15.385 Sustainability-Oriented Innovation
Spring 2015
Instructor: Jason Jesurum Jay
TAs: Marine Gerard, Tristan James Jackson
Seminar: M 9-11:30 AM (E62-221)
Information:
Sustainability challenges - in physical domains like waste, water,
food, energy, and mobility, as well as human capital domains like
education - represent some of the most significant business
opportunities of the century. Realizing them, however, will
require significant innovation: not just in technologies and
products, but in processes, business models, and market
infrastructures. What does it take to bring
sustainability-oriented innovations (SOI) to market and to scale?
What are the pitfalls and pathways around them, for champions
of SOI inside large firms and in the startup context? How can
we systematically support and accelerate SOI in all its forms?
MIT Sloan has key strengths in entrepreneurship/innovation
and sustainability but we have not fully brought these capabilities
together to answer these questions. In 2015-16, the
Sustainability Initiative and Martin Trust Center for MIT
Entrepreneurship hope to jointly launch a class that does exactly
this. In Spring 2015, to prepare for this, we will hold a
“bootstrap” class - a special seminar, by permission of instructor
only, in which we will explore the SOI territory together, and
develop the curriculum and materials for the ultimate masters-level
class. This is a unique opportunity for students with strong
knowledge and interest in sustainability and innovation to build
new case studies, tools, and learning materials, and have a
powerful influence on the shape of MIT Sloan’s leadership in this
vital territory.
Announcements
Case Study to read
Hello SOI Enthusiasts,
To support the conversation from today's session, please check out the new document that has been uploaded to Stellar, under:
Materials >> Notes from Sessions >> Session 7 (April 13).
No need to go over the entire document, but please read pages 57-68:
THE JUAN FRANCISCO PROJECT – COSTCO AND CIAT’S EXPLORATION OF GUATEMALAN GREEN BEANS
Thanks! Best,
Tristan
To support the conversation from today's session, please check out the new document that has been uploaded to Stellar, under:
Materials >> Notes from Sessions >> Session 7 (April 13).
No need to go over the entire document, but please read pages 57-68:
THE JUAN FRANCISCO PROJECT – COSTCO AND CIAT’S EXPLORATION OF GUATEMALAN GREEN BEANS
Thanks! Best,
Tristan
Announced on 13 April 2015 6:21 p.m. by Tristan James Jackson
Case Study - Example Added
Hi everyone,
Hope you're all doing well!
Just wanted to call to your attention the Nike Case Study that I just added to the Stellar site.
It was conducted by MIT Sloan and provides some deep insights about what the innovation process actually looked like (who was involved? at which stage? in what capacity? etc.).
It may be a good source of inspiration format- and content-wise for those of you who are working on case studies.
(Note: it is longer than the 6-10 page output we had mentioned in class so don't worry about that aspect, just consider the overall 'spirit' and organization of the study).
Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday,
Marine
Hope you're all doing well!
Just wanted to call to your attention the Nike Case Study that I just added to the Stellar site.
It was conducted by MIT Sloan and provides some deep insights about what the innovation process actually looked like (who was involved? at which stage? in what capacity? etc.).
It may be a good source of inspiration format- and content-wise for those of you who are working on case studies.
(Note: it is longer than the 6-10 page output we had mentioned in class so don't worry about that aspect, just consider the overall 'spirit' and organization of the study).
Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday,
Marine
Announced on 09 April 2015 5:08 p.m. by Marine Gerard
SOI Reminders
Dear SOI Team,
First, something extra fun: check out the BMIX site, a collection of 100 case studies aranged according to Nancy Bocken's "sustainability archetypes," which we talked about in the first session: http://www.plan-c.eu/bmix/
On that site, scroll down, mouse over "examples" and click on "cases." Very cool!
Now, some of the normal sort of fun: assignments...
