Digital and Societal Transformation ideas-expertise-proces

The French Government launched in 2017 a call to create public innovation labs.  After 18  months an an analysis has been performed of the activities and progress of these, report   that can be found in French  here . . What are the most important lessons to be learned from that? The public innovation labs can have different approaches, either internal or external - internal: assessment of the realisations and processes in the public domain - external:   emergence of innovation in the content area The type of actions to be found in a lab are two-fold: - either it is completely integrated, meaning that the lab will follow the complete project   from its start phase till the experimentation of the solution chosen - or it is in 'facilitator' modus, meaning that the lab will intervene at certain key steps in the   project in order to boos/accelerate these. Type of realisations can be - called 'chantier' these are concrete and structured projects that require a strong   in

I started the year with a lot of resolutions, and also SDG awareness workshops. The first one took place at the supermarket Beescoop in Schaerbeek. Although only three participants showed up out of 10 foreseen  the motivation and drive more than compensated the limited number.   Walking popped up like a common way of moving both in the street and for leisure; the reason that this is the transport mode with the least external negative impact, and it also reconnects with nature. Also, very quickly the individual commitments seemed to bounce on a systemic limit, as for example in co-housing, one does not have the power to installe solar panels. This week a larger group of 20 came to the session organised at Transforma in Brussels.  The focus here was extended to learning in " 5 steps to include SDGs in your company" and I also presented some examples.  It is clear that sustainability is higher on the agenda of some companies, and that these have understood that mor

Already for 2020 years, the three kings coming from the East are said to have found Jezus in Bethlehem.  This event is celebrated in Belgium every 6th of January. So these three kings brought presents.  Here are the three immaterial presents that I would like to wish to you for 2020: 1. Resilience: be in the mood factor to learn and unlearn, to adapt to the unknowns in 2020, more easy said than done of course as humans like traditions 2. Gardener: have the attitude of a gardener when working on a project: prepare a lot, be patient, involve different stakeholders and find combinations for a healthy ecosystem; be thankful ; also easier said than done when you have to weed out freeriders for example 3. Questions: do not hesitate to bring kind questions in the conversation, one that can help other question and grow out of the status quo Probably in 2020 the stars will be replaced by the UN sustainable development goals as a vision/mission to work to and go there with actions that ha

As usual the agency FJORD has made a nice report with a nice mix of societal and technology evolutions. With an eye on  #civictech and #sustainability evolutions, I was really struck by the first chapter of the trend report 'many faces of growth'. The authors have been able to explain the current dynamics related to climate change etc. They warn that companies shouldn't look at climate change and revolutions as a gimmic, but that it is really important to start from zero to work at business models no longer based on the every financial figures of growth, but to start from the UN sustainable development goals and include the large cost of externalities in the product price. Yeah! I really like that this is put in black and white.  And it is not just some CSR bullshit of companies that should attract them to align with the UN SDGs, it is the essence of their own businesses: beyond the 'shareholder' not looking at the bigger picture of society (environmental

And, any resolutions for 2020?   Did you write less unproductive meetings in your top 10?   Probably not, but know that you will spend about 35% of your working time and over 50% if you are in upper management level. Over the years I did spend a lot of times in meetings, and actually tried to make the best out of it, and that is making the meeting report as concise and actionable as possible. If you want your work and in between meeting to be more productive, try the meeting canvas below, that I produced especially for you.   Just before Christmas I released the French version that was a great success, so I moved on to Feel free to adapt in CC commons license: French version:  English version:   The specifics of the canvas: One document for preparing the agenda/ taking minutes / follow-up in between the meetings Clear assignment of specific roles in the meeting Clear indication of what is expected about each point A kind of task list or in betwee