84011 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Learning from infoDev’s Mobile Microwork Innovation Competition Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Learning from infoDev’s Mobile Microwork Innovation Competition The report “Guiding Ideas From Mind to Market: Learning from infoDev’s Mobile Microwork Innovation Competition” is available at http://www.infodev.org/m2Work. © 2013 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, infoDev 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: http://www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. Note that The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content included in the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of the content contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. 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Cover design: infoDev All images in this report are infoDev’s unless otherwise noted. 2 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market About infoDev infoDev, a global trust fund program in the Financial and Private Sector Development Network of the World Bank Group, supports growth-oriented entrepreneurs through creative and path-breaking venture enablers. It assists entrepreneurs to secure appropriate early-stage financing; convening entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, mentors and other stakeholders for dialogue and action. We also produce cutting-edge knowledge products, closely linked to our work on the ground. About infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program supports growth-oriented mobile app businesses in emerging and frontier markets. infoDev does this by 1) enabling entrepreneurship in the mobile industry, through venture incubation and acceleration, 2) building mobile innovation communities of entrepreneurs, investors, partners, and mentors, 3) researching the app economy of emerging and frontier markets. The backbone of infoDev’s Mobile Innovation program is a global network of Mobile Innovation Labs (mLabs) and Mobile Social Networking Hubs (mHubs), rolled out across eleven countries. For More Information Please direct all inquiries to: infoDev/World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 USA http://www.infodev.org Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 3 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 9 Executive Summary 11 Objective of infoDev’s ”From Mind to Market” Approach 15 Introduction 19 “From Mind to Market” through the Example of m2Work 19 Overview: m2Work as the “From Mind to Market” Pilot 23 Step 1: Identification of a High-Potential Topic 25 Step 2: Running a Broad-Based Innovation Competition 28 Step 3: Forging Minimum Viable Products 33 Step 4: Incubation and Acceleration 37 m2Work Outcomes 37 Results 41 Lessons Learned from the m2Work Pilot 41 Focus Support on the Most Committed and Support Them Well 42 Activate Communities Locally, but Interlink Them Globally 43 Make a Strong Effort for Viable Partnership Models 47 The Future of the ”From Mind to Market” Approach 51 Annex 4 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market List of Boxes, Figures, and Tables 12 Box 1: mLabs and mHubs 15 Box 2: Why Mobile Innovation for Development? 27 Box 3: Finalists and Spot Prize Winners of the m2Work Idea Challenge 34 Box 4: How an Ambitious Idea Makes It to Market: the MicroForester Case 20 Figure 1: The Four Major Steps of “From Mind to Market” 21 Figure 2: Progression of the “From Mind to Market” Approach 24 Figure 3: Microwork Value Chain and Ranges of Value Captured by Chain Members 37 Figure 4: Visualization of Best Ideas by Category 37 Figure 5: Ideas Submitted by World Bank Region 38 Figure 6: m2Work Hackathon Statistics by Site 39 Figure 7: m2Work Hackathon Website Statistics 13 Table 1: mLab and mHub Service Offerings 22 Table 2: Goals and Tools for “From Mind to Market” Process Steps 23 Table 3: Step 1 Dos and Don’ts 25 Table 4: Step 2 Dos and Don’ts 28 Table 5: Participants’ Satisfaction with the m2Work Hackathon 29 Table 6: m2Work Hackathon Partners and Winners 30 Table 7: Participants’ Intentions on Next Steps Following the m2Work Hackathon 31 Table 8: Participants’ Motivators to Participate in the m2Work Hackathon 32 Table 9: Step 3 Dos and Don’ts 33 Table 10: Step 4 Dos and Don’ts Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 5 Acknowledgements This report discusses infoDev’s From Mind to Market methodology that was designed to bridge early-stage innovation support gaps and guide promising business ideas on the path to sustainability. The multitiered mobile microwork innovation competition, “m2Work,” was the pilot for the methodology within infoDev’s Mobile Innovation Program. More information on the program can be accessed at www.infoDev.org/workprogram. UKaid and the government of Finland through the Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy (CSBKE) program funded m2Work. Nicolas Friederici, a doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute and consultant for infoDev, wrote the report. Contributions to the report came from Toni Eliasz (infoDev), Roberto Peña (infoDev), Bibhusan Bista, and Prawesh Shrestha (Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd.). The author is indebted to everyone that provided input and feedback for the analysis through interviews and surveys, namely the hackathon participants, the idea challenge finalists, the m2Work Hackathon focal points, and representatives of m2Work Hackathon partner organizations, including the Armenian-Indian Center of Excellence, Microsoft Innovation Center Armenia, Nokia, Qualcomm, Safaricom, and Samsung. Peer reviewers provided critical guidance and helped hone the report: Laura Baker (infoDev, Georgetown University), Georgina Campbell (infoDev, MIT Sloan School of Management), Brett Dickstein (infoDev, mLab East Asia), Tim Kelly (ICT Sector Unit, World Bank), Angelique Mannella (infoDev, Decode Global), and Sophia Muradyan (infoDev). Thanks also go to Carollyne Hutter for copy editing and Roberto Peña for graphic design of the report. A large number of people contributed to the m2Work project. First and foremost, the m2Work team would like to thank all idea contributors, hackers, entrepreneurs, and other innovators that participated. Vili Lehdonvirta (Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute) authored the “Knowledge Map of the Virtual Economy,” a report funded by UKaid. 6 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market The m2Work Idea Challenge was supported by Nokia’s IdeasProject team, led by Pia Erkinheimo. High-level judges for the challenge were Stephanie von Friedeburg (VP and CIO, Information and Technology Solutions, World Bank Group), Esko Aho (EVP Corp. Relations and Responsibility, Nokia), Anand Kulkarni (CEO, MobileWorks), Vili Lehdonvirta, Candace Johnson (Serial Entrepreneur, Telecommunications and Startup Investment), and Karen Hanrahan (Chief Innovation Officer, UKaid). Several mLabs staged outreach workshops, which were particularly effective in Armenia. Finalists received coaching from the infoDev m2Work team and Nokia representatives. DataRangers helped with the quantitative analysis of the challenge and a visualization of submissions. The m2Work Hackathon would not have been possible without proactive and efficient global facilitation by Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. of Nepal. The four mLabs in Vietnam, Armenia, South Africa, and Kenya were strong local implementation partners. mLabs and Young Innovations in Nepal partnered with many local organizations to run the hackathon successfully: Nokia Vietnam and FPT Software in Vietnam; Samsung, Safaricom, Emobilis, Isis Software, and iHub in Kenya; Microsoft Innovation Center, Arm-Indian Center of Excellence, Gyumri Information Technology Center, Armenian Datacom Company, and Red Bull in Armenia; Nokia, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Qualcomm, Vodacom, CSIR, The Innovation Hub, University of Pretoria, The e-skills Institute, and the South African Innovation Network (SAINe) in South Africa; Microsoft Innovation Center Nepal, Google Developers Group (GDG) Nepal, CSIT Association of Nepal, Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN), Nepal Open Source Klub (NOSK), LOCUS, and Worldlink in Nepal. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 7 8 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Executive Summary infoDev’s “From Mind to Market” approach was Asia (Vietnam), Southern Africa (South Africa), East designed to bridge early-stage innovation support Africa (Kenya), and Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and gaps and guide promising ideas on toward Central Asia (Armenia), as well as on the mobile minimum viable products, ultimately turning social networking hub, or mHub, that infoDev had them into sustainable businesses. The approach seeded in Nepal. UKaid and the government of aims to source ideas from a large talent pool and Finland funded m2Work. spur the best innovators to turn their innovations into sustainable, growth-oriented start-ups. In the first stage of 2011, infoDev’s Knowledge Map The method combines open innovation and of the Virtual Economy had revealed the potential competition models with infoDev’s grassroots of mobile microwork for job creation in developing incubation network. countries. “Microwork” refers to small, instant tasks that can be completed for pay on mobile phones The primary goal is start-up creation. Secondary worldwide. goals include the generation of pools of ideas and prototypes, the creation of basic topical As the second stage, the global m2Work Idea knowledge for a large group of innovators, and Challenge solicited ideas for mobile microwork broader awareness-raising around a new topic, applications on Nokia’s IdeasProject platform as well as partnership and capacity-building for from February to early April 2012. In April, the six implementation partners. regional finalists received business coaching from microwork and mobile experts. In mid-May, a high- This report summarizes the “From Mind to level jury