=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2120/paper6
|storemode=property
|title=Tech4Good: Collectively Scaling Up Social Transformation
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2120/paper6.pdf
|volume=Vol-2120
|authors=Sanjay Podder,Shalabh Kumar Singh,Praveen Tanguturi,Pradeep Roy,Christophe Guéret,Neville Dubash
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/websci/PodderSTRGD18
}}
==Tech4Good: Collectively Scaling Up Social Transformation==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2120/paper6.pdf
Tech4Good: Collectively scaling up social transformation
Sanjay Podder Shalabh Kumar Singh Praveen Tanguturi
Accenture Labs India Accenture Research India Accenture Research
Bangalore, India Bangalore, India Bangalore, India
sanjay.podder@accenture.com shalabh.kumar.singh@accenture.com praveen.tanguturi@accenture.com
Pradeep Roy Christophe Gueret Neville Dubash
Accenture Research Accenture Labs Ireland Accenture Labs India
Bangalore, India Dublin, Ireland Bangalore, India
p.roy@accenture.com christophe.gueret@accenture.com neville.dubash@accenture.com
ABSTRACT resources, skills and knowledge is key to advancing the sustainable
The fourth Industrial Revolution is opening unprecedented oppor- development agenda.
tunities to solve some of the hardest social problems and, in the In this emerging world, big businesses need to think and act
process, make significant business gains, However, scaling up these differently. The ecosystem play will either help create markets
new solutions is not easy. Leading businesses will need to reinvent for them where none exist today, or address cracks in the market
the way they do business to capture these opportunities, including that prevent them from managing profitable growth. And it is
addressing the risks and challenges posed by new technologies. The the combination of new market forces, digital technologies and
essential components of scaling up the new business model include new ecosystems that will, in turn, solve complex social issues and
being good at orchestrating an innovation ecosystem, defining the drive impact at scale. Businesses also need to address the new
guiding principles to harness the collective intelligence of all the risks emerging from exponential technologies. Some of these are
ecosystem players, and devising a methodology for successful ex- visible. Digital impacts are challenging democracy with fake news,
ecution from development and design to sustainable operations. threatening individual freedoms with cyber-bullying, exploiting
This paper summarizes the position of Accenture on "Tech4Good" humans through data privacy breaches and, above all, raising the
and provides actionable insights and guidance for businesses to fear of AI algorithms dehumanizing society at unprecedented speed
scale up Tech4Good solutions. and scale. Digital technology must therefore be steered to ensure
a positive impact on society and the environment. Corporations
ACM Reference Format:
can be part of this process by joining collaborative ecosystems and
Sanjay Podder, Shalabh Kumar Singh, Praveen Tanguturi, Pradeep Roy,
Christophe Gueret, and Neville Dubash. 2018. Tech4Good: Collectively scal-
leveraging emerging technologies to solve real-world problems
ing up social transformation. In Proceedings of 5th International Symposium while, at the same time, making significant business gains. This
"Perspectives on ICT4D" (Downscale’18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 5 pages. is a key component of the "Tech4Good" (Technology for Good)
https://doi.org/10.1145/nnnnnnn.nnnnnnn agenda-managing growth, responsibly.
This paper outlines the position of Accenture on Tech4Good.
1 INTRODUCTION Section 2 describes the ecosystem at play for doing Tech4Good.
We’re entering a fourth Industrial Revolution, rooted in digitaliza- The basic principles of work are then described in Section 3. This
tion, that is enabling society and industry to build and consume is followed by suggestions for scaling up Tech4Good in Section 4
smart products and services. Thanks to the combinatorial power and Section 5 before concluding in Section 6.
of Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, genomics and other ex-
ponential technologies, there are unprecedented opportunities to
solve some of the hardest problems we face-including providing 2 TECH4GOOD INNOVATION
access to education and healthcare and promoting gender equality. We frame Tech4Good around three elements: societal challenges, an
While the power of digital technology is profound, no single player- ecosystem of partners to tackle these challenges and a framework
government, business, civil society, academia or individuals-could defining the collaboration between the ecosystem players.