1. Comments on the 24 Step overlay
2. Slides for Monday
1. By now, you should all have submitted comments on the 24 Step overlay that is posted on Google Drive. The tricky part is, other than Damian, no one has yet done so. If you are in the course, you need to comment on the 24 Step overlay . Here are some pointers:
You don't need to be any sort of expert, though it's fine if you are; be yourself. We want to know what in the document works, and what doesn't. What is worded well? What is confusing? Pro and con commentary, as a user of the overlay, is very welcome. Do you like it? Would you change things? If yes, what things? What's missing? What's doesn't need to be there? Can you think of examples of companies or products that should be referenced? AS A PERSON USING THE OVERLAY: is it useful? If yes, why? If not, why not? How could it be better?
These comments were due March 9th. Please add comments to the document by Monday 4/6.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G-48pyvSbolfq5IthAUnX0WSf3znxOJ3QDth1K64Bfg/edit
2. You have submitted your work plans. Next step is:
* Project status update April 6th in class: 1-2 slides each
Please come ready to talk for 5 minutes with 1 or 2 slides about your progress so far - this can be challenges, successes, questions, insights, etc. - whatever you want to share for the group.
You can also ask questions of the group if you need input on your project.
If you have any questions about the above or about anything else relating to the course, please let us know.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday!
Best,
Tristan
First, something extra fun: check out the BMIX site, a collection of 100 case studies aranged according to Nancy Bocken's "sustainability archetypes," which we talked about in the first session: http://www.plan-c.eu/bmix/
On that site, scroll down, mouse over "examples" and click on "cases." Very cool!
Now, some of the normal sort of fun: assignments...
1. Comments on the 24 Step overlay
2. Slides for Monday
1. By now, you should all have submitted comments on the 24 Step overlay that is posted on Google Drive. The tricky part is, other than Damian, no one has yet done so. If you are in the course, you need to comment on the 24 Step overlay . Here are some pointers:
You don't need to be any sort of expert, though it's fine if you are; be yourself. We want to know what in the document works, and what doesn't. What is worded well? What is confusing? Pro and con commentary, as a user of the overlay, is very welcome. Do you like it? Would you change things? If yes, what things? What's missing? What's doesn't need to be there? Can you think of examples of companies or products that should be referenced? AS A PERSON USING THE OVERLAY: is it useful? If yes, why? If not, why not? How could it be better?
These comments were due March 9th. Please add comments to the document by Monday 4/6.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G-48pyvSbolfq5IthAUnX0WSf3znxOJ3QDth1K64Bfg/edit
2. You have submitted your work plans. Next step is:
* Project status update April 6th in class: 1-2 slides each
Please come ready to talk for 5 minutes with 1 or 2 slides about your progress so far - this can be challenges, successes, questions, insights, etc. - whatever you want to share for the group.
You can also ask questions of the group if you need input on your project.
If you have any questions about the above or about anything else relating to the course, please let us know.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday!
Best,
Tristan
Announced on 02 April 2015 7:52 p.m. by Tristan James Jackson
Hello!
Hi everyone,Hope you're all doing well. I added to the stellar site 3 readings I came across recently and which I thought were pretty interesting (you can find them at the bottom of the reading section). It might be worth taking a look at the abstracts or exec summary see if it's of any interest to you in the context of your case studies. Cheers, Marine
Announced on 25 March 2015 11:01 a.m. by Marine Gerard
Review of Concept Paper - For Monday 3/9
Hi everyone,We have received very good comments on part 1 of the paper already - thank you!
We thought we might make the task lighter for you as the paper
is quite long.
So we have decided to divide up the task:
--> Those who are doing case studies: focus on part 2.
--> Those working on centers of excellence: focus on part
3.
--> Tose working on tools: focus on part 4.
Hopefully this helps!
On another note, please all take a look at Appendix K, the SPI index, as we may touch upon it during our conversation with Scott Stern on Monday.
Thank you!
Announced on 06 March 2015 2:39 p.m. by Marine Gerard
