April 2012 Blog Posts (251)

My favorite tip to becoming a social innovator is to keep learning from your customers. I think that this tip is important because if you do not stay in touch with the people you are trying to help, you are not considering their opinions on their own problem. If this happens you may go as far as misunderstanding them and providing the wrong service, or a service disliked by the people. This can help me change the world as it will remind me to actually converse with my customers and the…

In 10 years, I imagine myself in University, studying to help the Earth. I will regularly do service and contribute to charity, and will probably set up an organization for something I feel passionate about.

http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw

My favorite, awe-inspiring clean water project: Lifestraw

The LifeStraw Carbon For Water program provides "lifestraws" to the people of communities without clean water. With a "Lifestraw", one can then drink dirty water, because the "lifestraw" will purify the water so that it is safe to drink. Lifestraws have been sent to more than four million people in…

魏思敏 is advocating for a new kind of bicycle, the Beecycle. This kind of bicycle generates electricity that can be sent to the grid through stations stationed around town. This energy can be used for positive purposes, and will help to conserve energy.

I picked this because this seemed like a good way to help the environment. This would not only reduce pollution from cars, but also help us reduce pollution from generating electricity.

I will follow this through some of the…

The one secret of innovation I believe is the most important is:

Provide skills, not just finished technologies.

While performing an act or job for others, I believe that it is better to provide them with a skill, that will last to them permanently. This way, they can perform the jobs that you have themselves so long as they remember it, being a permanent solution.

Whereas, if you have simply provided technologies, it is only a temporary solution because as they do not…

Being one of the business centers of the world, Hong Kong imports 95% of it's food from other countries. Only 3% of vegetables, 46% of poultry, and 18% of pigs consumed in Hong Kong are produced locally. This leaves the food market in Hong Kong at great risk. What if the country exporting a great deal of Hong Kong's food (like China) has a disruption in the exporting system? Hong Kong would be at great risk of not getting enough food.

Another way Hong Kong's food security is at great…

Water.org is a fairly large and influential organization that launches many water projects around Africa to supply clean water and build water infrastructure in developing countries. A challenge called "Hult Global Case Challenge" was launched to provide ideas for the funding of Water.org projects. The students of the University of Cambridge have come up with a very creative solution for the funding of water projects in Africa for Water.org. The plan included using mobile phone use as a…

In 2020, when Alchemy calls for my help, I am a Senior in University in New York City. I am at my internship at the U.N. discussing our next trip to Ghana to experience life as the residents and to develop an understanding of their problems. This internship is very important because it could lead to an actual job after graduation.

It’s a Saturday, so I don’t have any cla****, meaning I spent my morning in the garden on my apartment buildings roof. It is a really hectic time though, as…

My Social Innovation Hero: Megan White Mukuria

How I keep up with my hero online: I am subscribed to her Facebook page

Why I picked my hero: Because most social innovators focus on issues that I can’t relate to in the slightest, like famine and lack of clean water, but Megan works to educate girls about adolescence, provide sanitary pads, and fight for girl’s rights. Going through adolescence now, I understand how confusing and scary it can be, so I now the true importance of…

My favorite secret is: “Problems are not always obvious from afar”.

This secret means that you can’t really understand a problem from afar (in your sheltered life), only experiencing the problem first hand can give you a full understanding.

This secret fits perfectly with me, because living a privileged life in Hong Kong, there are many problems that I am sheltered from and can’t even begin to relate to. How can I tackle a problem without any relation or understanding of it? I…

   While innovation may not always be present in situations without pressure, constraints will often create the urge to innovate. If everything, in your mind, is perfect, then what is there to innovate for? Why would you innovate if you felt it was useless? Unlike an essay or report, innovation can't be forced out of people. 

   Constraints, such as time and money, not only help to start innovation, but they also create much more efficient innovation. Such innovation must conform to…