possibly harness it alone. We believe that only a synergistic archi-
tecture of these societal players and their ’collective intelligence’
can steer the combinatorial forces of technology toward the desired
digital impact. The ability of multiple partners to pool significant 2.1 The Tech4Good Challenges
In January 2016 the United Nations Development Program outlined
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or a set of 17 goals as a call to action to "end poverty, protect the
classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed
for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity." [8].
on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. Those goals can be used to focus the work and the attention of
For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s).
the ecosystem players, especially businesses. Innovating to address
Downscale’18, May 2018, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
© 2018 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). these challenges will help business capture part of a US$12 trillion
ACM ISBN 978-x-xxxx-xxxx-x/YY/MM. market opportunity by 2030.[5]
https://doi.org/10.1145/nnnnnnn.nnnnnnn
Downscale’18, May 2018, Amsterdam, The Netherlands S. Podder et al.
can also create partnerships with academia and government to
launch new experiments.
Innovating for people who lack disposable income (those at the
bottom of the pyramid) has to overcome the two fundamental issues
of relevancy (solving the specific problems faced by people with
very low levels of income) and adoption (people’s limited capacity
and capability to absorb the social innovation).
Because they can live with lower or no returns, nonprofits can
address these gaps and help innovation to be absorbed by soci-
ety. An interesting case here is Akshaya Patra, the world’s largest
non-profit supplier of cooked meals for schoolchildren. Through
a collaboration with Accenture [4], the organization has taken an
Figure 1: Sustainable Development Goals [8] important step toward ensuring sustainable growth by implement-
ing a blockchain pilot in combination with AI and the Internet of
Things. The results suggest that implementing the solution in 15
2.2 The Tech4Good Ecosystem kitchens will likely result in operational savings of Rs 30 million. By
Businesses looking for the next big growth opportunity are unlikely continuously reducing the cost of each meal it supplies, Akshaya
to do so alone. Instead of seeking to develop new technologies them- Patra can do more with the resources it has, making it easier to
selves, they’re more likely to adopt and adapt solutions developed reach its goal of feeding 5 million children by 2020 (from around
by academia and startups, before building them out at industrial 1.6 million children today). Government, businesses, foundations
scale. They also face challenges in creating innovations where mar- and non-profit organizations like Akshaya Patra, which provide
ket mechanisms fail to function well. This means they need help last-mile connectivity, all have a critical role to play in solving these
from civil society and government. For instance, the poor may problems at scale.
not have the capacity and capability to absorb innovations that Social projects like Akshaya Patra play a big role in developing
big businesses create because of constraints in purchasing power, and scaling Technology for Good. But the ecosystem also requires
education and infrastructure. By contrast, governments can incen- one more set of players to be effective in promoting innovations.
tivize change through policy and subsidies. Civil society, especially This is a vibrant social venture capital community ready to provide
social entrepreneurs, can create markets where none exist today. impact investment.
All of this means that businesses need to orchestrate a synergistic Businesses need to bind all the players in the ecosystem together
innovation ecosystem as depicted on Figure 2. in a Tech4Good Innovation Framework. This will harness the ’col-
lective intelligence’ currently distributed across the system into
a synergistic whole. The result? Innovative solutions that solve
complex social problems, scaling up successful models and address-
ing market gaps through alternative options. Each player in the
ecosystem can then contribute based on core competencies like
research from academia, funds from government, products and goal
orientation from businesses, and reach and focus from civil society
(See Figure 3).
3 THE 5ES OF TECH4GOOD
Motivations for participating in the Tech4Good Innovation Ecosys-
tem will be different for each of the players. Academia will likely
be driven by ideas, requiring funds for breakthrough research. Gov-
ernments may favor transformational change-driven by broader
economic, social and political goals. Businesses must remain true to
creating shareholder value through proper returns on investment.
