Over the last ten years, there has been a revolution in the way that innovative ideas, technology and research go from the field or lab into the global market.   The world is embracing innovation and entrepreneurship as the means by which economic value is created and lingering problems in society are solved.   Universities, labs and private companies commercialize the research being conducted by their faculty and scientists through proof of concept centers. And startups embraced a new business philosophy called the Lean Startup, which manifested itself in accelerator programs that have sprung up around the world.  Equal Innovation works with NGOs and foundations through an individualized accelerator program with several steps to identify innovation, prove the concept and create pathways towards implementation and scale. The various stages of our 5A framework include:

Equal Innovation brings the proof of concept and acceleration principles to the development, social impact and philanthropic sectors.  Worldwide, we are seeing nearly 30% of startup projects at university proof of concept centers and startup accelerators focused on making a positive impact on society – either with a direct objective of social impact, or as a for-profit company in sectors like clean tech, wellness and agricultural productivity.  These startups often struggle to gain traction from lab to market because their natural funders and partners – foundations, philanthropy, NGOs and government agencies, often lack the expertise to pilot new technologies and implement them at scale.

Innovation

Equal Innovation has worked closely with clients around the world to develop processes for innovation.  Equal Innovation has an expertise in creating programs and ecosystems within large organizations that allows to flourish and gain momentum with the appropriate oversight and buy-in.   Developing innovation ecosystems within organizations starts with a determination of how to integrate new ideas into traditional programs and activities.  The core work is to determine the areas of focus that are best suited for innovation, in that the funder or the operating partners are best equipped, experienced and prepared to integrate new ideas or technologies.  We then work with the organization to develop the capacity of the funder, the staff, the partners and their network to leverage the innovation.   We contextual innovation process methodologies like proof of concept for what is appropriate to the funder or implementing agency. 

Entrepreneurship

​Equal Innovation has unique experience as a strategic consulting and advisory firm to assist large organizations to launch entrepreneurial ideas, and for foundations and governments to develop policy that drives economic development through entrepreneurship.  The Equal Innovation methodology involves a combination of Lean Startup with proof of concept and intensive collaboration between regional institutions or organizational departments.  This tends to improve the chances of entrepreneurs, or intrapreneurs, to gain traction for their ideas, raise capital and recruit top talent.

Commercialization & Scale Up

Equal Innovation is building a global network of innovators, proof of concept centers, accelerators and research technology transfer offices to be able to match innovations and funders.  We hope to connect the right innovation to the right situation anywhere in the world with data, sector-specific research and analysis, and a broad network of practitioners.   Today, Equal Innovation is building a network of 100 global universities, accelerators and research labs that are commercializing technology for sustainability, education or the base of the pyramid