LAUNCH Magazine

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION WITH GLOBAL REINFORCEMENT

L AUNCH MAGAZINE

#LAUNCHFood How do we make healthy food the easy and affordable choice?

Second Wave LAUNCH Innovators: Solutions, Scaled Globally

#LAUNCHChemistry Help make the future of chemistry data-rich and data-driven

VR/AR Development Hack Taking Change to Another Dimension

The big global challenges of our world are the product of human decisions. But, that, also means, the solutions are inherently human. If we can come together, we can better understand the problems, optimize the way we solve these problems and find new solutions to create a more sustainable future.

USAID has been supporting LAUNCH for over eight years, and what we’re really passionate about is that LAUNCH is not afraid to take on some of the most difficult challenges of our time, and is doing so through the power of innovation, collaboration and long-lasting partnerships.

- SEEMA PATEL, USAID

WELCOME

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e live in a world that revolves around its countless moving parts. It is ripe with creative ideas, unique perspectives and constant reminders that innovation may come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. This exposure to a diversity of thoughts and experiences is what informs our microlevel understanding of what seems to be working, what probably isn’t and that some kind of change must occur.

But solving the world’s problems is overwhelming. Each of our global systems are wildly complex. So complex, in fact, that no one has ever been able to illustrate their collective behavior and interconnectedness as a kind of macro-level map to effective, efficient and synchronized change.

For example, most of us can grasp the major, vertical events around global issues, like climate change, poverty or food choice and access. But it is infinitely harder to delineate such events across an entire spectrum of issues and systems. And while our knowledge-based economy increasingly assigns value to innovative and connected ideas, it is failing to align ideas with action.

At LAUNCH, we believe that, alone, one person or idea is incapable of solving an expansive array of multi-faceted challenges threatening today’s world. So we develop well-curated networks of thinkers, creators, leaders and ground-level workers who, together, can fuel visible, meaningful change. This way, new ideas can be responsible and methodically seeded and nurtured within deeply entrenched systems that are positioned to be reimagined and optimized. Action is what turns an idea into reality; collective action extends that reality into vast and impactful progress. To get there, we need alignment around challenges, resources and ideas.

In this issue, you will read more about our innovative approach to connecting micro-level ideas with a global network of change-makers, including USAID, Nike, the U.S. State Department, the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and IKEA. We are honored to share these stories with you and understand how we can make our world better, together.

THE LAUNCH EDITORIAL TEAM

CONTENTS

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L AUNCH: CHALLENGE CYCLES

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW

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GLOBAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

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NEW STORY TELLING FRONTIERS

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L A U N C H : D O I N G T H I N G S D I F F E R E N T LY T H R O U G H N E T W O R K- C E N T E R E D I N N O VAT I O N

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STRONGER TOGETHER

Food, Smar ter Chemistr y, Closing the Loop

L AUNCH Innovators are Changing the World For Good

L AUNCH LE ADERS: Cross-Sector Connections

AR / VR Development Hack

The Voices of Launch & SecondMuse

We are working to make our whole product range more sustainable, including playing an active role in the transition to a circular economy. We are looking for Innovators with disruptive ideas and fresh mindsets, who can help us on this journey. I’m looking forward to help select and interact with this year’s five selected Innovators.”

H A K A N NORDK V IS T, HE A D OF SUS TA IN A BILI T Y, IK E A

E XECUTIVE EDITOR D AVA R A R D A L A N

CONTENT EDITORS C A R A P H I L B I N , R O B E R T M A L E S K Y, M AT T S C O T T

DESIGNER N I K K I M c L AY

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS C H A D B A D I YA N L A U R E N C AT E R CARRIE FREEMAN BL AKE GARCIA STUART GILL ELE ANOR GREENE JEFF HAMAOUI HEIDI HAMLOW K E I R A H AV E N S BEN KREIMER JEREMY K AMO TODD KHOZEIN R A C H E L L AW L E Y N E I S A N M A S S A R R AT MONICA PRICE COHEN R O X A N N S TA F F O R D KENDR A YOSHINAGA

@L AUNCH.ORG

W W W.FACEBOOK.COM/L AUNCHORG

INFO@L AUNCH.ORG

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LAUNCH CYCLE CHALLENGES F O O D , S M A R T E R C H E M I S T R Y, C L O S I N G T H E L O O P

LAUNCH was founded on the belief that global problems are too big to be solved by any one individual or organization, alone, and that intentional, network-focused disruption is the key to responsible action. In seven short years, we have leveraged this ethos to forge partnerships with major international government agencies, renowned think tanks, influential nonprofits and academia, along with brass at heavy-hitting companies, like NIKE and IKEA. While LAUNCH’s constellation of partners continues to grow and gain momentum, we remain as committed to serving these multidisciplinary networks as we are to building them. So as LAUNCH catalyzes micro-level movement within worldwide systems, we are, also, keeping a wide lens on our macro-level impact circuit: Where we live -> How we live -> What we create Global problems do not occur in a vacuum, and their neglected inter-dependency is wreaking havoc on the systems that are key to our survival. Today’s critical issues around sustainable food, water, development and environment implore us to be better and fast. Because networks have the power to magnify both good and bad ideas, LAUNCH prioritizes methodical disruption: we unearth need, identify barriers to progress and develop the resilient support mechanisms that propel responsible change.

We are excited for the future, and appreciate your dedication to making it sustainable and spectacular.

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LAUNCH CYCLE CHALLENGES

L AUNCH FOOD

L AUNCH FOOD A QUEST FOR ANSWERS Food is a complex, sensitive and central part of our larger global systems. Everything from climate change and natural weather events, to financial markets and consumer behavior, to political upheavals and population movements, affects our food’s quality and quantity - and our access to it. Without food, our world, as we know it, would cease to exist.

LAUNCH believes that the world’s multitude of social, financial, political and cultural micro-systems gain momentum, by swinging together. To responsibly plan for our future, we must reconnect food with the other components of the system, to make a whole. This is why we are introducing LAUNCH Food, a new global sourcing effort to better understand our food systems, in a way that promotes global health, prosperity and sustainability. LAUNCH Food is seeking solutions with the potential to transform food systems - and we need your help.

A WORLDWIDE CRISIS It is easy to view food issues as if they occur in a cultural vacuum. This is one reason why our global communities struggle to consider food issues broadly and holistically.

For instance, many of us believe the drivers and consequences of overeating are inverse to those of under-nutrition. But these issues can, and often do, co-exist. In fact, undernourishment in childhood is a known contributor to obesity and high blood pressure later in life, and is now the #1 risk to health worldwide.