Figure 2: Tech4Good Innovation Ecosystem The social impact they create justifies the existence of civil society.
Stitching these players into a Tech4Good Innovation Framework to
achieve common goals is by no means easy. That’s why it’s essential
2.3 The Tech4Good Innovation Framework to define the guiding principles that will glue them together. To
harness the power of innovation for scaling positive digital impact,
Academia and research institutions conduct fundamental research,
businesses need a strategic framework that incorporates the 5Es of
develop relevant technologies and shape future progress. All this
scaling Tech4Good (see Figure 4):
converts into a growth in startups that build prototypes and in-
novative business models around these new ideas. The role of big (1) Build a strong foundation of digital Ethics
business is to use its vast operational and financial prowess to cap- (2) Engineer solution for the next billion
ture these innovations and industrialize them at scale. Businesses (3) Embed social good in business models and offerings
Tech4Good: Collectively scaling up social transformation Downscale’18, May 2018, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ensure that humans are not exploited for greater profitability and
are free from the effect of bias. With this ethical foundation in
place, businesses can explore different go-to-market strategies and
achieve maximum inclusiveness while ensuring profitability-a po-
tential win-win for all. Market cracks can be reduced or eliminated
by re-imagining business models and market offerings with the
help of digital technologies.
3.2 Engineer For The Next Billion
Engineering solutions for an inclusive world represents a potential
USD$12 trillion opportunity by 2030 that will create 377 million
new jobs [5]. But it calls for different design thinking: engineering
for the next billion customers may require co-creation with the
target population.
3.3 Embed ’Tech4Good’ in Current Offerings
Businesses need to examine whether ’Tech4Good’ is embedded
Figure 3: Tech4Good Innovation Framework harnesses "col-
in their offerings. Are accessibility requirements designed into
lective intelligence". Each entity stands to benefit from the
systems? Are adequate data protection and privacy measures in
others, who fill key gaps in their own ability to deliver on
place? Are algorithms audited to ensure against biases and unethical
social development goals.
practices?
3.4 Enable Social Enterprise and Nonprofits to
Address Unserved Markets
Even when solutions are engineered for the billions, there will
always be populations that fall through market cracks, deprived
of opportunities in jobs, education and health-care, among others.
While these cracks are typically addressed by nonprofits and social
enterprise, businesses can enhance the ability of these organizations
to address the needs of the bottom of the pyramid.
One of the major challenges faced by nonprofits and social enter-
prises serving the market cracks is their ability to manage digital
technology. They often lack the skills in-house-the expertise to
select and operate the right digital technologies to serve the next
billion. Accenture’s Tech4Good program [3] also enables nonprof-
its and social entrepreneurs, helping them effectively use tech-
Figure 4: The 5Es framework for scaling Tech4Good: Ethics, nology innovation for various causes like extending accessibility
Engineer, Embed, Enable, Educate solutions,[2] improving financial inclusion, and ensuring more chil-
dren get midday meals[4] and do not leave formal education.[1]
(4) Enable civil society with digital capabilities to address market
cracks, and 3.5 Educate to Build Capacity for Absorption
(5) Educate to build capacity to absorb innovation for the masses The final element of the Tech4Good Innovation Framework is the
need to educate-to build capacity and capability at the bottom of
3.1 Build a Foundation of Digital Ethics the pyramid to absorb innovations. Accenture Labs, for example,
has been working with Maya Healthcare to create a Tech4Good
The Tech4Good goal is to ensure inclusiveness with the help of dig-
solution that educates rural Indian youth to focus on the wellness
ital technologies. Opportunities in an inclusive world would ideally
element of healthcare and prevent non-communicable diseases.[7]
be available to all. Businesses would focus not only on profitability
but also on societal and environmental returns to stakeholders-
the triple-bottom line. At present, the impact on society and the 4 SCALING UP TECH4GOOD
environment, along with the need to make benefits more widely All innovators are challenged by the question of scale. Without scale,
accessible to society, are largely ignored. Dissonance results. appropriate returns on investment are extremely unlikely. Busi-
The synergistic Tech4Good Innovation Ecosystem must be sup- nesses are not only good at scaling up new innovations-given their
ported by a foundation of digital ethics. At a granular level, this financial, technical and operational competencies. But it is also es-
foundation would manifest itself in data protection and privacy sential for them to justify the investment and generate shareholder
practices, and ethical AI algorithms. Ethical AI algorithms would value. There is, however, no ready recipe for scaling Tech4Good
Downscale’18, May 2018, Amsterdam, The Netherlands S. Podder et al.
