Over the last few years we have seen that a combination of disruption and innovation has the potential to transform a product or service into one that is easier to use, more efficient, more attractive, more affordable and, sometimes, more sustainable.
Linked to sustainability, a disruptive innovation that emphasises accessible products and services has a lot to offer the poor and other vulnerable groups. If such innovation can meet a range of social and environmental needs in a way that can generate profits, the innovation becomes scalable and long lasting (unlike many social enterprise models that remain small).
Effective disruptive innovations that have a significant social impact for vulnerable groups, drive sustainable development and create social change are likely to have six key characteristics:
- They create social change by meeting social and environmental needs in a profitable way, thus enabling scaling and replication.
- They are backed by stakeholders who want to see social change and play their part in advocating disruptive innovation that can have positive societal impacts.
Read more about the other four characteristics and how innovation has the potential to become a source of social change here.
Source: CSR Asia, 28 June 2017