Of the countries surveyed in the 2016 Global Nutrition report, 44% simultaneously struggle with serious levels of undernutrition and obesity. The United States is one of them. According to NIH estimates, 69% of Americans are overweight or obese, and together these issues are the second leading cause of preventable

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death in the country. Meanwhile, a USDA survey of American households found that, in 2014, 14% (17.5 million) were food insecure. This means that 85% of Americans battle with a lack of access to food.

The global food imbalance is increasingly keeping people from reaching their full potential and perpetuating a devastating cycle of health issues and economic stagnation that reaches far beyond any one individual. Malnourished mothers often give birth to underweight children, putting them at a higher risk of physical and cognitive impairment, causing underperformance in school and developmental deficiencies. Chronically hungry adults are less able to contribute to local economies and care for their families. Equally paralyzing are the compounding ailments seen in overweight populations, such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, cancer, joint and gall bladder problems.

I f public health isn’t enough to call you to action, consider the macro-level activities that could send your own food security - and taxes - into a tailspin. The yearly cost of obesity in the United States is estimated to be as high as $305 billion USD. Cost estimates for this year’s crisis in Flint, M.I. - which exposed 12,000 children to contaminated water - have reached $100 million. Drought increased the cost of California’s fruits and vegetables exports by roughly 910%, over a fifteen year span, and left 23 million hungry in South Africa just this year. Syria’s ongoing civil war has left one in three residents without access to food and displaced 60% of its population. Some economies forfeit the equivalent of 10% of their GDP to malnutrition and 11% of their GDP to undernutrition.

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scale. LAUNCH Food mentors will guide presenters to expand their technical capabilities, gain access to market partners and investment opportunities and increase the impact of their solutions.

THE L AUNCH FOOD CHALLENGE The LAUNCH Food platform supports and scales innovations that help us rethink questions around global food and nutrition. Now, LAUNCH Food is calling for supply- or demand-side innovations, to create a new paradigm that will, ultimately, make food healthier and more accessible. We need help transitioning food from a hyper-local issue to a global one, and are calling for knowledge that will impact people’s food choices: in the home, at the market, on the street, in restaurants and in communities. Help us understand:

Inspired? Join us, as we reimagine the challenge of food and nutrition and explore opportunities for improving global health. Learn how to submit your innovation at: www.launch.org/challenges/food.

BEHIND LAUNCH FOOD LAUNCH accelerates our transition to a more sustainable society, through open innovation, cross-sector collaboration and the mobilization of global systems. In partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and a broad cross-sector network of key opinion leaders and industry players, LAUNCH has identified food as an opportunity to save and improve lives, by applying a network-centered approach to systemwide action. Together we accelerate a portfolio of solutions that address choice, as a key access point to affordable, nutritious, sustainable and appealing food.

• How data can improve metrics that help us define and measure health.

• How to incentivize politicians and policymakers to put nutrition on their agendas.

• How to articulate the benefits of private-sector investment in sustainability and nutrition.

• How to increase an affordable and accessible supply of desirable and nutritious food.

• How to empower, reinforce and reward healthy eating and shopping habits.

• Where and how to invest in related innovations.

If you are an innovator, entrepreneur, or intrapreneur working on solutions to address these questions, join LAUNCH Food, and experience the benefit of a burgeoning network of advisors and influencers motivated to help you succeed. Solutions could take the form of products, programs, technologies, services, business models, delivery systems, alternative modes of production, financial instruments and new development approaches.

Selected participants will be invited to present their innovation at the 2017 LAUNCH Food Forum, a multiday event that connects innovators with investment partners, market leaders and technical experts, along with philanthropic, NGO and public-sector actors committed to accelerating solutions’ adoption and

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LAUNCH CYCLE CHALLENGES

SMARTER CHEMISTRY

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he expo hall at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Monday, August 22, was a maze of giant platforms and posters depicting the future of chemistry and showcasing our latest innovation challenge: #LAUNCHChemistry, a global challenge to innovate our approach to chemistry, and inspire smarter change for a greener future.

LAUNCH took the 2016 Chemistry Innovation Challenge live at the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) 252nd National Meeting. This year, the event brought more than 12,000 chemistry buffs to the Convention Center floors and engaged an even wider audience online, where ACS Green Chemistry Institute Director David Constable held a concurrent Facebook Live conversation.

“What we’re trying to get out of LAUNCH is to be truly disruptive in chemistry,” Constable shared with #LAUNCHChemistry digital audiences. “To highlight innovations that will harness data and other tools that will enhance the chemistry industry to be more effective, safer and better for the world.”

We were thrilled by the diversity of this year’s Challenge, which gave LAUNCH the opportunity to connect with potential innovators from the farthest corners of the globe, and to connect them with each other.

University of Texas at Arlington graduate student Wasiu Lawal reflected a sentiment widely held among attendees: that, for him, innovation in chemistry hits close to home.

“I grew up in Nigeria. It’s a part of the world where we have a lot of issues; many of them are environmental.

To find solutions to some of these problems, it’s very important we try to be sustainable and try to conserve resources,” Lawal told LAUNCH. “We have people, we have parts of the world where resources are a little bit scarce. That’s why innovation is very important — because we need to always try to come up with solutions to problems.”

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Harvard University graduate student Rose Kennedy highlighted the importance of embracing methods and techniques that will better sustain the industry and amplify its future return.

“The issues most in need of our attention, right now, revolve primarily around sustainability,” said Kennedy. “This means thinking about using catalysis and renewable resources to drive the many applications of chemistry in a direction that we can use for centuries to come.”

LAUNCH believes that the future of chemistry is smart, data-rich and data-driven. Together with the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, NIKE, and other partners, we are searching for Innovators and companies who are harnessing data to make chemistry smarter.

Are you learning how to manipulate data and exploring data-driven solutions that could push the chemistry industry closer to predictive, design-based discovery? Join us! We are excited to grow our global community of disrupters, who share our vision of using chemistry to revolutionize the way we build, create and live.

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CLOSING THE LOOP

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magine a world where instead of owning everything, you leased it. It might sound a bit crazy. But what if it wasn’t? What if this idea actually represents the birth of a sustainability revolution to keep products and materials in the loop.

Imagine a future when we, as consumers use services that operate in closed circuits, and products that are designed to last, to be repaired or to be disassembled and reintroduced into our lives.

The world is abuzz with the potential of a circular economy. But how do we stimulate and implement impactful closed loop systems and material streams?

How do we design and manufacture for disassembly and recycling? How do we shift to business models that better simulate the design of durable products and re-use?

These questions are at the center of this year’s LAUNCH Closing The Loop Challenge, to accelerate a more circular economy. Announced on June 1, 2016, in Copenhagen, Denmark, the 2016 Closing The Loop Challenge was born from LAUNCH’s partnership with global names like IKEA, Novozymes and Kvadrat, along with select Nordic Ministries and public institutions.

