Humane Innovation Manifesto
—signed off by all colleagues of Indeed Innovation by June 2020
10 years after our launch, we are ever more aware of our legacy. What we leave behind should be more than just new products and services or ideas. Ten years in, we realize that innovation can be a dead-end street.
More and better is no longer good enough. Creating cool products and services is no longer good enough when the world is on fire.
- Because of climate change
Because of increasingly divided societies
Because of technology undermining our humanity instead of nurturing it
Innovation is actually a big part of the problem. The chase for the next big thing, for the next better thing, all in the spirit of relentless growth. The problem is not consumption per se. The problem is consumption with a winner-take-all mentality, capitalism without accountability.
To build a more beautiful future we have to recode innovation
Meanwhile, Covid-19 is accelerating change. The world will never be the same again. The future is suddenly here. The global Covid-19 crisis is a catalyst that accelerates and amplifies existing patterns. It underscores the urgent need for fixing broken systems, adjusting human behavior, and expanding our collective consciousness.
- Business-as-usual is obsolete
Innovation-as-usual is obsolete
Design-as-usual is obsolete
We are at a tipping point. An ecological, economic, a social tipping point. And it’s urgent: We are the last generation that can save our planet, so it’s up to us to deliver the change. This is why, after 10 years, Indeed Innovation will become something new. We are reinventing ourselves. From “human-first” we will shift to humane innovation.
HUMANE INNOVATION TO IMPROVE THE BEHAVIORS OF PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE FOR ALL LIFE ON EARTH
What does that mean for Indeed Innovation’s work so far?
We do not regret our work so far. Together with our clients we focused on consumer and business needs and brought smart solutions and great innovations to the market. But this is not enough. We want to improve the behaviors of people and businesses towards a better future on the planet. Adding the planetary dimension to our people and profit focus will widen our horizon and the work we do for known and yet unknown clients.
Why do you change now?
We had been working on our vision for some weeks when Covid-19 entered the scene. After a short-term shock, the accelerated changes and tragedies caused a sort of awakening. If you have nothing to lose, there is all to win. So, we decided to go all-in: we geared all our power towards the future, used released capacities, and focused on building a vision strong enough to encourage us, our clients, and partners to improve the behaviors of people and businesses towards a better future for all life on earth with humane innovation.
What does the manifesto mean for your future work?
We will deliver humane innovations. That means innovations that are characterized by three qualities:
- Keeping products and materials in use and minimizing their negative impact through circular business models and production
- Supporting a shift from self-interest and instant gratification to collective care and social impact
- Bringing the best of humanity to the task of improving all life on the planet
We will deliver humane innovations by combining circular business models and processes with behavioral science and creative excellence. This provides guidance, designs, roadmaps, and transparent KPIs for conscious product and service innovations.
What are your next steps?
By intersecting the needs of people, the planet, and business, we will create more positive emotions with less consumption, build more robust systems, and deliver the biggest possible and viable advancement towards a better future for all life on earth. That’s our long-term mission and we are aware that we are not there yet…but we have a plan. While we are building on our creative excellence, we’ve invested in our knowledge of cognitive and behavioral science, broadened our understanding of circularity, and plan to win partners to build humane innovations as soon as possible.