A compass for systemic innovation

Halogen collaborates with customers and partners to tackle complex, societal challenges. Over the years, we have developed a set of methods and frameworks to support this work. In 2020, we partnered with Demos Helsinki and the Future Fit Leadership Academy to create our systemic playbook, a tool that helps organisations drive large-scale transformation in complex environments.

This article provides an overview of each stage of the playbook and illustrates how we applied it in our work with Nordic Innovation. The playbook is a collaboration between Halogen, Demos Helsinki and Future Fit Leadership Academy.

You can read the full playbook here: Playbook for systemic innovation, or the full Nordic Innovation report here: smart innovation compass.

Developing a systemic and regenerative mindset

“Organisations usually have their own established processes and mental models when it comes to innovation. A systemic transformative approach might be something different and unknown, so the first stage of systemic transformation is to re-evaluate the mindsets required for the process ahead.”

- Playbook for systemic innovation

At the start of the project with Nordic Innovation, a key focus was building a shared understanding of systems thinking. Unlike conventional problem-solving, systemic transformation requires a shift in mindset. It was crucial to teach, train, and guide participants, and take the time to explore how systems work and how to change them.

This part of the project consisted of workshops, away days, and in-depth discussions to:

• Introduce systemic methods

• Build systemic literacy and enthusiasm

• Establish shared ownership of the approach

• Shift the docus from solutions to understanding the broader system

Areas of focus: 

1. Shift from technology-driven to purpose-driven

We had our direction – a transition towards a more sustainable sector. But the sector faces many challenges that are important to recognise and explore, such as limited energy resources, change in global value chains, urbanisation, an ageing population, and car dependency. While technology plays a role, a transition must also be economically viable and align with Nordic values of trust, equality and justice. We needed to choose opportunities that can make progress on all fronts. 

To address this, we gathered the project participants and mapped the means and ends we wanted to achieve, with a focus on human and planetary wellbeing. It enabled us to discuss different types of means (e.g. health, wealth, mobility, happiness, fulfilment) and ends (e.g. labour, tools, raw materials, energy, biosphere) in the context of the sector, and then choose focus areas with a broader systemic purpose in mind.

2. Acknowledge system complexity

Passenger mobility and logistics are deeply interconnected with urban design, transport modes, governance, culture, and more. In order to create a resilient and sustainable solution, it is important to understand what that solution is connected to and the problems that come with those connections. For example, if the goal is to create a solution that improves the passenger experience of cross-border travel, you can’t just focus on data. You must also consider, for example, modes of transport, infrastructure, regulation, and culture, as well as the challenges that those areas bring. 

By mapping the layers and connections, we better understood how they interact and how data systems need to function across them. It helped us to acknowledge the complexity of the systems we were trying to change, and as a group make a plan for how to go about focusing our work.

Defining challenges and understanding the system

“A systemic transformation requires that multiple stakeholders share a common understanding of the challenges ahead. By understanding how symptoms and root causes are interconnected it is possible to gain an overview of the systems surrounding these challenges. Here, systemic design offers us several tools to guide this process.”

- Playbook for systemic innovation

Nordic mobility encompasses two systems that we needed to explore: passenger mobility and logistics. We also needed to understand how data connects to each and identify challenges. 

Areas of focus: 

1. Map the data landscape

We analysed data providers, users, processors, regulations, frameworks and structures. Some key insights:

1. We need better data governance across borders in order to better use the data we have. Different countries have different understandings and conventions for how they handle data, and we need to find common ground and collaborate to make the most of what exists already. 

2. It was crucial to find data use cases that are grounded in actual needs, rather than simply building a data sharing solution without purpose. Understanding, mapping and sharing these use cases can be a game-changer, allowing ecosystems to naturally combine around them and realise benefits for themselves as well as society. 

2. An analysis of mobility and logistics as systems

Through expert interviews and workshops we created a systemic picture of each system. It identified key symptoms that we can observe, and the root causes that happen “below the surface”. For example, the symptom of a lack of understandability of routes, costs and modes across borders in the Nordics, is linked to various root causes including a lack of standardised, quality mobility data for journey planning and booking because public-private data aggregation and sharing is not happening, and there is no responsibility or prioritisation of cross-border traveller data. 

This deep understanding allowed us to pinpoint critical challenges, relevant stakeholders, and leverage points that we could use for change.

Envisioning a desired future: setting direction towards the future we want

“Once we share a common understanding of the challenges we currently face, it is time to look ahead.

In order to navigate forwards, we need to be able to imagine new futures, prepare ourselves for the uncertainty and volatility by exploring different scenarios, and decide collectively where to place anchors in the future so we can move towards it. In other words, by envisioning new futures, we can outline a shared direction for an ecosystem of stakeholders to work towards, and backcast from there the actions we might need to take in order to get there.”