The 2016 Closing The Loop Challenge aimed to surface five game-changing Innovators and connect them with a global coalition of their peers, companies and government institutions committed to accelerating our shift to a circular economy. The top-five innovators will be announced in October 2016, and those selected will be invited to join a unique group of disruptors that provides support, networking and mentorship opportunities with influential business and government leaders.

“What is special about LAUNCH Nordic is the strong partnership of government, academics and industry. Publicprivate partnerships are exactly what we need to help sustainable innovations go to scale. We look forward to help this year’s Innovators and shape a more sustainable society.”

- CLAUS STIG PEDERSEN, SENIOR DIRECTOR, SUS TA IN A BILI T Y, NOVOZ Y ME S.

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LAUNCH CYCLE CHALLENGES

“Being partners in LAUNCH Nordic has been highly inspirational for us. We are looking forward to helping this year’s Innovators, but we learn a lot from them, as well. We look forward to sharing knowledge and, hopefully, find meaningful and relevant technologies and innovation suitable for co-investment.”

- ANDERS BYRIEL, CEO, K VADR AT

LAUNCH sources and supports everything from early-stage prototypes to end-stage innovations that are ready to be scaled at a global level, from business models and design tools, to materials and manufacturing processes, systems, technologies or programs with the drive to shape a more sustainable society.

“Region Skåne is a partner in LAUNCH Nordic because of the strong commitment from both Nordic and Global partners like IKEA, Nozozymes, Kvadrat, NIKE, USAID and U.S. State Department. LAUNCH Nordic offers a unique platform to identify, and collectively scale, innovations with a positive impact of people and society.”

- CARIN DAHL, HE AD OF INNOVATION & ENTREPREN E U R S H I P, R E G I O N S K Å N E

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Vigga Svensson is a 2014 LAUNCH Innovator, who is pioneering circular economy with her start-up Vigga.us, which delivers subscription-based baby-clothing.

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW L A U N C H I N N O VA T O R S A R E C H A N G I N G THE WORLD FOR GOOD

As the LAUNCH team gears up for our 2016 Cycles, we continue to support our past Innovators, whose ongoing work is driving impact around the world.

Check out how LAUNCH Innovators gleaned from our earliest cycles - Water, Health, Energy, Beyond Waste and Fabrics - are rethinking systemic, global barriers to our sustainable future.

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

L A U N C H W A T E R ( 2 0 10 ) : A Q UA G E N X /C O MPA R T ME N T B A G T E S T

INNOVATOR: MARK SOBSE Y

W W W. AQUAGEN X .C OM

Aquagenx LLC was formed in 2012, after the company was honored with the 2010 LAUNCH Water Innovation Prize, and, in 2013, it brought the Compartment Bag Test (CBT) to the commercial market. Since then, Aquagenx has sold thousands of CBT Kits - a portable water quality test kit that detects and quantifies E. coli bacteria and determines if water poses a health risk.

Today, the CBT Kit is used globally by major NGOs, humanitarian relief organizations, governments, agricultural operations, universities, private companies and private well owners.

The CBT Kit is ideal for on-site testing in low resource, rural and disaster/emergency areas. Anyone can easily use a CBT Kit, as its application does not require labs, expensive equipment, skilled technicians or, even, electricity.

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

L A U N C H H E A LT H ( 2 0 10 ) : P R O P E L L E R H E A LT H ( F O R M E R LY A S T H M A P O L I S )

INNOVATOR: DAVID VAN SICKLE

W W W.PROPELLERHE ALTH.C OM

Propeller is the leading digital health platform in respiratory medicine. The company has received FDA 510(k) Class II clearance to measure and improve medication adherence, predict exacerbations and help reduce the frequency of symptoms and exacerbations in asthma and COPD. Propeller’s platform has been clinically validated in two randomized controlled trials and more than ten clinical studies that involved more than 1,400 patients.

It is used by patients with asthma or COPD in more than 40 commercial programs at major healthcare systems, and by payers, employers and other commercial partners. Propeller is supported by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), Social Capital, California HealthCare Foundation, Kapor Capital and others, and has been honored by the TEDMED innovation showcase, the White House Champions of Change and with the Bluetooth Breakthrough Award.

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

L A U N C H E N E R G Y ( 2 0 11) : PROME THE AN POWER

INNOVATOR: SORIN GR AMA

W W W.PROME THE AN-POWER.C OM

Promethean Power Systems designs and manufactures refrigeration systems for cold-storage applications in off-grid and partially electrified regions of developing countries. Their products enable farmers and food suppliers to reliably store and preserve perishable food items—such as milk, fruits and vegetables—without the need for expensive, diesel-powered generators.

Promethean Power Systems has installed more than 300 milk-chilling systems throughout rural India. Each system serves 20-30 farmers, who can now deliver more milk to quality-conscious dairy processors. The dairies, in turn, have access to products at a higher volume, value and quality for their Indian consumers.

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

L A U N C H W A S T E ( 2 0 12 ) : SIRUM

INNOVATOR: KIAH WILLIAMS

W W W.SIRUM.ORG

SIRUM is saving lives, through an innovative technology platform that allows health facilities, manufacturers, wholesalers and pharmacies to donate unused medicine, rather than destroy it. As of March 2016, SIRUM helped donate more than $5.6 million USD worth of medicine - enough to reach 150,000 people.

In 2015, SIRUM Co-Founder/Director and LAUNCH Innovator Kiah Williams was selected as a ‘Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur’.

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

L A U N C H FA B R I C S ( 2 0 13 ) : E C O VA T I V E

INNOVATOR: SAMUEL HARRINGTON

W W W.EC OVATIVEDE SIGN.C OM

As an international leader in the biomaterials industry, Ecovative creates and scales cost- and performance- competitive, environmentally-friendly products with conventional materials. The company produces and sells a variety of mushroombased materials, including Myco Board, Myco Foam, Myco Make, Myco Flex and Myco Grow.

In 2015, Ecovative opened its second manufacturing plant, a 20,000 square foot space in Troy, N.Y., that, since, has produced more than 68,000 MushroomÂŽ parts.

Customers include leading industry companies, such as Dell, Gunlocke, Enjoy Handplanes and others. Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA is considering switching its packaging from polystyrene to Ecovative Mushroom products.

L AUNCH INNOVATORS

KIVERDI TURNING CARBON DIOXIDE INTO FOOD FOR THE WORLD

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iverdi has created a bioprocess that recycles carbon dioxide into high-value oils, raw renewable materials and proteins, used in a variety of applications - from everyday consumer goods to industrial products and fish feed.

Since co-founder and CEO, Lisa Dyson, participated in our 2012 Beyond Waste Cycle, the company was granted additional funding and launched projects with multinational manufacturers. Dyson says that she is inspired by the people who work for Kiverdi and everyone who devotes their lives to making an impact. “When individuals who have specific skills and resourcescome together to do something good, there is so much that can be accomplished. I continue to experience this and be inspired by it, on a daily basis� Dyson said.