innovations. Challenges range from a lack of understanding of end- should be taken to the next stage (Incubation & Accelera-
customers and insufficient information to make strategic decisions, tion). At this point, design is limited to a smaller scale, and
to an inability to adapt to a changing business and social environ- may or may not involve ecosystem partners.
ment, made more acute by inflexible business models. Many projects Step 2: INCUBATION & ACCELERATION programs are run
fail to scale beyond the pilot stage due to a failure to understand alongside corporate venture programs or through indepen-
the underlying social and economic context. dent accelerators. These programs focus on providing men-
It is essential to study cases of both success and failure to un- torship, developing the business plan, finding co-creation
derstand the key principles for scaling up Tech4Good innovations. opportunities, and seeking financial assistance. Innovators
The lessons from case-studies of global organizations are clear: can seek financial subsidy in the form of grants, government
• Scaling Tech4Good solutions requires new skills and capabil- aid and philanthropy. Financial subsidies are not only com-
ities (both business and technical). Large businesses should mon, they are also very helpful in mitigating the high risks
not force their existing organizational approaches to scale of starting a business in volatile, low-margin markets. They
Tech4Good solutions; do not seem to discourage organizations from becoming
• Strategic investors and partners are critical for long-term self-sustaining.
success, and to lend their expertise in new markets; Step 3: PROMOTION & ADOPTION includes using evidence
• Flexible solutions and a flexible business model are needed from the Incubation & Acceleration stage to start securing
to reach end-customers. Don’t address all market needs with collaboration agreements with civil society, NGOs and gov-
a predefined solution; ernment entities to promote the product or service and adopt
• Influencing the system or key stakeholders and actors in the and absorb innovation. This is the most time-consuming
system should be the focus, rather than trying to completely phase, as promotion and adoption rely on relationships, advo-
overhaul the system; cacy and policy development. Every case study we examined
• Advocacy is needed for influencing or collaborating with involved partnering with a national/local government or an
ecosystem partners and decision-makers to adapt and adopt NGO, from pilot stage to finally scaling up operations. Gov-
new solutions; ernments, as partners, enable social innovators to achieve
• Along with advocacy, new communications approaches will large-scale systemic change.
be required-such as enrolling NGOs to promote solutions Step 4: SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS require companies and
and benefits and working with local communities to design entrepreneurs to understand the cultural context and de-
and propagate solutions. velop a structure that can work in any indigenous system.
• Finally, the fact that template-driven approaches will likely It requires companies to dedicate necessary financial and
not work should be embraced-adaptability is key to scaling non-financial resources and invest time to explore ways of
up. operating (as no single organization will be able to mobi-
lize resources alone). It is important to create shared value
These lessons, derived from case-study analysis and expert in-
at the intersection of financial performance and society to
terviews, can be further summarized as a four-step methodology
solve big problems. To unlock value, companies will need to
for scaling Tech4Good projects.
forge multi-stakeholder collaboration models and incentive
mechanisms.
For a sustainable operation, social innovators will need to
address market needs by adopting a combination of business
models that are either adaptive or disruptive in nature.
