We’re here because the world is facing massive challenges that cannot be resolved simply by adding technology to the same old systems and structures that got us here in the first place. We think the world needs more fearless social innovation - innovation that is divorced from the biases that got us here, avoidant of tech-solutionism, that is humane and empathetic by design, and that is effective, viable, inclusive and scalable when implemented.

We also think the world is changing in deeply meaningful ways that will fundamentally impact the way we build the future of our economic and social dynamics. Nuveen recently conducted a study on institutional investment, and they reported that 51% of institutional investors believe the current fundamentals of long-term market dynamics have lost their relevance. Investors also listed social inequality and climate risk as critical to new strategies, with 86% agreeing that the transition to low carbon economies presents new opportunities, and 52% believing that their investment choices affect social inequality. Nielsen has repeatedly found that consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from companies they trust to be sustainable and/or impactful. These are major changes and they are happening across global market forces, consumer expectations, and grander societal contexts.

Still, despite much research that validates the value of principles guided business, we continue to see a dissonance between current organisational and innovation strategies and their corresponding impact strategies (or lack thereof). Impact is still too often viewed as “nice to have, but not essential” or as an investment for good that will lower returns but increase goodwill in the company’s public image. And it is this very reason that leads to corporate social responsibility initiatives that are more of the same old - one-time projects, an appointment to a C-Suite role with little-to-no real power, or the occasional financial write-off toward carbon credits or similar line items. These efforts are consistently siloed and minimally resourced to a single employee or small team, and they definitely don’t often sit in the room where strategic decisions get made.

Publicly, though, we are writing a collective narrative that entrepreneurial and technological innovation will save the world from its problems. We build digital wallets for financial inclusion, yet more than one third of the world lacks connectivity to the digital realm. And, the more we digitise, the more energy we need to sustain our systems, and the more greenhouse gas emissions we create. Digital technologies are already responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, a figure that is expected to double by 2025. After all, we generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per day and training a single AI algorithm can generate as much carbon dioxide as five cars over their lifetimes.

As it currently stands, our desire to build a technology forward future is at odds with
our desire to meet environmental and social goals that will actually make the world better for more people.

But this need not be the case. When done properly, innovation that is underpinned by impact is transformative and revenue generating. Emerge, along with our adventurously committed clients, work together to set new precedents for the way sustainable development, exponential technology, and socio-economic behaviours converge toward effective and viable regenerative innovation. We call this convergence and theory of change our DNA.  You’ll be able to follow along as we apply our DNA throughout our projects by sticking around our social media accounts, including subscribing to us here.

In a world where impact and justice are needed now more than ever, we help re-imagine an organisation’s core competencies with thoughtful and measurable impact architected through new technologies, factoring in the value dynamics that make these kinds of investment common sense. We make impact an investable strategy and asset class.

There is no causation effect between technology and social impact or development. Tech-solutionism won’t change that. But our collective thoughtfully designed intentions and strategies, along with a fearlessness in breaking the old and re-imagining the new, sure can help.

For more information on Emerge and our work, please subscribe or visit www.emergetechlab.com.

*Sources: Nuveen, Nielsen, Forbes, Earth.Org, Resources.Org