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

1. You were involved in LAUNCH’s Beyond Waste Cycle, in 2012. What progress have you made on your innovation since LAUNCH?

3. LAUNCH is all about connecting unexpected partners. Have you connected with any partners to get your innovation to where it is today?

We have multiple projects underway, to bring our end products and carbon recycling solutions to market. One project involves the commercialization of an aquaculture feed derived from carbon dioxide.

We call it MicroFeed™. This product will, not only, serve as a sustainable food for fish, but, it also, offers fish farmers a clean feed alternative that has the right amino acid profile for healthy fish, without the contaminants or negative environmental impacts of sourcing increasing amounts of fishmeal to meet the growing demand.

LAUNCH brings together a high-caliber group of influencers across industries and value chains.

These individuals, the council members, are genuinely interested in working with innovators to solve commercialization challenges and to see innovative solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges deployed at a large scale. The LAUNCH staff works tirelessly with innovators to help them maximize the potential for their success. In our case, we where we were the recipient of a grant and investments from five angels, as a direct result of our participation in LAUNCH.

2. How has Kiverdi made an impact on the world, or what about its future excites you?’

In nature, there is no waste. One organism’s waste is another organism’s fuel. At Kiverdi, we envision a world where we treat carbon as a resource and recycle it back into the products that we consume everyday. We believe this shift in thinking and how we manufacture goods has to occur, in order to feed and power a world with ten billion people in it, by 2050. All of our products are manufactured using carbon dioxide. One ton of protein is produced from two tons of recycled carbon dioxide. For oil, the number is even better. One ton of oil recycles six tons of carbon dioxide. An example of an oil product that Kiverdi is developing is a sustainable alternative to palm oil. We call it PALM+™. And it’s better than palm oil. Since over 50% of consumer goods are manufactured using palm oil, including detergents, soaps, ice cream and cooking oil, the impact of our PALM+™ product can be tremendous.

4. What are you looking forward to the most in Kiverdi’s future?

Our aim at Kiverdi is to enable the large scale production of economically attractive, sustainably produced raw materials from carbon dioxide, in order to manufacture the products that we use everyday, from soap and packaging materials, to fish feed and ice cream. I’m excited, not only, about the role Kiverdi is playing and will play in introducing new value chains but, also, about the strong interest by brands in sourcing sustainable, raw materials and their collaborative efforts to make sustainable value chains reality.

As brands and manufacturers produce more and more products sustainably, consumers will have increased options to make environmentally friendly choices, both for their families and for future generations.

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

BIOAMBER MAKING BIO-BASED PL ASTICS THE NEW NORMAL

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hen BioAmber applied for the 2014 LAUNCH Chemistry Cycle, this sustainable chemicals company was looking major connections and investors. Today, BioAmber is quickly gaining traction.

In 2015, it opened the world’s largest commercial-scale, plant-producing bio-succinic acid in the world.

Succinic acid is a building block chemical with a wellestablished and growing range of applications. New applications include plastics, coatings, textiles, artificial leathers, foods, flavors and personal care items. The U.S. Department of Energy classified succinic acid as one of twelve leading candidates for commercial development, for their use of bio-based routes as an alternative to petro-chemical-based products.

LAUNCH caught up with BioAmber Vice President of Government Affairs Anne Waddell about the company’s recent success. Waddell joined BioAmber four years ago and has been instrumental in securing financing for its new plant.

Waddell says what inspires her most about BioAmber is its creation of sustainable manufacturing jobs.

BioAmber’s new plant has, at least, sixty employees, who use industrial biotechnology to produce renewable chemicals.

1. BioAmber participated in the 2014 LAUNCH Green Chemistry Cycle.

AW: Since our involvement with the Green Chemistry cycle, we have successfully started up the largest commercial-scale, plant producing, bio-succinic acid,

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bringing a reliable source of the versatile, bio-based material to market.

The plant is a $140 million [USD] investment in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, employing sixty people. The starting materials are sugars from renewable crops, and the process, overall, allows a 100% reduction in emission of greenhouse gases, when compared with the equivalent conventional process using petroleum. As of now, the plant is operating, and we are selling and shipping product.

2. What impact is BioAmber already having on the world, and how do you see that impact expanding?

AW: We are thrilled at having the plant up and running and producing product. This was an incredible achievement.

Not only have we got the plant operating quickly, but we have obtained the essential safety, environmental and quality management system certifications, so that customers can rely on product coming from the plant.

Building the customer base for bio-succinic acid is another important achievement. We are focused on creating market demand, through applications development. We have demonstrated the performance of bio-based succinic acid, in terms of improved water resistance, abrasion resistance, flexibility and other qualities that have applications in everyday products. We have announced partnerships with Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience), Dupont Tate & Lyle and others.

We have excellent data supporting the use of bio-based succinic acid in polyurethanes and resins and coatings

L AUNCH INNOVATORS

where it mainly replaces adipic acid. Covestro, a global supplier of high tech polymer materials, used our succinic acid to develop bio-based, water-born polyurethane dispersions to transform fabrics into materials suitable for shoes, bags and garments.

Our Mission is to be a fast growing producer of chemical intermediates that use sugars instead of fossil fuels and sell competitively priced, sustainable chemicals with strong profit margins and the cleanest environmental footprint in the industry.

3. LAUNCH is all about connecting unexpected partners. Have you connected with any partners to get your innovation to where it is today?

AW: I noted Bayer MaterialScience, a LAUNCH connection. We have also partnered with Mitsui & Co., a large Japanese trading house and a company committed to the further development of sustainable chemistry. We, also, have a partnership with PTTMCC BioChem, a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical and Thailand’s energy company. These partners, among other links to the global chemical supply chain suggest that renewable building blocks will play an important role in the industry of the future.

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4. What are you looking forward to the most in BioAmber’s future?

AW: Success and growth. We are seeing growing interest from our customers, and throughout the supply chain to brand owners. We are, currently, doing site selection for our second plant. Our next plant will produce bio-based succinic acid, 1,4 butanediol (BDO) and tetrahydrofuran, using biobased succinic acid as the feedstock. This will be the first time that biotechnology and traditional chemistry have been joined in such a way.

In April 2015, BioAmber signed a technology licensing agreement with JM Davy, which will enable it to move to full scale production, converting BioAmber’s bio-based succinic acid to BDO and THF, which represent large existing markets in the billions of dollars used to make spandex and engineered plastics.

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HOLOMIC BIOMEDICAL TE STING ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE

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ack in 2010, Dr. Aydogan Ozcan’s innovation, LUCAS, by Holomic LLC, was chosen by LAUNCH advisors as one of the standout health innovations.