tapped the winner and runner-up. Market” approach, which is based on four steps: (1) the identification of a novel topic with market As the third stage, the m2Work Hackathon in potential and high potential for international September brought together app coder teams development; (2) the implementation of a broad- at five sites to develop microwork ideas into based collaborative, open innovation competition; prototypes and business models. At the fourth (3) the implementation of an activity that forges stage, mLabs and mHub Nepal offered follow- minimum viable products through face-to-face on incubation and acceleration to several support at sites across the globe; and (4) the follow- promising teams. up with a program of incubation and acceleration for the best and most committed innovators. This report analyzes if the “From Mind to Market” methodology that m2Work piloted should be This methodology was first tested in infoDev’s integrated into infoDev’s larger Mobile Innovation multitiered mobile microwork innovation contest agenda and, if so, how future editions should be “m2Work.” The project aimed to tie global innovation implemented in collaboration with on-the ground competition elements together with infoDev’s entrepreneurship enablers, such as mLabs and network of mobile app entrepreneurship enablers mHubs. Aside from conceptualization of the four- on the ground. For coverage of five regions, the step framework, the paper depicts the outcomes project drew on infoDev’s four mLabs—physical of the m2Work pilot and derives three concrete incubators for mobile app businesses—in East lessons learned. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 9 Photo credit: Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. The report derives three key lessons: • Focus support on the most committed, and support them well: Commitment to follow through on an initial idea should be built into incentives for participation in the project (for example, offering mentoring and incubation as a prize). Expectations need to be communicated clearly at the beginning. Well-structured follow-through support after competitions is vital to bring products to market. • Activate communities locally, but interlink them globally: Even for global competitions, local, face-to-face outreach and training are crucial to achieve a high quantity, quality, and continuity of engagement. Local finalists and winners should receive exposure and experience through competing regionally and internationally. Virtual cross-country collaboration requires dedicated community leaders and value-adding exchange channels. As of March 2013, the core results of m2Work included the following: • Make a strong effort for viable partnership models: It is necessary to plan in sufficient time • Four people launched start-ups out of an and resources for partnership building in order intended five, with at least 22 people still to expand the reach and depth of activities. planning to launch their apps. Elaborate partnership models can strengthen the effect of event and competition-based • Nearly 1,000 ideas were submitted to the Idea support models, providing branding, outreach Challenge, of which 95 percent came from channels, and unique support resources. developing economies. Future “From Mind to Market” projects will improve • During the m2Work Hackathon, 301 app on the approach piloted in m2Work. For instance, developers in five countries formed 61 teams entrepreneurial commitment will be a stronger that each developed an app prototype and selection criterion for award winners, and events business model. and support will have more targeted outreach locally, regionally, and globally, with stronger • Substantial awareness was created for mobile partnership models in place. microwork, illustrated by the popularity of m2Work media both for the Idea Challenge The report finds that m2Work was a successful and Hackathon. starting point toward more effective entrepreneurship support projects for very early- • m2Work created valuable implementation stage innovators, along with being a rich learning capacity and expertise, especially for exercise for infoDev and its network of mLabs and infoDev and its mLabs and mHubs (such as mHubs. Future editions will build on the lessons to toolkits, templates, benchmarks, strategies, create a greater number of innovative, sustainable partnerships, and tacit implementation start-ups, and make the network of mHubs and knowledge). mLabs more than the sum of its parts. 10 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Objective of infoDev’s ”From Mind to Market” Approach infoDev’s “From Mind to Market” approach aims In other words, the “From Mind to source ideas from a large talent pool and spur to Market” approach in the first the best innovators to turn their innovations into stages creates a safe space for “It is better to have ten sustainable, growth-oriented start-ups. quick, painless “learning by doing” participants and five viable for many. An open participation The method combines open innovation, companies than 10,000 ideas model enables inspiration and crowdsourcing, and competition models with empowerment for a large group with no follow-through.” infoDev’s grassroots incubation network of mobile of innovators, who often have no innovation labs (or mLabs) and mobile social previous knowledge or experience. networking hubs (or mHubs). (See Box 1.) Success In the later stages, competition and selection help is measured in actual start-ups catalyzed. It is better to promote those ideas and innovators that have to have ten participants and five viable companies what it takes to establish growth-oriented and than 10,000 ideas with no follow-through. sustainable start-ups. The model is also designed Secondary goals include the generation of pools to turn challenges into solutions: it aims to show of ideas and prototypes, the creation of basic potential innovators and entrepreneurs worldwide topical knowledge for a large group of innovators, the path to launching a profitable venture, while and broader awareness-raising around a new topic, assisting infoDev’s entrepreneurship enablers on as well as partnership and capacity-building for the ground (such as mLabs and mHubs) in finding implementation partners. new talent in client countries. Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 11 Box 1: mLabs and mHubs Photo credit: mLab ECA mLabs mLabs offer specialized mobile business incubation—in particular, physical workspaces and state-of-the- art equipment, back-office support, testing facilities, and technology-neutral platforms. While they also organize ecosystem-building programs, their focus is on supplying the capital- intensive resources small entrepreneurs need to test their products, and to develop the relevant technical skills and business know-how to turn scalable mobile solutions into thriving businesses. Currently, there are four regional mLabs in operation, in Armenia (pictured), Kenya, South Africa, and Vietnam. mHubs mHubs are multi-stakeholder networks that organize informal gatherings on topics related to mobile technologies, competitions for entrepreneurs, local businesses, individual users, and peer-learning sessions. They also run training and mentorship programs and conferences. Through these activities, mHubs are able to map communities in the mobile industry ecosystem and help strengthen personal relationships between entrepreneurs, developers, network operators, device manufacturers, investors, marketing specialists, and students. Eight mHubs are in operation, in Nepal (pictured), Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kenya, Moldova, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and additional hubs are planned for the Caribbean. Photo credit: Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. 12 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Table 1: mLab and mHub Service Offerings Service portfolio options mLab mHub Networking, e.g., thematic presentations followed by informal discussions Yes Yes Multi-stakeholder, national-level conferences Option Yes Online learning, collaboration and discussions Option Yes Mentoship by successful entrepreneurs and investors Yes Option Technical and business skills training Yes Option Competitions to identify most promising product ideas and prototypes Yes Option Office space at subsidized costs for limited periods of time Yes No Mobile app testing facilities Yes No Formal incubation program Yes No Assistance with marketing apps (e.g., advice on pricing, delivery channels) Yes Option Assistance with access to early-stage finance (investor network) Yes Option Access to seed funding Option Option NB: in each case, the combination of options varies according to demand, and some options, e.g, provision of seed investment, require additional funding. * Option: Advanced mHubs can implement this activity, for instance, if assisted by mLabs. Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 13 Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa 14 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Introduction Innovation is not a mechanistic, linear phenomenon. structurally inhibit private sector activity in early- For an idea to become a new product or business, stage technology innovation, calling for support creativity will have to meet pragmatism—that is, interventions in this space. 1 the vision needs to be checked by reality. Hence, any approach to innovation support needs to On the other hand, the potential of crowdsourcing consider that many aspects have to come together innovation—by sourcing ideas from large for an idea to be developed and sustained in a real- interconnected groups of individuals, mostly world project with palpable impact. with limited expertise—can be a highly efficient way to bring about compelling products and This implies that enormous potential remains new perspectives. Still, mechanisms that can untapped in the early stages of innovation successfully tap into the intellectual potential of when risks are high and concepts still unproven. Motivational and informational imbalances, as 1 Auerswald, P. E. and L.M. Branscomb. 