5 STRATEGIC GUIDANCE FOR
STAKEHOLDERS
All five elements of the Tech4Good Innovation Framework need
synergistic coordination between government, academia, business
and nonprofits (see Figure 6). The question remains whether digital
technology can help us build the collective intelligence that’s so
important for Tech4Good projects. Evidence suggests that this can
be achieved.
Figure 5: The four-step methodology for scaling Tech4Good Inspired by systems like Wikipedia and Linux, Climate CoLab [6]
solutions is a project run by Professor Malone as an open problem-solving
platform where a growing community of over 100,000 people-
Step 1: DESIGN & DEVELOP is the stage where businesses de- including hundreds of the world’s leading experts on climate change
fine customers’ unmet needs, as well as identifying chal- and related fields-work on and evaluate plans to reach global cli-
lenges that need to be overcome. This is followed by gather- mate change goals.
ing data and evidence, and creating a feedback mechanism The other big question is how do we prevent tech for bad? Tech-
for testing, measuring, refining, and proving if the prototype nology is neither good nor bad in itself. But it can be put to good or
Tech4Good: Collectively scaling up social transformation Downscale’18, May 2018, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
REFERENCES
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNH26mzATiI. (July 2016). Accessed: April
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[2] Accenture. 2017. Accenture Accessibility Solution: Empowering the visu-
ally impaired through responsible AI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Wnnm0ao3pGQ. (April 2017). Accessed: April 3rd 2018.
[3] Accenture. 2017. Accenture Tech4Good: Building a more inclusive and sustain-
able world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnyFWTbpxfg. (November 2017).
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[4] Accenture. 2017. Tech4Good - Million Meals Pilot with Akshaya Patra. https:
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[5] Business and Sustainable Development Commission. 2017. Better Business Better
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Figure 6: The 5Es require synergistic coordination and col- [6] MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. 2018. Climate CoLab. https://www.
climatecolab.org/. (2018). Accessed: April 4th 2018.
lective intelligence for success [7] Sanjay Podder and Nataraj Kuntagod. 2018. Living well with
the power of technology. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/blogs/
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bad uses. There are a number of areas where the use of technology [8] UNDP. 2016. Sustainable Development Goals. http://www.undp.org/content/
needs to be regulated to prevent harm. The priority? Governments, undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html. (January 2016). Accessed:
policymakers, leaders from technology, civil society, and people in April 4th 2018.
general must work together to draft equitable and fair standards.
These standards should be focused on three areas:
• HUMAN AT THE CENTER: Offering a range of services
that enable technologies like AI that are compatible with
the wellness of human stakeholders (employees, customers,
etc.);
• ETHICAL DESIGN: Architecting and implementing solu-
tions that comply with ethical design standards and provide
transparency to the process;
• COMPLIANCE: Influencing and evolving with government
regulations and public sentiment on responsible technology
guidelines.
The pace of technological change must be accompanied by ever
faster and smarter regulatory changes. We need policies and reg-
ulations that address new challenges, risks and threats, including
privacy and security. Businesses, along with other ecosystem part-
ners, have an important role to play in helping governments de-
velop appropriate regulations that can steer the impact of digital
technologies.
6 CONCLUSION
Businesses can amplify their mission and profitability by leveraging
the collective intelligence of an Tech4Good Innovation Ecosystem
comprised of regulators, academia, innovators and civil society-
rather than doing it alone.
By structuring these interactions in line with our recommen-
dations, it will be possible for businesses to address the needs of
society with differentiated go-to market strategies powered by dig-
ital technologies and collaborative partnerships.
In doing so, businesses will discover new revenue growth models
and develop a differentiated brand. They’ll also be contributing to
building an inclusive world that is just, fair and prosperous.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks are due to Eisenhower Fellowship that made it possi-
ble to connect and interact with several industry experts, academics
and entrepreneurs who contributed to the report’s findings.