The innovation was a miniaturized microscope and sensor that attaches to a cell phone and allows for the detection of parasites and bacteria in blood and water in remote locations.

Just being a telemedicine company, at that time, was cutting-edge, and this invention took it even further.

Fast forward to 2016. Dr. Ozcan and Holomic’s innovation has been deployed in more than 10 countries. Dr. Ozcan is a professor at UCLA, where he became faculty in 2007 and was, recently, named an HHMI Professor by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is, also, the associate director of the California NanoSystems Institute. What inspires this inventor and professor? He says curiosity and making a difference is the core of what drives him. “As an educator, I am dedicated to training our next generations of STEM-related workforce in the best possible ways, so that they can be the future leaders of their fields and help the world solve its next generation of grand challenges.”

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

1. You were involved in LAUNCH’s Health Cycle, in 2010. What progress have you made on your innovation, since LAUNCH?

3. LAUNCH is all about connecting unexpected partners. Have you connected with any partners to get your innovation to where it is today?

AO: Since participating in LAUNCH, Holomic has received several sources of funding, in the form of private investments, federal funding and business contracts. We have also launched three products into market and started to generate revenues. These products are being used in more than ten countries worldwide.

AO: In fact, we met with one of our co-founders, Gilbert Hakim, through the LAUNCH council, and this has opened up various new opportunities for our company and helped us to take it to the next level of impact and success.

4. What are you looking forward to the most in Holomic’s future?

2. How has Holomic made an impact on the world, or what impact are you excited about it having?

AO: We are working hard to expand our market size and sales, to increase the widespread use of our technologies for impacting and improving healthcare globally.

AO Our products are mobile phone-based diagnostic test readers, which will help to bring cost-effective biomedical testing and diagnostics to remote locations, whether it is undeserved populations in developed countries or resource limited settings and developing countries. Outside the U.S., our devices can be used to read and quantify various diagnostic tests that have got CE mark, meaning, they are approved to sell in Europe. In recognition of our impact and technology, Holomic has, recently, been named as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.

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SEaB ENERGY T U R N S WA S T E I N T O ENERGY IN YOUR B A C K YA R D

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n 2012, Sandra Sassow participated in LAUNCH’s Beyond Waste Cycle, on behalf of her company, SEaB Energy. SEaB is the designer and manufacturer of “micro power plants” that turn organic waste into heat, hot water or electricity. With these products, waste can turn to energy using micro anaerobic digestion without having to ship the waste elsewhere, meaning the energy can be used continuously, and no fuel needs to be wasted on shipping and disposing waste.

Right now, SEaB is in the middle of a push to be noticed

by Virgin Media’s VOOM 2016 contest, which offers U.K. and Irish innovators a chance to pitch Virgin Media founder Sir Richard Branson. Sassow says she is inspired by the sheer amount of energy that SEaB pumps back into the grid. Sassow tells LAUNCH, “The potential to be involved in a cutting-edge technology that turns a problem into a universal solution, is what does it for me.”

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L AUNCH INNOVATORS

1. You were involved in Beyond Waste Cycle, in 2012.

What progress have you made on your innovation, since LAUNCH? SS: We have created a second product, in addition to Muckbuster™, which we brought to LAUNCH, is called Flexibuster™, and is focused on converting catering waste to energy onsite in the future cities of the world. We have re-engineered our products to fit into twenty foot standard shipping containers, for easier deployment to a variety of sites. We have representatives in eight countries and have deployed units onto large corporate sites in two countries so far. The company has grown to twenty-two staff, opened a prototyping and production facility and we operate our own testing laboratory, to support our deployments. We have won numerous awards and seen 500% growth, in the last year.

2. How has SEaB Energy made an impact on the world, or what impact are you excited about it having?

SS: We believe the future for energy generation is de-centralized and de-carbonized. Our technology allows waste to be converted to energy exactly at the point where the waste is generated and the energy is required. The carbon saving is monumental.

3. LAUNCH is all about connecting unexpected partners. Have you connected with any partners to get your innovation to where it is today?

SS: SEaB Energy’s successful market entry has been through partners and with the help of production partners. Established entities have worked with us to bring waste processing to sites where it would not normally be found – such as National Health Service Hospital sites in the U.K. By outsourcing our production for some of the larger components and working with supply chain partners, we have succeeded in creating an affordable alternative to waste collection.

4. What are you looking forward to the most in SEaB’s future?

SS: SEaB Energy is reshaping the way waste will be treated in the urban environments of the future and, at the same time, bringing reliable, affordable energy to sites which need power, such as African villages.

I am looking forward to seeing our units deployed around the world, reducing the carbon footprint of waste and providing power, water and fertilizer to the users.

LAUNCH

HYDR A P L AT F O R M D ATA - D R I V E N S O L U T I O N S FOR A COMPLE X WORLD

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ix years ago, Julien Harou, innovator and professor at The University of Manchester (U.K.), participated in Water, LAUNCH’s first Cycle. He represented a consortium of researchers working on Hydra Platform, an open-source software platform with apps that quickly construct sophisticated and customized models of large networks, like water, transport and energy systems.

Hydra Platform launched its much-anticipated website, app store and user-interface sites in 2015, after five years of investment. Hydra helps analysts pool their efforts and share codes to solve some of our most challenging problems: How to better manage and plan human-engineered resource systems.

You were involved in the 2010 LAUNCH Water Cycle. What progress have you made on your innovation since LAUNCH? JH: A two-year grant, in 2012, representing more than $1 million in investment in Hydra from Innovate U.K., the University of Manchester, University College London and CH2M was a big milestone. This allowed us to implement the suite of proposed products, including the open-source database, the app store and a user-interface.

The product was launched in December 2015.

Since then, we’re focusing on building up a userbase and collaborating with various resource system analysts around the world, who think Hydra could help their projects succeed.

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How has Hydra Platform made an impact on the world, or what impact are you excited about it having?

JH: We hope that impact will grow rapidly. Up until now, we’ve been building the software and investing in coding a sustainable, flexible and extendable architecture. Alongside software development, a community-building effort has created a core group of early-adopter resource management enthusiasts.

Hydra streamlines the data management to free up time and resources, so people can focus their intellectual energy and resources on designing effective and creative solutions. What inspires the group to work on Hydra is the potential of analysts sharing their work, and collaborating in new ways - to solve resource conflicts and boost sustainable and resilient development worldwide.

Ultimately, managing the world’s resources efficiently and sustainably will require sophisticated analysis of the economic, social and engineering implications of how we manage food, water, energy, transportation, etc. The open software platform, and, especially, its community of users could make it easier for specialists, who have ideas about how to improve the operation, management or investment in resource systems, to put them into practice on real-world systems.

The community and its tools could be influential, and lead to a wide variety of exciting applications.

L A U N C HL IANUN N OV C AHT O R S

LAUNCH is all about connecting unexpected partners. Have you connected with any partners to get your innovation to where it is today?