2003. “Valleys well as shortcomings of support institutions in of Death and “Darwinian Seas: Financing the Invention to the gap between basic research at universities Innovation Transition in the United States.” The Journal of and corporate research and development, can Technology Transfer, Vol28, Is 3-4: 227-239; Heydebreck, P., Klofsten, M., and J. Box 2: Why Mobile Innovation for Development? Innovation and entrepreneurship are key drivers of development. Among the most vibrant areas with potential for entrepreneurship-led growth are mobile applications (called “apps”). Mobile phones have created the largest communication and transaction platform in history: around three-quarters of the world’s population use mobile phones. Mobile access has been linked with economic growth potential. The industry itself boosts the economy by providing high-value jobs. The tremendous growth of app usage is forecast to continue and further increase over the coming years, implying enormous potential for app entrepreneurs and software developers. Mobile apps also catalyze new activity in other sectors, such as healthcare and government. App entrepreneurs do face substantial challenges in fledgling innovation ecosystems of developing countries. They might have unique insights into local circumstances and abundant creativity, but they often lack professional networks, favorable policy environments, information access, business skills, mentors, spaces for exchange, and access to investors. In most cases, ecosystems also have to integrate policy makers, mobile network operators, investors, donors, and so forth, for mobile app entrepreneurs to thrive. For more information on mobile communication, see http://www.worldbank.org/ict/ic4d2012 and http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ier2012_en.pdf. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 15 Photo credit: mLab East Asia hundreds of minds are not easy to gauge. Mostly, designers are advised to be clear on their objectives incentives for collaboration have to be interwoven and not see innovation competitions as a panacea with competitive selection in order to align the that can solve all innovation support problems at goals of the support intervention with innovators’ once. Different designs will tackle various gaps, and complex motives and varying strategic behaviors.2 more often than not, it will be advisable to focus on fewer core objectives. For instance, an innovation In sum, any innovation competition design needs competition that wants to build awareness for a to consider how to align outreach and incentive- topic as its top priority will look very different from setting with its objectives. Is the goal to get a one that wants to generate start-ups as the core large number of people to commit five minutes of objective. attention, or a small number of people to dedicate a part of their career to following through on their infoDev’s “From Mind to Market” approach contribution? There will often be fine balances was designed to bridge early-stage innovation to strike and trade-offs to weigh. It is beyond support gaps and guide promising ideas toward the scope of this report to review the emerging minimum viable products, ultimately turning them literature on incentive-setting and innovation into sustainable businesses. Based on the belief competitions at length.3 As the bottom line, that entrepreneurship is a powerful enabler of sustainability, success is measured not just in terms of participation, but in actual start-ups catalyzed. 2 Bullinger, A. C., Neyer, A.-K., Rass, M, and K.M. The model integrates crowdsourcing and focused Moeslein. 2010. “Community-Based Innovation Contests: Where Competition Meets Cooperation. Creativity and entrepreneurship support, in an effort to turn Innovation Management,” Vol. 19 (3): 290-303; Blohm, I., challenges into solutions. It aims to show potential Bretschneider, U., Leimeister, J. M., and H. Krcmar. 2010. Does innovators and entrepreneurs worldwide the path Collaboration among Participants Lead to Better Ideas in IT-Based Idea Competitions? An Empirical Investigation. to launching a profitable venture, while assisting Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on infoDev’s entrepreneurship enablers on the System Sciences, p. 1-10. ground in finding new talent in client countries. 3 Useful overviews and literature reviews can be found in the following: Murray, F., Stern, S., Campbell, This is in line with infoDev’s core goals: identifying G., and A. MacCormack. 2012. “Grand Innovation Prizes: A and tackling barriers for technology entrepreneurs Theoretical, Normative, and Empirical Evaluation.” Research Policy, Vol. 41 (10), 1779–1792; Campbell, G. A. 2011. Incentive in developing countries. All of its activities target Competitions as a Policy Tool for Technological Innovation. early-stage innovation and growth-oriented Sloan School of Management Thesis, Massachusetts Institute entrepreneurs. of Technology. 16 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Of infoDev’s work streams,4 Mobile Innovation mobile microwork for job creation in developing seemed particularly suited to the “From Mind countries—small, instant tasks that can be to Market” methodology as billions of mobile completed for pay on mobile phones worldwide. application users and millions of developers In an effort to tie this promising topic and the and entrepreneurs across the globe occupy the functioning grassroots network of mHubs and space. Moreover, several market entry barriers mLabs together, infoDev launched the m2Work (such as cost for start-up setup and technological project in 2012 to pilot the “From Mind to Market” equipment) are relatively low for mobile app concept. With core funding from UKaid and the companies compared to other industries (see government of Finland, the infoDev and mLab Box 2). This creates the conditions for successful teams collaborated with Nokia and other private crowdsourcing campaigns and makes it possible partners to create a multitiered program, described to facilitate start-up creation in a lean process. in the following pages. Hence it was logical for infoDev to explore its Mobile This report aims to analyze if the “From Mind Innovation work stream for an opportunity to try to Market” methodology that m2Work piloted out the “From Mind to Market” approach. By early should be integrated into infoDev’s larger Mobile 2012, infoDev’s mHubs and mLabs had become Innovation agenda and, if so, how future editions the backbone of the Mobile Innovation program. should be implemented. To do this, it will describe In 2012, four mLabs had started incubating and the approach using the m2Work example, assess supporting app developers and start-ups, and all the core results of m2Work, highlight the key eight mHubs were running community-building lessons learned from the pilot, and lastly present activities for mobile app entrepreneurs. The refinements for the methodology approach. The challenges and needs of mHubs and mLabs, of analysis will be useful to the following: course, varied but it was clear that key tasks for infoDev would be to help peer-learning between • infoDev and start-up enablers within and mHub and mLab managers, build their partnership outside of its network (such as tech hubs, locally and globally to support their sourcing of incubators, and accelerators) talent, and provide opportunities for collaboration on a global scale—making the network greater • Donors and partners of infoDev’s Mobile than the sum of its parts. Innovation activities Incidentally, in 2011, infoDev’s Knowledge Map of • Researchers and practitioners working in the the Virtual Economy had revealed the potential of innovation for development space 4 infoDev’s complete work program can be accessed at http://www.infodev.org/workprogram. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 17 18 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market “From Mind to Market” through the Example of m2Work Overview: m2Work as the “From Mind to Market” Pilot The “From Mind to Market” approach can be minimal submission requirements and no-strings- described as the integration of crowdsourcing attached prizes. The m2Work Challenge enabled tools with hands-on start-up support. The the core infoDev team to engage directly with approach seeks growth-capable ideas from innovators and to constantly refine its approach fragmented, untested innovators on a global scale, in response to client feedback, discussions, and rather than the usual well-established ventures. questions. The team was thus able to spot problem The follow-through happens locally through direct areas—such as confusion around the concept of and comprehensive business support at infoDev’s mobile microwork or lack of motivation—and to mLabs and mHubs. The four major steps are address them. summarized in Figure 1. In September 2012, the m2Work Hackathon (Step The m2Work project of 2012 served to pilot the 3) was an attempt to follow up the Idea Challenge methodology. After the topic of mobile microwork with grassroots, client-driven activity that would had been identified in the 2011 Knowledge generate seeds of app start-ups. The global event Map of the Virtual Economy (Step 1), m2Work consisted of 48-hour coding sessions at five sites— began with a global Idea Challenge (Step 2) that all four operational mLabs and the mHub in Nepal.1 sought to attract a large pool of participants While infoDev monitored the activity, the direct with high-risk, high-reward measures, such as control for the events was handed over to the mHub and mLabs as local enablers. mHub Nepal 1 The mHub in Nepal operates under the brand “MobileNepal” (http://mobilenepal.net) and is run by Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 19 Figure 1: The Four Major Steps of “From Mind to Market” Identify High-Potential Topic • Market potential & potential for development • New / new applications of business models • Fit for mobile app solutions • Initialize outreach 1 Forging Minimum Viable App Products 2 • Face-to-face