How many innovators does it take to change a system?
Systems take many forms. Every day we rely on systems for energy and transport, communications and food; to bring water to our taps and to take waste from our bins. Systems can be technical and mechanical, but also organic and evolutionary; they range from the simple and linear to the complex and adaptive. Systems are much more powerful than stand-alone products or services; for example a car helps us move around but it is useless without roads, signs, fuel, insurance, training for drivers, maps, service stations and parking. A car only becomes really valuable as part of this wider system with its formal and informal elements.
In our work we are particularly interested in the systems that produce public goods such as care, learning, health, safety, work and community. These are often a collaborative effort across public, private and civic spheres: for example the systems that provide a safety net for working people involve formal employment services and further education providers but also unions, employers, insurers and mutual and individual self help.
When do we need to think about system innovation?
Systems can outlive their value when it is not possible to get further gains from the same model. Findings from researchers at the ROCKWOOL Foundation show that, for example, despite well-functioning employment services the same proportion of young people have remained disconnected from education and employment for the last 20 years. That points to a need for more fundamental system change.
We also need to think about system innovation when there are new challenges - such as a rise in young people’s mental health issues or care for an ageing population - for which we need new types of systems to be able to respond in new ways. And sometimes there is no formal system: we don’t have a ‘system’ for loneliness, for example; but we can have a systematic approach to addressing it, or to generating greater connectedness.
What is system innovation?
“Many innovations do not transform. Like new apps on an existing operating system, they in fact merely strengthen and elaborate an existing system. This does not negate their value; not all systems require changing and much benefit can be derived from social inventions […] for those who use them. But social innovation is often held up as the game changer, the processes which hold promise to create a different society in the future, one that is sustainable, just, and equitable. For that to happen, new apps are not enough. New operating systems must be developed.”
- Prof. Frances Westley,
JW McConnell Chair in Social Innovation, University of Waterloo
When we talk about system innovation we make a distinction between innovation within a system (improvement) and innovation to a system (transformation). A system innovation facilitates a change to the broader purpose, make-up or interactions of a system. We are interested in what lessons can be drawn from a historical view of how large-scale system transition happens that can be applied when we look at big public challenges.
How do innovations shift systems?
Thinking about social innovation through the lens of systems can help us achieve greater impact. Social innovations often fail to reach their full potential when they come up against the dominant patterns of existing systems that are hard to change. And many social innovations seek to solve problems which may themselves be symptoms of larger systemic challenges. In this way they may perpetuate the problems they set out to solve.
The most transformative innovations change the rules of the game - they work by reorienting or reconfiguring elements of the systems they are interacting with, so that a different kind of outcome becomes possible: a different purpose can be met through new resources, relationships and flows of authority.
Who changes systems?
Systems are powerful — but it is important to bear in mind that many of the social systems we have now are relatively recent. They were themselves created by people in response to the challenges of their times.
Systems do not change through one intervention, or through top-down policy alone. It takes a wave of related innovations at different levels to bring about lasting change. Because contemporary societal challenges span public, private and civic spheres, system innovation often involves working across conventional organisational boundaries. People in many different positions acting from both inside and outside formal systems have a role to play.
We want to equip those who are part of enacting system change, whether they are leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, regulators or community advocates, with the tools to create, change and work with systems to achieve greater systemic social impact.
What kinds of questions are we asking?
What gives rise to the need for system innovation?
What is known historically about how systems change that we can draw on?
What roles do people play in different positions in the landscape and what skills, methods and support do they need?
What practical tools are needed to usefully apply systems theory to social challenges in practice?
What does it mean to lead in service of system change?
What might accelerate the transition to new systems and what is needed to make those transitions positive?
What does it mean to fund or invest in system innovation?
How might we measure the system impact of interventions?
What are useful first steps that those wishing to embark on system innovation can take?
We are working with a network of international practitioners who have widespread experience of doing and investing in system innovation, and connecting practice with thinking from fields as diverse as sociology, cybernetics, leadership and environmental studies. We’ll be sharing our findings as we go along.
The System Innovation Initiative was launched in 2019 with funding from the ROCKWOOL Foundation in Denmark. The System Innovation Initiative is now System Shift - an independent organisation working with a range of partners internationally.