Uncovering the conditions we need to accelerate regenerative and distributive futures.
How we navigate the next 30 years will determine the nature of life on Earth for generations
In a period of immense disruption and rapid change, our choices and actions will have profound and long-lasting effects. Three forces are combining to define the landscapes we will act within:
the net-zero transition;
the proliferation of exponential technologies; and
an escalating contest for identity, values, equity, and self-determination.
These spaces are hyper-connected and emergent, and how we navigate them will determine the nature of life on Earth for generations to come. There is much at stake and the future is ‘turbulent, unpredictably uncertain, novel, and ambiguous’ (IMF, 2021). Despite this, it is our duty as stewards of this place we call home, to embrace complexity and navigate towards more hopeful horizons.
Imagination, cooperation and innovation are our superpowers
As humans we have long forged on the anvil of uncertainty. Our ability to make sense of our surroundings, envision possibilities, and forge new realities has been the defining story of humankind. Our creativity is the antithesis of fatalism, and maximising our creative capacity is now our most urgent task. Whatsmore, the complexity and significance of the challenges we face means we will need to be bolder in our goals and more systemic in how we pursue them.
Shaping Innovation Futures was an exploration into how we might accelerate the transformation needed to navigate the next 30 years, and realise better futures for people, places, and the planet.
Innovation Infrastructures for a flourishing society
Beyond specific solutions, we are focused on the underpinning conditions that enable us to organise, create, and act systemically. We frame the design and development of these foundations as ‘innovation infrastructuring’. For funders, impact entrepreneurs and champions of system change, we believe this approach offers a powerful lever and demands greater attention.
At the heart of our exploration was a simple question – how we can create innovation infrastructures that are equal to the complex challenges we face, at an appropriate level of scale, and which can adapt to ever-changing demands?
This task will require much leadership, collaboration, investment, patience and a certain amount of discomfort. With these realities in mind, we also wish to both embolden existing networks and build new coalitions.
Generations of thinkers have spent their careers seeking answers to society's great issues. We recognise the growing global movement focused on (re)shaping the underlying conditions for systems innovation and transformation. Through this work, we seek to join, build upon, and accelerate these efforts through blended perspectives. →
Framing, Discovery, Engagement.
Shaping Innovation Futures unfolded via three components:
1
setting the scene and framing the case for action.
exploring how existing systemic approaches to innovation transformation are being enabled and constrained.
2
3
shaping pathways to design, test, and develop next horizon innovation infrastructures.
Learning from practice
In Discovery phases we probed into pockets of the future using a series of curated conversations with pioneering initiatives.
The initiatives highlighted contrasting contexts and approaches to systemic innovation, and included unfolding trends like placed-based transitions, innovation ecosystems, mission-orientated innovation approaches, purpose-led networks, movements and DAOs and regenerative value chains. We intentionally spanned the boundaries of social, civic, technological, economic, and public innovation.
A small discovery cohort of thinkers and doers in systems innovation undertook these explorations, seeking to uncover what has enabled and constrained them, drawing out attributes and patterns that can inform the design of next-horizon innovation infrastructures in Australasia.
To realise regenerative and distributive futures, we need more systemic approaches to innovation and transformation.
The Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation will be asking the questions raised in the report in future work and is committed to evolving them them further. We hope you will too - growing systems innovation requires collective intelligence!