coaching at multiple sites across the globe • Collaboration & competition between sites • Competitiveness & selectivity Broad-Based Innovation Competition • Open to many; collaboration & learning • Low submission vs. high selection requirements • Open knowledge resource generated 3 Incubation & Acceleration 4 • In-depth support for few promising & committed entrepreneurs • Strong reliance on entrepreneurship enablers on the ground coordinated the multisite event globally, while Now, several months and many rounds of giving each node much leeway to adjust to local evaluation later, the results are beginning to show. circumstances. The author is indebted to all hackathon organizers and partners as well as survey participants for Similarly, the follow-up for promising app taking the time to provide feedback that has been prototypes (Step 4) was left to the mLabs and essential to learn from this pilot.2 The remainder of mHub Nepal. This choice was made both to have the report derives from feedback that was received on-the-ground enablers try out different follow-up from m2Work clients, partners, and stakeholders. methods, but also because the infoDev team knew This section includes short notes on “Dos” and that the capacities and needs of every one of them “Don’ts,” before the ensuing sections will hone in would differ. For instance, the mLab East Africa on results and lessons learned. in Nairobi had all its incubation slots filled at the time of the hackathon, while the event coincided 2 Comprehensive survey results and summaries with the launch and start of operations at mLab from stakeholder interviews can be found in the Annex. East Asia. 20 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Figure 2: Progression of the “From Mind to Market” Approach Geographical scope: from global... ...to local Innovators supported: from many... ...to few Intensity of support for individuals: from low... ...to high Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 21 Table 2: Goals and Tools for “From Mind to Market” Process Steps Identify high- Broad-based innovation Forging minimum viable Incubation and potential topic competition app products acceleration • Ensure relevance of topic • Engage highly motivated • Identify and support • Create sustainable for clients (mHubs / and talented (future) a core of highly start-ups mLabs, entrepreneurs) entrepreneurs motivated and talented • Support other private entrepreneurs ready for a • Obtain information • Clearly communicate sector development start-up launch and data on market criteria and commitments and entrepreneurship opportunity and for selection • Generate a pool of goals (such as start-up Goals support gap prototypes revenues, investments • Generate a pool of ideas raised, or jobs created) • Prepare an outreach plan • Promote partnership • Create basic topical by identifying potential and capacity-building for knowledge for a large partners and active clients (mHubs / mLabs) group of innovators organizations • Raise broader awareness around topic • Have desk (market) • Conduct local workshops • Have intense events • Provide incubation research for outreach and with expert coaching services (physical work submission guidance and mentoring space, app testing • Provide customer (hackathons, bootcamps, facilities, regular validation through • Send out communication pitching events) mentoring & coaching) informal outreach to “blasts,” including to mHubs / mLabs and hand-picked multipliers • Promote global linkages • Provide acceleration Tools entrepreneurs (mini- (for example by adding services, mentoring • Have lightweight surveys, workshops, and a global tier to local and coaching, focus groups) coaching competitions or through investment-readiness • Establish an accessible facilitated virtual focus, peer learning • Establish contact with repository for platforms) in badge, pitching / potential partner submissions demos, and so on organizations • Have seed finance Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa 22 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Step 1: Identification of a High-Potential Topic Step 1: Identify a topic (a) which has market potential already gaining traction in that market forecasts and potential for international development, (b) are promising, or in that early business models are which inspires new ways of doing business or new showing promise but have not found scale and applications of established business models, and (c) widespread impact. Alternatively, topic selection which is amenable to mobile app solutions. can draw attention to the challenges of regional and local applicability, by encouraging adaptation The first step is the identification of a high-potential of solutions that have been successfully tried in topic. This should be seen as an opportunity to some geographical contexts but not in others. put a new subject on the minds of innovator communities worldwide. While there should Topic selection is an opportunity for infoDev certainly be a business opportunity for mobile app to directly involve its clients—entrepreneurs start-ups (as this ensures the path to sustainability), and entrepreneurship enablers in developing infoDev believes that it is also important to push countries—in determining useful service portfolios innovation frontiers by selecting subject areas and focus areas. This should be seen as part of that have not yet been explored by sufficient the customer validation process. Based on desk private sector activity in developing countries. research and the experience of infoDev staff, topics The identification is a chance to set an incentive can be discussed with clients and their feedback for entrepreneurs to think about novel ways of integrated in fine-tuning the selection. Critical test doing things. questions include whether there is market potential for (app-based) business models and whether A useful perspective on topic selection comes from there is an important entrepreneurship support design thinking. Accordingly, for innovation to gap. Ideally, business interests and value creation happen, the topic should be at the border between coincide with inclusive goals of development, the known and the unknown, and lend itself to such as the integration of women entrepreneurs or experimentation and learning through iteration users and clients earning less than $2 a day, that is, and collaboration both for the organization and those at the “base of the pyramid.” In the process, its clients.3 Often, this will imply that the topic is Management at Aalto University. REDIGE, Vol 2, Is 1. www. 3 Koria, M., Graff, D., and T.M. Karjalainen. 2011. cetiqt.senai.br/ead/redige/index.php/redige/article/ Learning Design Thinking: International Design Business download/82/132. Table 3: Step 1 Dos and Don’ts Do... Don’t... • Choose a topic that is new, but relevant, • Don’t pick a topic that is too broad (such as to most clients and that catches people’s “innovative app”), as developer communities imagination. need to be able to focus on and coalesce around the topic. • Choose a topic that provokes thought about new ways of doing business, but make sure • Don’t pick a topic that is too difficult to grasp to identify a market opportunity and provide for inexperienced innovators—this will make sufficient learning material. broad-based participation impossible. • In addition to general information resources, secure market forecasts or unexplored open data sets that app developers can exploit later on. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 23 Figure 3: Microwork Value Chain and Ranges of Value Captured by Chain Members Microworker Transformer 0 to 70 percent 20 to 60 percent Infrastructure provider < 30 percent Aggregator 10 to 30 percent Client Source: Presentation on Knowledge Map of the Virtual Economy by V. Lehdonvirta market research data can be collected that will be for microworkers. This is in contrast to other useful for the later stages of the process. Finally, an information and communications technology initial stakeholder and landscape analysis should (ICT)-based innovations that might lead to assess which global and local organizations are increases in efficiencies and productivity, but active in the field. This analysis also helps to make could result in job losses wherever technology is early contacts to potential partners for the project. substituted for human work. In the case of m2Work, the choice of mobile The Knowledge Map estimated that the microwork was a result of the great interest that microworkers capture and contribute up to 70 development and tech communities had in the percent of the value-added, resulting in direct Knowledge Map of the Virtual Economy when payments to them. The report also delivered rough it was published in mid-2011. The report by Vili estimates for the size of the global microwork Lehdonvirta4 highlighted that microwork is an market. In addition, microwork typically requires industry that has no negative externalities on value very little skills or training, as it relies on humans creation, since a previously unmet demand—the being intrinsically better at some tasks than completion of large numbers of small digital tasks computers. Offering this type of employment that cannot be processed by machines—would through mobile phones seemed promising, as be answered with the creation of employment this would bridge the barrier of computer access. The promise was that such business models could 4 Dr. Lehdonvirta is an expert on virtual economies, include population groups often marginalized including virtual goods, virtual currencies, and digital as workforces of developing countries, in that labor. After research appointments at Helsinki Institute women, disabled people, rural communities, and for Information Technology and the London School of Economics, he is now Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet others can complete microwork from home on Institute. their phones. 