JH: I’ve run into several colleagues associated with LAUNCH, in various contexts. It’s always a pleasure to see how things have evolved for them and reminisce on the unique experience we had with LAUNCH. The main contributions of LAUNCH to our effort were, one, to increase visibility and credibility, especially early on when the project was just an idea, and, two, it helped us improve how we present our effort concisely, accurately and attractively to nontechnicians. LAUNCH helped us identify those elements of inspiration and vision which we could communicate most easily and, thereby, help engage others. This has been a huge asset over the years, and we will increasingly need such skills.

What are you looking forward to the most in Hydra Platform’s future?

JH: We’re hoping Hydra will enable a community to build itself around the rapid creation and sharing of (open-source, free or commercial) resource system management models and analysis methods. Traditional engineering models struggle to represent relationships between engineering, socio-economic and institutional elements. Hydra’s robust data management framework helps modelers focus on building the customized representation of these factors and their interactions, providing crucial insights into effective management and planning solutions.

I’m most looking forward to people using Hydra to solve realworld problems, and for more models and tools to become available on the app store so that a growing community engages with the open platform.

A B O V E This grid represents the California Water Network - generated with Hydra Platform ABOVE LEFT

Julien Harau

L AUNCH

GLOBAL ADVISORY COUNCIL L AUNCH LE A DERS: CROS S-SECTOR CONNECTIONS

S E E M A P AT E L USAID

HAK AN NORDK VIST IKEA

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M O L LY C O N R O Y NIKE

G E N YA D A N YA U S D E P T O F S TAT E

SOFUS MIDTGA ARD LEADERLAB

CADY COLEMAN NASA

TODD KHOZEIN SECONDMUSE

JEFF HAMAOUI SECONDMUSE

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N E W S T O R Y T E L L I N G F R O N T I E R S : V I R T U A L R E A L I T Y, 3 6 0˚ & D R O N E S

VR/AR DEVELOPMENT HACK

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Our global initiatives are designed to identify and support innovative work, to accelerate solutions to urgent global challenges and to lead us to a more sustainable future.

For our latest project, LAUNCH is focusing on overand under-nutrition. Together with SecondMuse Director of Storytelling Davar Ardalan and journalism technologist Ben Kreimer, we’ll be exploring the utility of 360° video, virtual reality and augmented reality for development storytelling and its potential to impact food change.

Ben Kreimer was the first fellow at Buzzfeed’s Open Lab, an open-source R&D lab in San Francisco, C.A. Kreimer specializes in the exploration and use of emerging technologies for storytelling, and focuses on making drones, 360° video and 3D virtual reality accessible to storytellers and media consumers.

On October 6, LAUNCH will hold a ‘Virtual Reality/ Augmented Reality (VR/AR) Hack’ in Canberra, A.U., at the innovationXchange of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Attendees will explore how to best leverage 360°/ VR/AR to produce engaging and informative public health and nutrition content.

The VR/AR Hack is born from an international partnership between DFAT and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which are using the LAUNCH platform to rethink food and explore innovation as a lever for change. The event will center on harnessing the power of 360° video, virtual reality and augmented reality to: • Drive impactful storytelling around the food challenges facing developing countries.

• Invigorate social campaigns that strongly impact global health and development.

After the hack event in Canberra, LAUNCH Food will travel to Timor-Leste to help a variety of innovators and entrepreneurs throughout the region further develop their ideas around food and nutrition.

Session participants will be invited to participate in a workshop to learn about storytelling tools, including how to capture and publish 360° video content.

The project goals include: • To increase public health and nutrition awareness in Timor-Leste through 360°/VR/AR content production.

• To explore how to increase the accessibility of 360°/VR/AR in developing nations. To increase public health awareness and global understanding of the challenges faced by the developing the world.

• To further democratize 360°/VR/AR, by delivering tools and content to a larger group of people in developing nations, regardless of local infrastructure and economy.

Given the emergence of 360°/VR/AR as flexible, multidisciplinary tools, now is the time to leverage these powerful technologies for development storytelling. At LAUNCH, we believe that the democratization of drones, 360° video and 3D virtual reality, and a diversified group of users and consumers, will optimize these technologies’ social impact and make them more accessible and useful tools for telling stories.

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360˚ IMMERSION IN TONGA AND TIMOR

uring our recent work in the Pacific, storyteller Andy Day helped us and the DFAT innovationXchange expand our efforts to new frontiers. In Tonga and Timor, Day used a combination of drone footage, 360˚ video and traditional footage to tell a multidimensional story that contrasts the landscape’s beauty with the dual challenges of obesity and malnutrition. Day says that, during his six years as a content producer, the industry has changed immensely, and trying to keep up with innovation is one of his favorite parts of his job.

A Q&A WITH

A NDY DAY

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NEW STORY TELLING FRONTIERS

1) Y O U U S E D D R O NE S T O R Y T E L L I N G A S A N E F F E C TIVE TOOL IN OUR STORY ON TONGA AND TIMOR. W H AT NE W D I ME N S I O N D O D R O NE S A D D T O T HE WAY W E T E L L S T O R I E S ?

4 ) Y O U R 3 6 0 ˚ C A P T U R E S A S C H O O LYA R D W I T H CHILDREN, DURING THEIR LUNCH BREAK. YOU ALSO TOOK US TO A MARKETPLACE. IN THESE C A P T U R E S , T H E A U D I E N C E C A N C R E AT I V E LY C O N TROL THE ANGLE OF THE CAMERA THE Y’RE MOST I N T E R E S T E D I N. W H AT WA S YO U R E X P E R I E N C E USING 360˚ PHOTOGRAPHY?

DAY: The use of drones has allowed independent filmmakers to easily and quickly give viewers a sense of scale and context. It allows you to tell your story with a grandeur and gravity previously reserved only for big budget Hollywood blockbusters. They help to provide a cinematic experience for the viewer and drastically increase production value.

What used to be a $10,000 shot has now diminished to no more than the initial drone investment and the filmmaker’s time.

DAY: 360˚ video and photography was a great tool, while travelling. It’s in its infancy, but people are already finding extremely powerful uses for it. Vice is doing video articles in 360˚, concerts are being broadcast in 360 and VR is going to rely on widespread adoption of 360˚ techniques.

It’s definitely one of the most exciting technologies, at the moment, and we look forward to exploring it more.

2) TELL US MORE ABOUT THE T YPE OF DRONE Y O U U S E A N D H O W Y O U P R O D U C E T H E F O O TAGE?

5) HOW MIGHT 360˚ VIDEO CHANGE OUR ROLES AS STORY TELLERS?