- Playbook for systemic innovation

The target for 2030 was clear: "The Nordic region will be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030”, as set by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic prime ministers in 2019. For our work with Nordic Innovation, we needed to illustrate this vision from the point of view of mobility and logistics. How would these systems look in the world's most sustainable and integrated region in 2030?

Areas of focus:

1. Scenario building

Collaborating with Nordic stakeholders, we held scenario building workshops. We identified the most important drivers of a future scenario, created a combination of these drivers, and formed a preferred future scenario as a base for the next step in the process. The scenario helps to identify meaningful change and to discuss direction, trends, events, technology, changing behaviour or values. 

2. Vision workshop

We included researchers, industry representatives and public officials to work on describing future states. They are presented and evaluated, and used to identify which features are desirable. 

3. Vision development

The project team then formulated a desirable vision based on the input from the two preceding activities. The goal was to be inspirational, and to paint a picture of how mobility and connectivity can look in the future.  

At the end of this process, 6 different aspects of a future vision for Nordic mobility and connectivity were developed: 

• Multimodality at the core

• Sustainability as the key priority

• Seamless logistic nodes

• Data opens new opportunities

• Invisible systems work smoothly

• Innovations are done together.

The vision aligns the work around a shared direction, and helps to plan for innovation using an end goal and timeframe that is more visible. 

Defining demonstrators: where to intervene in the mobility and logistics systems 

“Demonstrators can be considered as living organisms consisting of people and organisations working together to show the change. This perspective helps us understand that innovation is only achievable through a collaboration of diverse actors. An ecosystem and its demonstrators are set up to constantly adapt, as the new system emerges around them. The leadership dimension of an ecosystem is crucial, and the key to success.”

- Playbook for systemic innovation

For Nordic Innovation, we needed to maximise the impact of innovation funding by deciding where it should focus. It is then important to share this knowledge, so that others in the sector could act upon the opportunities for change. 

Areas of focus: 

1. Assessing impact and feasibility

We developed a set of criteria to consider impact and feasibility to identify hotspots. It went beyond just technology, to consider: alignment with NI’s core mission; the competence and technology capabilities in the Nordics; the social and ecological needs in the region; and the economic feasibility. Using these criteria, we assessed ideas that arose during the insight phase to identify hotspots that fulfilled as many of them as possible.

2. Describe potential hotspots for innovation

To build upon this, we engaged with stakeholders in the sector to explore the systemic ideas and describe each hotspot in greater detail. For Nordic mobility, the hotspots included making cross-Nordic journey planning and booking services more accessible, and making it easier to understand routes, costs and features of cross-Nordic journeys. Both hotspots relate to creating a seamless digital planning and booking service that transcends modes and borders, and having a technical data sharing solution behind it. 

Describing the hotspots in detail helps to uncover the challenges within, for example, how do we: Deal with incompatible and inconsistent data sets? Harmonise private and public service providers and foster openness and collaboration? Shift mindset and encourage a collective will amongst stakeholders? Move from competing for market share to growing the market collectively? Steer consumers towards collective transport instead of private individual journeys? Enable actors to collect robust, quality data that can be used by all involved?

The hotspots are an invitation for stakeholders to gather around, to collate deep knowledge, to develop initiatives, and to decide how to measure and fund. They form the basis of establishing portfolios for innovation.

The emergence of an innovation ecosystem: the way forward 

“An ecosystem emerges around specific challenges, a shared vision for a desired future, and a collection of demonstrators that show that we can pursue the change.

The nature of such innovation ecosystems depends on the number and type of stakeholders included. Ownership, motivation and size will influence the role and behaviour of the different stakeholders.

Leadership is a critical factor for such an arrangement to work. Establishing a leader or leader organisation to orchestrate the ecosystem is therefore key to the success of an ecosystem.”

- Playbook for systemic innovation

It was clear that Nordic Innovation should initiate and fund new activities that could get the right people on board, establish new partnerships, maintain a shared understanding of the vision, and balance the interests of everyone involved.

In practice, this culminated in launching a new call for proposals, and publishing a systemic knowledge base in the form of a report. The core objective of the call is for Nordic Innovation to have a more systemic way to invite, select and fund innovation work. The call is designed to work together with established, traditional project-by-project funding processes, whilst integrating systemic thinking by encouraging bids with a holistic approach that can adapt to change.

By applying the playbook, we helped Nordic Innovation: 

• Increase their impact by approaching innovation funding in a more systemic and interconnected way.

• Understanding their role as actor for systemic change.

• Create a systemic funding portfolio to better prioritise the work that they fund.

For the Nordic mobility sector, the collaboration showed the value of considering broader social, environmental and economic impact, instead of seeing technology and data sharing as an end-in-itself. The process provided the opportunity to find leverage points around which to organise Nordic-wide initiatives, as well as demonstrating the value of engaging multiple stakeholders in showcasing that change is possible.