24 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Step 2: Running a Broad-Based Innovation Competition Step 2: Run an innovation competition (a) which is The environment should encourage open open to a large group of people and has low entry innovation based on exchange and peer-learning, requirements, (b) which allows for collaboration and and also offer a lot of accessible background exchange between participants, and (c) which is an information on the topic. As a relevant side effect, open knowledge resource for the public. the fact that many innovators put their minds to the topic also means that all of them learn The second step of the “From Mind to Market” about it. While this positive spillover will largely method focuses on the generation of a broad go unmeasured, it is important to store codified enough pool of innovators and ideas. Based on a submissions in an open database that others crowdsourcing approach, seeking input from many can access to find inspiration and to build on the is used as an effective way to derive compelling groundwork laid by the community. solutions. It is crucial to communicate transparently the selection criteria and the commitments for the m2Work implemented this step via an Idea selected innovators at the later stages. At the same Challenge seeking submissions from across the time, it should also be clear and accepted that most globe. To ensure the tie-in with infoDev’s mLab ideas generated at this stage will not go anywhere, network in particular, challenge finalists were and that the ratio of “good” and “bad” ideas is selected from six regions: one per mLab region not important. In other words, a large “crowd” of and one from the rest of the world, including people can be encouraged to participate for fun developed countries. The regions were specified and learning, but the prospect to receive help according to mLabs’ regional mandates and to start a company should be emphasized for included East Asia and Pacific, Southern Africa, East those innovators that are talented and motivated Africa, and Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central enough to compete. Table 4: Step 2 Dos and Don’ts Do... Don’t... • Set the minimum submission requirements • “No strings attached” to cash prizes can lead low to attract a large number and broad to a lack of commitment from participants range of ideas. once the competition is over. • Set high selection requirements for winners, • Relying on social media and remote and set clear expectations on the type of communication is important for outreach, support they will receive and the time and but it will likely not be enough to guarantee effort they will have to commit. many high-quality submissions. • Get participation going early through spot prizes and local, face-to-face outreach. • Continuously provide learning material and feedback, such as through direct comments to submissions and through blog posts. • Deliver “lightweight” local face-to-face outreach and coaching, for example, through standardized mini workshops. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 25 In sum, this meant that some of the top submissions were taken forward because the innovators were intrinsically motivated to start a company, but others were not because the submitters did not have the time or willingness to work on an app project (see Box 3). Similarly, the tie-in with local entrepreneurship support for some of the prize winners turned out to be a challenge, for instance, in cases where mLabs were too far from their location. Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa In addition, m2Work showed that even if the Innovation Competition is run primarily on a web Asia.5 The six finalists were asked to come up with platform and even if it has a global scope, local extended submissions, including video pitches, outreach is crucial to increase the quantity and which the grand jury would review. quality of submissions. Addressing participants through social media channels of the World Bank, infoDev partnered with Nokia’s IdeasProject in Nokia, and infoDev led to many submissions order to leverage the platform’s existing innovator from across the globe, but the most significant community. The minimum requirements for peaks happened when mLabs conducted face- a submission were purposefully kept low.6 In to-face workshops with their existing innovator addition, the prize structure was designed to have communities. A good methodology to combine no strings attached, in order to attract the highest scalability and local outreach was to provide possible number of submissions and target groups. mLabs with basic, customizable information Four spot prizes at $1,000 each were awarded for material, such as presentations. As resources the best idea submitted within four time frames allow, workshop facilitators can directly assist the along the duration of the challenge. Each of the submission, helping participants to improve the six finalists received $2,000. The grand prize winner relevance of their ideas and business models, as the was awarded $20,000 and the global runner-up positive results from mLab ECA sessions illustrated. received $4,000. Moreover, infoDev set up links to mobile microwork expert Vili Lehdonvirta for the setup of remote While this ensured that the jury had a large talks. With this help, mLabs were able to set up number of viable ideas to choose from, infoDev mini-workshops with limited resources, engaging found that there can be trade-offs between the the existing tech communities they serve. extreme openness chosen and the later stages of the process. For instance, some of the cash prize winners were not motivated to use their prize money as an investment in an app company, and therefore, they did not take their idea forward after the competition. Another adverse selection problem can be that innovators that derive great submissions from their industry or academic expertise might not find it attractive to commit to turning their submission into a time- consuming project. 5 A detailed list of countries can be found at https://ideasproject.com//web/m2work/m2work-faq. 6 https://ideasproject.com//web/m2work/idea- guidelines. Photo credit: mLab ECA 26 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Box 3: Finalists and Spot Prize Winners of the m2Work Idea Challenge Throughout the m2Work Idea Challenge, four spot prize winners were selected from the pool of ideas submitted before specific deadlines. They received cash prizes of $1,000. In late April 2012, the jury then chose six finalists—one from each of the five mLab regions and one from the rest of the world. Each received a cash prize of $2,000, as well as business coaching and a platform to pitch their refined ideas for a chance to win the grand prize. The finalists’ refined video pitches are available at http://www.infodev.org/en/article.840.html. Idea Short description Total prize money Pursued after challenge? Smart Rickshaw Crowdsources traffic maps from rickshaw drivers $22,000 Yes / No Network MicroForester Distributed reforestation project $6,000 Yes 3MD Allows para-skilled health technicians to carry out $3,000 No medical diagnoses Smart Blackboard Allows underemployed teachers to complement $2,000 Yes / No face-to-face education Microwork Spreads and creates texts and translations for $2,000 Yes Publishing Platform rare languages Anitrack Gamified app that deploys microworkers to track $2,000 Yes / No illegal poaching Ask MOM Data entry of photographed receipts by $1,000 No Money Manager microworkers Remote Microworkers remotely survey video material $1,000 Yes / No Night Watcher from security cameras InDepth Real-time market research and survey system $1,000 No Note: The creators of Smart Rickshaw Network, Anitrack, and Remote Night Watcher still aim to continue to develop their applications, but so far they have not taken any major steps. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 27 Step 3: Forging Minimum Viable Products Step 3: Run an activity that forges minimum viable the knowledge of mobile microwork that they had products (such as a working prototype and business acquired during the Idea Challenge. In a relatively model) (a) which is carried out at multiple, physical short preparation time of six weeks, the local sites across the globe, (b) which connects individual organizers were able to attract an impressive level sites through collaboration and competition, and (c) of participation with highly satisfied participants which enables developers and entrepreneurs to build (see Table 5). All hackathon organizers pointed on the knowledge generated during the innovation out that global facilitation through templates competition of step 2. and toolkits provided by Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. (the company behind mHub Nepal) was Next, a bridge has to be built between ideas instrumental for the quick implementation.7 and products. For the Innovation Competition, openness and breadth of participation is key, but Each site was given much freedom on the incentive in order for start-ups to be generated, incentives structures. Some mLabs chose to offer incubation and support services for innovators need to shift prizes, while others awarded cash (see Table 6). at this point in the innovation process. For mobile For all sites, the hackathon was an opportunity applications, this means that innovators should to solidify and expand partnerships with local be given an opportunity to develop functioning stakeholders of mobile innovation ecosystems, prototypes, as well as basic business models for such as device manufacturers, operating system potential start-ups. This also implies that, at this providers, mobile network operators, and stage, eligibility for prizes should be limited to those educational institutions. entrepreneurs that are motivated and capable to continue the entrepreneurial journey. Prizes Feedback interviews with organizers and partners, should now take the form of entrepreneurship as well as surveys with participants showed that support, such as mentoring and coaching, or the events were overall well-received, but also that participation in comprehensive incubation and the tie-in with the m2Work Idea Challenge had not