DAY: The drone we used was a DJI Phantom 3. We chose this drone for its combination of portability and power. It shoots up to 4k footage and allows us to get stunning imagery with enough room to move in post-production, just in case we didn’t frame the shot perfectly out in the field. The drone gave us all of these benefits, whilst also fitting into a backpack small enough to take with us as carry-on luggage!

DAY: 360˚ video provides a unique challenge for filmmakers, in the fact that you’re unable to force your viewers into any one angle or shot. Previously, filmmakers would tell a story by physically choosing what shot or angle the viewer was privy to. With this new technology, we’re going to have to find new ways of making sure we tell the story we set out to tell, while still allowing the viewer to interact and personalise their viewing experience, at the same time.

3) A N Y T I P S O N H O W B E S T T O I N T E G R AT E D R O NE F O O TAG E I N T O A V I S UA L S T O R Y ?

DAY: Sparingly. As drones become more readily available, productions begin to become oversaturated with aerial footage. Footage from a drone can be so spectacular that it’s almost like cheating, so save the shots for scenes where impact is needed or context is crucial.

Andy Day is a video producer with Keep Left, a PR, communications and digital agency.

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NET WORK-CENTERED INNOVATION

D O I N G T H I N G S D I F F E R E N T LY T H R O U G H N E T W O R K - C E N T E R E D I N N O VA T I O N

LAUNCH

N E T W O R K- C E N T E R E D I N N O VAT I O N I S CHANGING THE WORLD

N E T W O R K S T H E N E W I N N O VAT I O N FRONTIER

When we picture an “Innovator,” the image of a lone inventor making world-changing discoveries (think Thomas Edison) may leap to mind. But the world has changed, and real innovation, rarely, comes from a single person. The new norm is to band changemakers together in network brainstorms around ideas and solutions for a sustainable future.

We can build the capacity of others to create innovation actors. We don’t, simply, aim to develop compelling products, services, strategies and approaches around a given system. We, also, work to grow the capacity of others within the system.

We see an opportunity to help organizations, institutions and individuals grow their own problemsolving capabilities, and thus grow into innovation actors themselves.

LAUNCH is a network-centered innovation platform founded in 2010 by NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State, NIKE and SecondMuse.

Through LAUNCH, we take the broadest possible view of a global challenge and look across ingrained systems and causal factors to discover opportunities for global, life-enhancing innovation.

We know innovation can come from anywhere and anyone. LAUNCH considers beneficiaries (traditionally, defined as stakeholders) to be as valuable as our organization-level partnerships with governments, corporations, NGOs and others. This is a powerful paradigm shift; everyday people can’t devote their entire energy to inspiring and activating others, but they are actors within the day-to-day problems and can offer unique perspectives. We take the “sourcing” approach to community engagement, by welcoming and encouraging community contributions, and provide these important network actors a supportive framework to “scale” their ideas.

It is paramount that we discover the best methods for network engagement, throughout the innovation process, by viewing piloting through a communityfirst lens.

We take a network-centered approach to understanding, identifying, developing and propelling key innovations, to unlock transformational change. We create a worldwide coalition of those in active pursuit of opportunities for change.

In its short lifespan, LAUNCH has identified and accelerated nearly eighty Innovators, who have developed solutions to address sustainability challenges in water, health, waste, energy and materials. It has generated more than $40 million in direct investment and hundreds of millions of dollars in market creation. In 2014, it was showcased at the G8 Summit and recognized as one of the U.S. government’s most successful innovation programs.

The following year, it was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

We incorporate learning as a central part of the process. LAUNCH sees mistakes and setbacks as further springboards for innovation. Learning is the centerpiece of our innovation ecosystem. We are seeing an environment where we have truly collective ownership over the virility of its systems, and individual actors of the network have the ability to incorporate those learnings in real-time.

L E F T LAUNCH Innovator Lisa Dyson, CEO of Kiverdi, with co-founder John Reed.

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In network-centered innovation, the network IS a critical innovation. The “network”, a collective of people empowered to drive transformational change, is a pipeline through which multiple innovations, ideas and partnerships are formed.

N E T W O R K- C E N T E R E D I N N O VAT I O N I S E M P O W E R I N G P R O B L E M S O LV E R S I N A N U M B E R O F WAY S Think Differently: Networks allow you to think more broadly and leverage a much wider set of insights and ideas. People, given a choice, do want to build wealth and opportunity in their communities and don’t want to harm their environment. The task at hand, largely, involves improving awareness around the available choices and solutions that can help us all be better and live more sustainably.

Act Differently: Insight is not enough. To really change things, you must tap into new partners like you never have before and actually do things differently. When they are connected on an intimate, human level, people with different financial, organizational and individual resources can approach a problem in a way they may have never imagined to be possible.

Work Differently: Once you empower people to work together to identify challenges, needs and ideas, these elements begin to align toward a higher purpose. Having a clear, well-marked path to collaboration inspires people to think alongside one another.

Innovate Differently: Operating in networks to support innovations threads crucial functions into your work

culture. Concentrating on innovation means our networks are action-focused. In transaction practice, each of the network’s collaborative innovations spotlight the competencies and infrastructure required to make substantial change. Sometimes, that’s about how we work with innovations. Other times, it’s about how we’ve been working within our institutions or with new partners.

Smart network growth reduces costs and risks because it connects ideas with resources, partners and generates the momentum necessary to change the world.

N E T W O R K- C E N T E R E D I N N O VAT I O N I S E N G A G I N G , I L L U M I N AT I N G A N D M O T I VAT I N G In the same way that innovation-discovery services already exist, diverse networks exist, as well. Network innovation is all about using innovation to galvanize networks to act collectively. The magic lies in a combination of functions, such as diverse network and innovation discovery, and the drive to action.

Our LAUNCH collaborators include seventy-seven LAUNCH Innovators and powerful change agents, such as Cady Coleman, a NASA astronaut and LAUNCH council member, who has been involved in Green Chemistry and helped facilitate a dialogue on materials innovation.

On what he thinks makes LAUNCH unique, IKEA’s Hakan Nordkvist says, “The differentiator here is unconventional partners, and the strong conviction among the partners about the necessity to innovate and disrupt, to enable the future we want to live in. Either you are a part of the problem or you are a part of the solution.”

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L AUNCH

Q&A WHY IS LAUNCH’S APPROACH C O N S I D E R E D I N N O VAT I V E A N D GROUNDBREAKING?

W H AT C R I T E R I A D O Y O U U S E T O S E L E C T PA R T I C IPA N T S IN T HE P R OGR A M? Participants are selected based on a series of factors, including their solution’s potential impact, its maturity and readiness for the market, as well as the composition of the team. Fundamental to selection is whether we believe the LAUNCH network can adequately serve these companies and have a significant impact on the problem at hand.

