.6010 (2010): 1503-1509.

Nearly 60 percent of the

world's remaining reefs are at

significant risk of being lost in

the next three decades

Microplastics

Table Salt, Beer, Honey

94% of US Tap Water

The Sixth Mass Extinction

Invasive Species

Emerging Pathogens

9.6 Billion people by 2050 =

70% more food

70% More Food

One billion hectares

of natural systems

Global Agriculture

2.7x Pesticides

2.7x more

H20

2.4x more 1.9x more

Humans Our pets and livestock Wild animals= 1,000,000 tons

Cattle

Pigs

Goats

Sheep

HorsesElephantsData: From Vaclav Smil’s The Earth’s Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change, plus a few other sources

Earth’s land mammals by weight

Energy

2.6 billion people in the world, roughly

40% don’t have access to reliable

electricity.

Global Urbanization

UN projections suggest that about 68% of the world’s growing population (9.6 billion by 2050) will live in urban centers by 2050.

There will be 43 “megacities” (>10 M inhabitants) by 2030.

Close to 90% of this urban growth is projected to take place in Asia and Africa with the highest growth rates in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

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EnergyWhat happens when the

billions connect to the grid

and seek air conditioning and

refrigeration?

Development Challenges = Conservation Challenges

“The SDGs are not the answer, but a framework and a declaration of interdependence.” –Achim Steiner, UNDP25

Two Schools of Thought

Lean Startup

vs.

Design Thinking

Lean Startup• Scientific method

• Hypothesis testing

(eliminate

uncertainty)

• Validate/Test

Understanding Your

Value Proposition

Pembient: 3D Printed, Artificial Rhino Horn

Rhino$60,000/kg

Gold: $41,698.80

Cocaine in Pitt: $38,500

Understanding who is

paying the costs

Engineering artificial shark fin or manta ray gills.

Engineering artificial shark fin or manta ray gills.

Pangolin scales (considered to have healing qualities by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners) are valued at $3,000 per kilogram, pangolin meat (considered a delicacy) at $300 per kilograms, and live pangolins at $992. Down the line value to a hunter is between $18 and $27 per kilo

Pangolins: 20% of Global Wildlife Trade

Prof. Mark Van Dyke

How do we ensure that we don’t inadvertently increase demand for pangolin, rather than decreasing the profitability of poaching?

Understanding who is your

customer

NEW WAVE FOODSCreating new, completely vegan & kosher shrimp

People

Design for the other 90%

Cost

Environment

Education

Function

Reliability/Maintainability

Do No Harm (other impacts)

Manufacturing

Distribution & Supply Chains

Cultural & Social Suitability

Scalability

Scale

➢ Must be built in from the beginning.

➢ Can you standardize key features of the business

model? The objective is to reproduce a successful

program’s results, not to slavishly recreate every one

of its features.

➢ Business Model: How do you enhance customer

value? Is there demand for your product?

➢ Is your approach reproducible? How do different

cultures, languages, affect your model? Can you

maintain quality?

➢ Simplicity of approach (minimum critical

specifications): The more complex an organization’s

theory of change, the more difficult it is to replicate.

Prototyping, Testing, &

Iteration

Hypothesis Testing

• How can I measure or test the assumptions my solution poses?

– Outline core assumptions

– Develop pathway to validate or prove their veracity

– What can this testing do to help improve the concept?

• How do I know if that assumption is true/false?

– Interviews to true user data

– Depends on the intervention/program you are building

DESIGN

THINKING

USER

MAPPING

HUMAN

CENTERED

DESIGN

Defining a Problem and Defining a Need

If I had an hour to solve a problem,

I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem

and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.

— Albert Einstein

Ask: “Why?”

Outlining “Why”

Problem/Need Definition, how you define the problem is most important

How to define and evaluate a problem

Measuring potential impact“Why is it important to solve”

Ask: “Where?”

Context

comes from opportunity,

enables innovation,

and focuses impact.

Ask:Who are you solving for?Who is the customer?Who is the user?Who needs to choose this?

Why will they choose this?

What are you innovating?Is this a technology or an application problem?What can I iterate on?

What limits your solution? Your impact?

How does this relate back to your problem and opportunity definition?

MELTING POT METHODOLOGY

Impact vs. Invention

Product to Social/Environmental Impact

Risk Profile (Do no harm)

Widget vs. Change

2 Critical Questions:

What is the need/demand?

Does your solution solve the need?

Principles of ImpactSimplicity

Application not Technology

Context

**Incremental improvements or localized change planned for exponential growth**

VS

Change Model / Value Proposition

Understand Problem + User/Customer + Need + Context + Iteration

=

Solution

Solution

=

Need Addressed/Value Added + Measurement of Impact

Ideation, Intervention, Iteration

What are your known unknowns? Your hypotheses about how you will achieve impact/profit?

How can you test or seek feedback on your hypothesis?

How will you measure success?

Identifying these helps your pitch!

Your Turn: Hypothesis Definition

Take 2 minutes: Write down 1-3 core hypotheses for your commitment, project, or work.

Examples: Customers will have the ability to purchase our product at a rate

above the manufacture price.

Students in Malaysia lack access to science resources in the classroom.

Your Turn: Hypothesis Testing

Take 2 minutes: How can I test or validate these assumptions on my solution?

Think about: Capacity/Things I need

Platforms you can use

Who is the customer (and can you clearly define them)

How can I get more information for the lowest investment in time or resources?

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A tech & innovation

company that works in

conservation.

The Ō’hiaChallenge

The Cooling Challenge

Saving Water for Nature

Digital Makerspace

How does the DMS work?

Conservation and technology industry members connect in the community space to gain

access to new skills and knowledge.

Project tools facilitate community work to

develop strong products with a clear value

proposition and a growth model.

Algorithms match…

• people to projects in need of their skills

• projects to projects working on similar issues

• people to topics they would like to learn on

Smart Skill-MatchingCommunity Space Project Tools

The Con X Tech Prize

$3,500 $20KAwarded to each of

20 winners

For 1 grand prize winner

$300KTotal money

awarded

QUESTIONS?

• Post questions in the message board!

Let’s chat: jaysullivan94@gmail.com

Happy to talk about your commitment and provide advice on design, communications, or fundraising (and anything else!)