acceleration programs. been strong. Not many hackathon participants had taken part in the Idea Challenge, and few coders m2Work attempted to picked up ideas developed during the Challenge— “m2Work was great. It showed build this bridge by means most preferred to develop their own business of a global hackathon, and app idea from scratch. Out of 61 prototypes me my potential, like if I can run at five sites, at mLabs produced during the hackathon, only 10 were design a prototype from an in Armenia, Kenya, South based on submissions from the Idea Challenge. It Africa, and Vietnam, as remains unclear exactly how much of the mobile idea in just 30hrs, I can do well as at mHub Nepal. microwork knowledge that had been created anything. Also I came to meet The event happened during the Idea Challenge was actually transferred more than four months to hackathon participants. At the least, hackathon with top level developers there, after the Idea Challenge, organizers were able to convey the concept of which was like the best prize so that a direct tie-in with mobile microwork; all sites reported that hackers Step 2 turned out to be [a] hackathon can provide challenging. However, 7 Young Innovations published their own me [with].” at the minimum, the evaluation report of the hackathon, available at http:// m2workhackathon.org/sites/default/files/downloads/ organizers could draw on Report_m2Work_Hackathon.pdf. Table 5: Participants’ Satisfaction with the m2Work Hackathon Rate your satisfaction with the following on a scale from 1 (“terrible”) to 5 (“great”) Hackathon overall 4.47 Mean, n=139 28 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Table 6: m2Work Hackathon Partners and Winners Partners and sponsors Prizes and winning teams / apps App subject area Nokia, Windows, Saigon First prize: THASA Team / Anticounterfeiting Transparency and Hi-Tech Park Accountability Second prize: Seniors Team / “Gesture Language & You” Language and Transcription Third prize: The Earth Team / “Smart Blackboard” Education mLab East Asia First Nokia Lumia 800 prize: Ethics Edu Team Education Second Nokia Lumia 800 prize: OU Team / “Product Business and Jobs Preview on-line” Third Nokia Lumia 800 prize: THASA Team / Transparency and Anticounterfeiting Accountability FPT Software prize: Seniors Team / “Gesture Language & You” Language and Transcription Samsung Kenya, Safaricom, 1st Prize: Tafsiri Language and Transcription mLab East Africa Emobilis, Isis Software, iHub 2nd Prize: Smart Blackboard Education 3rd Prize: MobiAgent Business and Jobs 4th Prize: Kaisari Transparency and Accountability Nokia, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Best m2Work app: Translate 4 Me / BlackBerry Language and Transcription Qualcomm, Vodacom, CSIR, Apps Lab team The Innovation Hub, University mLab Southern Africa Best m2Work app: MediU (Medical Ubuntu) Health of Pretoria, The e-skills Institute, SAINe Best m2Work Service (Microsoft-sponsored): Ishmael Makitla Platform Most Impact & Targeted m2Work App (Nokia- Transparency and sponsored): Teamov8 Accountability Best Virtual Hacker (Qualcomm sponsored): Tanaka Mutakwa - Best Individual Hacker (Qualcomm sponsored): - Blessing Mahlalela Microsoft Innovation Center 1st Prize: “MicroForester” Environment Armenia, Armenian-Indian 2nd Prize: “Help me see” Answer, Find & Solve mLab ECA Center of Excellence, Yerevan State University, Gyumri 3rd Prize: “Test my app” Business and Jobs Information Technology Center, Armenian Datacom Company, Red Bull Microsoft Innovation Center Winner: Medic Info Health mHub Nepal Nepal, Google Developers 1st Runner-up: NewsIT Business and Jobs Group Nepal, CSIT Association of Nepal, Robotics Association 2nd Runner-up: Article Digitization Business and Jobs of Nepal, Nepal Open Source Klub, LOCUS, Worldlink Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 29 did understand the concept better after the event information, such as problem statements, market than before. research, or unique open data sets to work on. For the kinds of hackers that m2Work attracted, It also became apparent that hackers are problem the prospect of social impact was an important solvers and that they need a sense of ownership for additional motivator. In part for this reason, they their app. It helped them if they felt empowered to found mobile microwork to be a compelling identify and work on problems from their own day- technological and business concept. to-day experience. This also meant that hackers usually did not extend their scope and ambition It was clear that participants of the hackathon beyond the local context. had a more entrepreneurial mindset than those of the Idea Challenge. Nearly all of the surveyed Participants pointed out that having on-site coders intended to take steps toward turning their coaches was critical, as is typical for hackathons. application into a business in the follow-up of the When coaches were unavailable, participants hackathon (see Table 7). In a survey conducted five highlighted this as an important shortcoming. months after the event, 23 individuals reported Coaches helped with technical aspects, but that they had continued to develop their app, and they also encouraged coders to see the bigger an additional 25 said they still intend to continue to picture and not ignore the business aspect of develop their app. In the same survey, four people their application from the very beginning—which reported that they had already launched start-ups, was important to note. In the end, this step is and 22 people were still planning to launch their about developing a minimum viable product, companies.8 and not just a technically functioning mobile app. Hence, at many sites, experienced entrepreneurs Moreover, whenever an mLab was able to offer that had gone through similar business building incubation as a hackathon prize, participants experiences were seen as the most effective reported that it was a very strong motivator to do coaches. Often, it can prove decisive for the early well (see Table 8). In turn, telephone interviews stages after the hackathon whether or not teams revealed that different prize categories were useful were able to build initial contact networks with to incentivize different participant groups; for coaches, mentors, and sponsors directly at the instance, gadgets or cash prizes could motivate hackathon site. developers that did not intend to start a company. Moreover, hackers seemed to miss additional, 8 Only 56 out of the 301 hackathon participants more specific input than the broad background participated in the follow-up survey, so the actual number of information on mobile microwork that they people that have continued or will continue to work on their were given. There were calls for more contextual app might be significantly larger. Table 7: Participants’ Intentions on Next Steps Following the m2Work Hackathon Which of the following steps do you intend to take next? I intend to... 92 percent Percentage of “Yes” continue to refine the app prototype. answers, n=111 88 percent Percentage of “Yes” develop a sustainable business model. answers, n=108 82 percent Percentage of “Yes” develop a specific business plan. answers, n=105 launch an app-based product/service (offer in an app store, or 85 percent Percentage of “Yes” otherwise bring to the user market). answers, n=106 30 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Table 8: Participants’ Motivators to Participate in the m2Work Hackathon What was your motivation to participate in the m2Work Hackathon? (Scale from 1 “Strongly disagree” to 5 “Strongly agree”) 3.68 Mean, n=129 Prizes (cash / devices, and so on). Start-up support (events, incubation, contact to mLabs/mHubs, 4.13 Mean, n=128 and so on). I like the challenge of hackathons. 4.35 Mean, n=127 Learn about mobile microwork. 4.22 Mean, n=129 Exchange with other innovators/developers/entrepreneurs. 4.28 Mean, n=130 The focus on inclusive innovation/economic and social development. 4.08 Mean, n=129 Get in touch with partners and sponsors of the hackathon. 4.06 Mean, n=130 Interviewees felt that what was missing the For enhanced global collaboration, interviewees most from the m2Work Hackathon was a global suggested that teams should have been given the level of collaboration and competition. The opportunity— feedback held that a global prize would have motivated developers to do their very best. A • To jointly follow presentations that global competition element would have boosted introduce the topic the recognition and exposure factor that comes with winning an app competition, which would • To identify similar projects and work have been a special value-added for the small together for quick brainstorming and ecosystems of Armenia and Nepal. knowledge sharing Photo credit: mLab ECA Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 31 should not interfere with intense coding periods at each hackathon site. Finally, all the organizers emphasized the role of pre- and post-events. Pre-events can help to educate coders about the topic and the hackathon setup, but also assist with team formation. Some • To adapt apps to different mobile platforms, sites experimented with virtual platforms for team according to local coding expertise formation or mandated teams to be formed before Photo credit: mLab ECA the start of the event, which allowed for more • To partner up globally for app distribution focus on the coding during the 48 hours of the hackathon. While incubation has to be limited to • To listen to each other’s presentations at the high-potential teams, it was also felt that most end of the global hackathon participants would greatly benefit from informal post-events during which they could share what On the other hand, several interviewees also they have learned and polish the prototypes they mentioned that any virtual cross-site collaboration developed at the hackathon. Table 9: Step 3 Dos and Don’ts Do... Don’t... • Run the activity shortly after, or integrated • Don’t market events and competitions with, the broad-based innovation (such as hackathons) as stand-alone competition to fully leverage already built initiatives. Rather have pre- and post- capacity and awareness. events, and communicate that they are all stepping-stones in the longer term start-up • Coaching is crucial. Make sure teams creation process. have immediate access to experienced entrepreneurs or subject experts during and • Don’t rely on participants interacting with after events. each other across sites without active facilitation. • Focus on incubation and start-up support as incentivization, but also offer small cash prizes, giveaways, and recognition to attract participation from nonentrepreneurial innovators. • Provide as much contextual information on the topic as possible, such as problem statements, market research, or unique open data sets. • Facilitate global exchanges and include a regional or global competition leg to increase the recognition value for winners. 