LAUNCH is powering an alternate way of fostering progress, by working across institutions to create collaborative innovation networks. This networkcentered approach has allowed LAUNCH to rethink public-private partnerships, to use innovation as a means to inform, engage, and accelerate solutions toward the market.

W H AT A R E T H E N O N - F I N A N C I A L BENEFITS OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DEVELOPED THROUGH LAUNCH?

It is important to note that the open innovation agency SecondMuse is a Co-founder and Manager of the LAUNCH platform. We are a virtual company with hubs in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, C.A., Portland, O.R., and Melbourne, A.U.

The LAUNCH network has reached over 7,000 people worldwide and engages in a variety of globally relevant subjects. It has facilitated many new partnership opportunities, including unusual - and exciting - collaborations.

WHO COMES UP WITH CHALLENGES? LAUNCH challenges and insights come from many diverse perspectives within the LAUNCH network from our partners in government, business, academia and civil society. We learn a lot by guiding our LAUNCH Innovators to market. These insights inform future challenge statements. For instance, Seema Patel with USAID’s Global Development Lab consistently engages LAUNCH from a global and development perspective, to ensure that the viewpoints held by vulnerable communities help us better grasp the issues around which we frame our networks.

A D D I T I O N A L I NF O R M AT I O N : • LAUNCH creates and shares social capital and designs a collaborative environment to embrace and nurture innovation.

• Collaboration under LAUNCH focuses on creating public or social value. Traditional collaboration within and between organizations was designed to yield direct organizational benefits. With LAUNCH, however, organizations and individuals who choose to collaborate do so not only for direct organizational benefits, but also for broader social good.

H O W M A N Y C O M PA N I E S A P P LY ?

• LAUNCH provides a platform through which thought leaders and heavy-hitting organizations can explore and help accelerate sustainable innovations from around the globe.

We have anywhere from 50-200+ high quality responses to each of our challenges. We receive submissions from individual innovators and entrepreneurs, companies and organizations.

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• From innovative concepts, to the impact rotation process and mentorship opportunities, participants return to their organizations with new ways of thinking and the tools for change.

• 77% of Innovators say “the major contributions of LAUNCH are a result of connections, exposure, relationships.”

• Innovators indicate the strong impact of collaboration with government and industry leaders on their innovations’ overall social and environmental effects.

• 1000+ worldwide thought leaders and Innovators have a deeper understanding of global challenges and the solutions capable of transforming our future.

W H AT E L S E H A S L AU N C H A C C O MP L I S H E D A L O N G T H E WAY ?

2 0 15 • LAUNCH is honored with the the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Tibbetts Award, which is awarded to leaders and programs that have been instrumental in aiding the federal government’s research and development needs, and the nation’s economy, through technological innovation.

2 0 14 • LAUNCH is one of 100 programs from twenty countries featured in The Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, as a platform of innovations from a wide range of global sectors designed to inspire other changemakers.

• Fast Company names NIKE one of the world’s most innovative companies and gives special recognition to their expansion of the LAUNCH program.

2 0 14 • LAUNCH is awarded the NIKE Maxim Award. NIKE employees vote on projects that best represent each of the company’s 11 guiding principles, to select the project of the year.

• LAUNCH is featured in the G8 Social Impact Investment Forum, in London.

• LAUNCH is honored with the Top 25 Innovations in American Government Award. The recognition comes each year by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

2 010 • LAUNCH Water team is recognized with the NASA Group Achievement Award “for the creativity and energy you have dedicated to create a forum to share innovations in water sustainability to better our world.”

H A S L AU N C H B E E N R E P L I C AT E D ?

LAUNCH has been replicated by a variety of other institutions and has inspired new ways of working with all of our partners, specifically: - USAID’s Grand Challenges portfolio of programs, which was sparked by many early LAUNCH activities.

- NASA Grand Challenges and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy challenges .

- NASA has used the LAUNCH Big Think process to develop its own innovation strategy.

- USAID has been trialing collaborative innovation processes in Indonesia with the SAWIT program.

- The Australian government (DFAT) is replicating the LAUNCH program in its Blue Economy Challenge and transitioning part of its food innovation program into LAUNCH.

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N E T WO R K- CEN T ER ED I N N OVAT I O N

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO US TO BE

STRONGER TOGE THER? THE VOICES OF LAUNCH & SECONDMUSE

“Listen for what needs to be heard that hasn’t been heard, allow fresh perspectives to shape processes and outcomes”

“Strength through diversity. Together our diverse team represents different skills, experiences, perspectives and cultures that help us work with people from across the world and across value chains to solve some of the most complex social, environmental and business challenges.”

– ELYS SA DOLE

– JEREMY KAMO

“Being stronger together means more empathy and less ego, more collaboration and less competition, more inclusivity and less insecurity.”

– DAVAR ARDAL AN

“Standing strong together is working with others for the well-being of society, motivated by a love for humanity and a recognition that humanity constitutes a single social body. It is the process of creating shared understandings that result in individual initiative and collective action. It is considering not just the effect of what we are doing, but also the effect of how we are doing it.”

– CHAD BADIYAN

“Stronger together means that we - families, communities, companies, societies - are stronger when there is equality between men and women. How equality is manifested may look different in different situations. It does mean, though, that we respect, support, encourage and look out for each other, as equals. This is true for women standing together, as well as men standing together with women.”

– CARRIE FREEMAN

“Aside from the obvious strength in numbers, working together makes me stronger and better as an individual–more inspired, determined and likely to contribute something of value.

Together I am more able to lend and sustain my own strength because I also gain it in the process.”

– HEIDI HAMLOW

“For me, strength in togetherness is about being surrounded in every aspect of my personal and professional life by people committed to doing amazing, positive things in a way that is open, generous and full of rich experiences and value.”

– JEFF HAMAOUI

“Gender equality is fundamental to any meaningful social progress.

Standing together means recognizing each other’s capacities and strengths, and working together to provide opportunity to as many people as possible, placing special emphasis on opportunity for women. Opportunity to obtain an education, to work, to a decent life and to lead. Women have a moral courage, intuition and capacity to lead that the world desperately needs today.”

“Being stronger together means valuing diversity hand-in-hand with unity to ultimately open doors to a future where we all win.”

– MAT T SCOT T

– NEISAN MASSARR AT

“Standing strong together is celebrating the whole and holding the tensions inherent in our differences.

It’s embracing our diversity and fully living into my unique greatness. It’s having compassion for others and being unafraid of making our needs a priority. “

“Can you imagine an athlete that neglects to work out half of her body? Gender inequality is as bad for men as it is for women and the attainment of gender equality is as much our responsibility as it is that of women. If we get that right, we’ll stand stronger together.”

– MONICA PRICE COHEN

- TODD KHOZEIN

“We are stronger together when we listen to each other, give one another the space to be heard, and use our collective power to amplify the voices that have historically been silenced.”

- KENDRA YOSHINAGA