How can we help business improve their environmental performance from problem to pitch email version

NSC Insights Generation Service
‘from Problem to Pitch’
A summary of the nonon facilitated support of the GeoVation
Challenge: “How can we help business improve their
environmental performance?”
July 2013

In this document
• What happened before the GeoVation Camp (pg 5)
• What happened at the Camp (pg 12)
• Feedback (pg 75)

The GeoVation challenge was supported by:

GeoVation has grown from strength to strength

What happened before the GeoVation camp
We ran a Problem PowWow ins Bristol
The goal of a Problem Pow Wow is to ‘unpack’ the challenge of how we help businesses to
improve their environmental performance.
By unpacking the challenge, we discover within it a range of valuable problems which, if met, will
then provide value for all parties. We spent time with people who have perspectives on the
barriers that hinder businesses from improving their environmental performance.
A summary of the output is shown overleaf.
In the images that follow, a sample of the 43 insights are shown. For the full set please visit:
http://www.geovation.org.uk/resources/environment-powwow/

Problem PowWow team – Bristol, November 2012

Raw output from Problem PowWow

What happened at the GeoVation camp
• 47 ideas were submitted to the GeoVation website
• These submissions were written descriptions of the idea
• The judging panel invited a shortlist to develop them further
• 10 teams then took part in the camp itself

Objective:
To ensure each team leaves the
camp with a positive, supported,
next step.

What happened at the GeoVation camp
• We structured activities around the components of innovation
We believe that Innovation is a product of finding the best problem, responding with an
excellent solution and then executing it in order to scale it and make it viable from a business
perspective. Our summary equation for this is I = P x S x E.
As innovators had previously submitted ideas to the GeoVation Challenge website in written
form only, we felt it important to create activities that brought those ideas to life. At the
same time, we wanted to challenge participants to ensure they really had thought about
problems and were given an opportunity to build on their ideas. Where possible, we also
wanted them to prototype aspects of their thinking in order to demonstrate to the judges a
degree of robustness.
Further information about the Challenge can be found on the GeoVation Challenge website
here. Over the following pages, there are a selection of images which show in chronological
order how the Camp unfolded from the initial gathering on the Friday night, to the pitches on
Sunday afternoon.

nonon
Innovation without the
smoke and mirrors

INNOVATION = PROBLEM X SOLUTION X
EXECUTION

EXECUTION
invention

EXECUTION
assumption

I = P x S x E
What is the problem you are trying to solve, and for
whom?
Why does it matter?
Why has it not been ‘properly’ solved yet?

I = P x S x E
What is the best alternative to your solution if you did
nothing?
What value will your solution deliver for the
customer?
How will you know that your solution actually works?

I = P x S x E
What might prevent your idea from being implemented?
Where might the most significant costs lie?
How will you scale and sustain your venture beyond
early stage funding?

We assembled Ordnance Survey’s headquarters on Friday 21
June

Chris Parker from Ordnance Survey welcomed everyone.

We heard from Roland Harwood, chair of the judging panel

GeoVators Luke and Viv, also GeoVation Community Manager,
kept the weekend running smoothly.

And we videoed most of the weekend.

We got to find out a little about each other…

And created a map of the world based of where we came
from.

Saturday morning began with a brief intro from each team…

…with each summing up their idea in 60 seconds or less.

Sean introduced the camp structure…

And introduced the output from the Problem Pow Wows.
Insert booklet image

The teams explored the problems in detail.

Laura from nonon introduced us to sketching....

…and got everyone to draw portraits of each other.

David introduced the group to prototyping...

and Richard introduced the pecha kucha template.

Ian Holt introduced Ordnance Survey data.

With support, teams began sketching out ways to improve
their ideas.

This enabled discussions which in turn gave rise to new ideas.

The innovators requested help from our wonderful
supporters ranging from…

…to developing business model options…

…and discovering how best to use Ordnance Survey products
and services.

One team also built personas of potential users.

The judges were briefed on the camp…

Roland Harwood (Chair)
100% Open
Alison Prendiville
Deputy Director of C4D
Quentin Johns
Hub Westminster
Jason Davies
Probation Service
Anthony Parsons
Environment Agency
John Carpenter
Ordnance Survey
..before beginning their project tours…

…and meeting the innovators…

…so they could understand more…

‘Wasted Energy Network’ kicked off the pitches.

They were followed by ‘RecycleLink’…

…then ‘Business Energy Owl’…

Who were followed by ‘Element Green Recycling’…

And then ‘The ‘Green’ Contest’…

Who were followed by ‘Carbon Prophet’

Next up were ‘Streetkleen Bio Project’…

Who were followed by ‘Britain’s got Energy’…

‘Get on my land’ closed out a very engaging afternoon of
pitches…

As the judges were about to deliberate on the winning
teams…

…we voted on our favourite idea to win the Community
Award…

…and then had a paper aeroplane, throwing competition.

The winners of funding included Carbon Prophet who also
won the Community Award.

…and Streetkleen Bio Project

Overall, the whole process was an exciting, intense and amazing
experience where new contacts, friends and knowledge were
gained.
Everyone involved in the GeoVation Challenge were friendly and
helpful which aided in making the camp successful. At this point I
would like to give a big thank you to all those helpers who helped
us out with our ideas especially Kaushik Sudra who helped the
Britain’s Got Energy team with prototype and presentation design
along with good advice on the whole idea development. There are
quite a lot of other helpers who also assisted us and deserve a big
thank you.
I would recommend to anyone to join in with this process, either
by entering your own idea or by becoming a helper for the
GeoVation Camp.!
Camp feedback

It was an amazing and intense weekend, with Ordnance Survey
staff throwing a brilliant development gig and support from a
huge number of people across the business world.
During the weekend we worked hard and had fun bringing our
idea to life through the formula that Innovation = Problem x
Solution x Execution.
At every step we were supported by designers, data analysts,
product developers, technology experts, business minds and
more. The goal? To turn our idea into reality
Camp feedback

Thank you.
For more information on any of the information contained in this document, please
contact:
Sean Miller
sean@nonon.co.uk
07971 660 583
For more information on the GeoVation Challenge in general and this camp in
particular, please go to: www.geovation.org.uk or contact:
Chris Parker
Chris.Parker@ordnancesurvey.co.uk
champions@geovation.org.uk
07867 553091

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