32 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Step 4: Incubation and Acceleration Step 4: Provide incubation and acceleration locally to In terms of incubation and acceleration support for those entrepreneurs (a) who have shown promise, for m2Work Idea Challenge and Hackathon winners, example, by winning a prize, (b) who are motivated the mLabs and mHub Nepal differed markedly. The to be entrepreneurs, (c) and who have developed a follow-up has been left to be decided by each site viable business model for their app. separately, both to allow them to account for local circumstances and test m2Work’s effectiveness The final step to guide ideas all the way “From to source talent and generate “deal flow” (that Mind to Market” is to steer the winners from steps is, suitable candidates and promising teams) for 2 and 3 through incubation and acceleration incubation in mLabs. programs. The specific support mix for a start-up team has to be determined based on their needs mLab East Asia had planned to encourage all and on available resources and conditions in the teams to polish their apps with coaching, planning mobile innovation ecosystem. For instance, if support, and extra technical and business training. no mobile-specific incubation slots are available The activity was also slated to feed into a separate in a given team’s proximity, virtual mentoring Mobile Innovation Challenge in spring 2013. and coaching, mixed with regular informal face- However, an abrupt change in leadership of the to-face meetings, can be an efficient means of mLab in late 2012 slowed down its operations support. At this stage, the approach merges into for a few months. The winning team from the incubation and acceleration techniques common m2Work Hackathon worked on their app in the in the mobile innovation space (see the Overview mLab facilities occasionally during this time, but section). Obviously, infoDev can leverage its they did not receive in-depth support. The mLab network of mLabs and advanced mHubs here to became more active following a regional Mobile help the teams complete their journey all the way Innovation Challenge and a UNICEF Hackathon to the market. that it hosted in spring 2013. Together with more Table 10: Step 4 Dos and Don’ts Do... Don’t... • Employ prize structures that motivate the • For teams that just developed their minimum continued commitment of both the start- viable product, don’t promise full incubation up team and the start-up enabler (mHub or support over an extended period, but rather mLab) and align their incentives. If equity draw on milestones and provisions. investments are not feasible, use milestone • Don’t overly push teams if they turn out agreements and traction funding. to have limited potential. Better use scarce • Lead teams that receive incubation and incubation and acceleration resources mentoring on to acceleration programs and selectively and drop teams that do not show competitions for more advanced start-ups. enough motivation or deftness to pursue the Going back and forth between ongoing start-up journey beyond ideation. support and ad hoc competition pressure can help to keep the momentum and drive up for start-up teams. • If own incubation and acceleration resources are insufficient, refer teams to other programs as a means of partnership and relationship building. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 33 Box 4: How an Ambitious Idea Makes It to Market: the MicroForester Case Alexander Shakaryan’s start-up MicroForester is one of the projects that have potential to become a poster child of the From Mind to Market methodology. In spring 2012, Alexander came to an m2Work outreach workshop hosted by mLab ECA with no prior knowledge of microwork. After churning out a handful of promising ideas, he quickly saw that MicroForester brought him the best feedback from peers and judges, in particular, through recognition as second best submission for the fourth Idea Challenge spot prize. Alexander scored the regional finalist prize and the global runner-up position in the Idea Challenge, securing him $6,000. The m2Work Hackathon in September 2012 further helped him build national recognition and partnerships, ultimately leading to being one of the awardees in the local government’s STEP competition, leading to another $15,000 in prize money for MicroForester. In May 2013, Alexander pitched in the Dragon’s Den of infoDev’s Global Forum, scoring fifth place and winning another cash prize. Photo credit: Alexander Shakaryan | mLab ECA By the end of 2012, Alexander had shown his commitment to MicroForester, quitting his regular job to pursue the start-up idea. While the team has never relied on a formal incubation slot at the mLab, the mLab leadership helped him with in-kind contributions, mentorship, and contact building. Notably, no one out of the four original team members is a “pure” software developer. Instead, the team used the cash prizes to cover expenses and outsource the major coding tasks in order to focus on business and partnership development. The emerging start-up mainly targets the corporate social responsibility departments of firms, international development organizations, and local governments that have an interest in both employment creation through microwork, as well as reforestation. As of May 2013, the MicroForester team had perfected a second version of the app, secured first partnership agreements and grants, and had started the process of obtaining tree planting permissions for Armenia. Alexander is now based in London. Sources: Author interviews and emails. For more information, see the following: http://www.itel.am/en/news/5007; http://blogs.worldbank.org/ psd/microforester-seeding-social-entrepreneurship-while-planting-trees; http://telecom.arka.am/en/news/development/winners_of_grant_ competition_under_the_science_technology_entrepreneurship_program_in_armenia_announ/; and http://infodev.org/press-releases/media- release-5th-global-forum-innovation-and-technology-entrepreneurship-awards-five. than 15 other promising teams that came out of mentoring from the mLab’s manager. Her team these events, the m2Work Hackathon winner has was also part of the m2Work Hackathon, winning now entered a short acceleration period with a the runner-up prize (see Table 5). For hackathon demo day scheduled for the end of October 2013. winners, the mLab had set up an interesting incentive structure.9 All incubation slots at the At mLab East Africa, the Idea Challenge Regional Finalist Nancy Wang had received informal 9 http://www.pivoteast.com/m2work-hackathon- prize-money-breakdown/. 34 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market “The mLab East Africa Management and the community have been really openly helpful in the past five months. Business coaching, mentorship, testing facilities, etc...” —A hackathon winner that received follow-up support mLab were filled at the time of the hackathon, so by the mLab and the Armenian-Indian Center the management used a layered cash prize scheme of Excellence in Yerevan, the team was ready to to push teams forward after the event was over. incorporate their start-ups by April 2013. Four teams would receive a smaller cash prize right after the hackathon, while the two teams with the mLab Southern Africa has worked with four of most traction would receive additional funding. In the teams to help them finalize their applications. March 2013, the projects Smart Blackboard and The BlackBerry Apps Lab at the University of MobiAgent,10 which had shown the most traction, Pretoria has already provided support to the top were offered to compete for a total of $10,000 in team. mLab Southern Africa crowded in a host of traction funding, subject to compliance with due partners for the hackathon, which made it possible diligence steps and agreement on investment to offer different prize categories for various winner terms. As of summer 2013, plans are underway categories. For instance, members of the MediU13 to complete a seed investment deal with the team reported that they received advice on MobiAgent team worth $10,000. In addition, business modeling and project management, as the Tafsiri11 and Kaisari12 teams benefitted from well as work space and a fast Internet connection. additional business coaching sessions and the app testing facility provided by the mLab. At mHub Nepal, most participants found the concept of mobile microwork interesting, but mLab ECA pledged to support the winning teams too challenging to integrate it into their business to finish the development of their prototypes and models. Moreover, the mHub had no capacity upload them to app stores. The most widely noted for incubation, given that its regular activities success story is the MicroForester app by Alexander focus on community building through meet-ups Shakaryan (see Box 4). Both an Idea Challenge and workshops. As a result, no team received finalist and m2Work Hackathon winner at mLab incubation support. However, at least one of the ECA, Alexander received regular support from the groups formed at the hackathon took its project mLab, for instance, for his Idea Challenge video forward. As of April 2013, the Mobile Survey14 pitch or in the form of mentoring and brokering of team had incorporated their start-up with the contacts. Indirectly, m2Work led to another start-up help of the BizSpark program of the local Microsoft being created: the Letsein team (previously mTech Innovation Center. The team had also been team) formed at the event, which later went on to selected as a finalist15 in the mHub’s Pivot Nepal win the mLab’s YAN Hackathon in December 2012. mobile innovation challenge, which enabled the Following further support and training provided team to receive intensive mentoring and coaching from local experts. 10 MobiAgent is a solution that enables users to earn a small sales commission each time they sell a product 13 MediU (Medical Ubuntu) aims to streamline to people on their phone contact list. health services offered by governments by offering small remunerations for care takers and relatives that support 11 Tafsiri is a business-to-business app that provides patients during their treatment by means of the mobile translations into languages of local communities. platform. 12 Kaisari is a compliance and authenticity 14 http://pivot.mobilenepal.net/idea/mobile- monitoring system that enables organizations and survey. individuals to track fraudulent products with the help of microworkers. 15 http://pivot.mobilenepal.net/finalists. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 35 Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa 36 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market m2Work Outcomes Results entrepreneurs have raised a combined $24,000, not including m2Work prizes. m2Work’s main outcomes and results include the following (as of March 2013):1 2. Ideas 1. Start-Ups Of the nearly 1,000 idea submissions to the Idea Challenge (all available at www.ideasproject. Four entrepreneurs that participated in m2Work com/m2Work), 95 percent came from developing reported to have launched start-ups, compared economies (see Figure 5). Armenia provided to an intended five, with at least 22 people 399 ideas—here the local mLab carried out still planning to launch their apps. So far, the intense outreach supplemented with new mentorship schemes. 1 With available resources, it was impossible to conduct a rigorous, long-term impact evaluation for the 3. Prototypes m2Work project. It should be noted that highly reliable findings would only be generated by tracking start-ups over The m2Work Hackathon gave 301 software months and years, as well as control group comparisons. This developers in five countries intensive coding report limits itself to reporting descriptive, often indicative, results numbers collected shortly after the m2Work project and networking experience. Sixty-one teams closed in early 2013. For data collection methods, see the developed an app prototype and business Annex. model each. Figure 4: Visualization of Best Ideas by Category, Available Figure 5: Ideas Submitted by World at http://ideasproject.datarangers.fi/m2work Bank Region Latin America and the Developed Countries: Caribbean: 14 (2%) 42 (4%) Middle East and North Africa: 18 (2%) Sub-Saharan Africa: 89 (10%) Europe and Central Asia: 443 (47%) South Asia: 314 (33%) Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 37 Figure 6: m2Work Hackathon Statistics by Site Image credit: Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. 4. Awareness During the Idea Challenge, all submissions the most visited one on the World Bank’s Private received a total of 93,531 views; participants Sector Development blog in the first half of 2012. commented 395 times and left 2,535 votes. More The project itself drew over 63 media mentions in than 3,000 visitors viewed the m2Work Hackathon local and international outlets, including the BBC website. m2Work judge Vili Lehdonvirta’s post2 was and Alhurra TV. 2 http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/developing- world-innovators-rule-first-lessons-from-mobile-microwork- competition. 38 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Figure 7: m2Work Hackathon Website Statistics Image credit: Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. 5. infoDev and Enabler Capacity Southern Africa,3 as well as several hackathon implementations in ECA. At all steps of the project, lessons learned were codified and toolkits established. The groundwork has already contributed to 3 The roadshow was implemented in collaboration infoDev’s internationalization pilot and its Mobile with the Southern African Innovation Support (SAIS) Innovation Roadshow across four countries in program, http://www.saisprogramme.com/?tag=mobile- innovation-roadshow. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 39 Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa 40 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Lessons Learned from the m2Work Pilot Focus Support on the A tighter integration of incubation, mentoring, and coaching into the prize structure could also help to Most Committed and achieve a more seamless transition between Step Support Them Well 2 and Step 3 than m2Work was able to provide. For instance, participants of the innovation Not everyone is born an entrepreneur. It is key to tap competition of Step 2 could be given privileged many people’s intellectual potential, but, if start-up access to the support in Step 3, which includes creation is the central goal, only those innovators more hands-on help for entrepreneurs to develop should receive hands-on support who are prepared their product. Moreover, the time gap between to go ahead on the entrepreneurial journey. Steps 2 to 4 should be much smaller than had been the case for m2Work—in fact, the implementation From m2Work, infoDev learned that this condition periods could even overlap. needs to be communicated clearly at the beginning to participants, so that they are aware of It was realized that even the more committed expectations towards them. infoDev found that low entrepreneurs mostly rely on a clearly structured “The team is busy submission requirements for ideas and business support program once they have developed doing their full models are good means to attract a large number a minimum viable product. In several cases, of submissions from a wide range of people. At hackathon winners were disappointed that the time jobs . . . We the same time, infoDev found that it could have local mHub or mLab did not provide them with were called for spent its support resources more efficiently, if it more support, either because the mHub or mLab had introduced stricter selection criteria in order to the competition was already at full capacity, or because it was not limit prizes and hands-on help to those innovators able to set up the appropriate support with given (hackathon), willing and able to commit to their venture. resources. It was critical to guide competitions into [once] it [was] continuity, for instance, through hosting follow-up The popularity of incubation prizes among exactly events where participants could reconvene and over, [the] app this group of participants has shown that this type make a more informed decision whether they want [was] over, etc. . .” of award should be the core piece of the incentive to and are able to take a project forward. Sufficient structure from the beginning. The prospect to learn from a top mentor, or to receive in-depth support to refine a pitch or business model, is usually a strong motivation for those that have an “We found difficulty in entrepreneurial mindset, so that this type of award coordinating our team would probably have led to a more favorable self- selection of participants with top submissions. No to continue with the strings attached prizes (such as cash or devices) project as we were all can be given out in addition to incubation prizes to attract innovators with a less entrepreneurial students from different mindset—such as employees of established institutions each with —Hackathon tech companies or curious students—but these equally busy schedules.” participants on the incentive structures should not be the main focus. reasons why they didn’t pursue their app start-ups Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 41 resources need to be allocated in advance to Activate Communities Locally, enable this kind of hands-on follow through. but Interlink Them Globally At a higher level of abstraction, the lesson here is It was found that no global virtual platform or that innovation competitions are neither effective interactive medium can replace local outreach nor efficient for start-up generation, if they are and training. The Armenian mLab’s outreach “one-offs,” and do not have a preparation and workshops during the Idea Challenge, as well as follow-up process. Local and global implementers the galvanization of coder communities at each should be aware that innovation competitions for of the five hackathon sites, clearly sparked the start-up creation are best thought of as elements most inspiration and activism around m2Work. within longer-term series of integrated events and This does not mean that the global reach of the processes. Hosting a pitching event will not do the Idea Challenge did not have its benefits. Several of work. Rather, alternating the support mechanisms the six finalists’ ideas came from bright people that along the innovation pipeline is needed to attract had not before participated in any mLab or mHub a large pool of talent and to cater toward varying event. But infoDev also saw that those that had ties entrepreneurial needs and progress stages. For to mHubs and mLabs were more likely to take the instance, hackathons can be used to push ideation, idea further, provided they received initial follow- mentoring to support the business model design up support. phase, and start-up competitions to enable partnership building and access to investors for This means that local outreach and activation of existing projects looking to grow. communities is crucial to achieve a high quantity, “[P]rizes [that help the] “I would have appreciated winning team to sustain their expert opinions on how to push business model and prototype the app further and how to get to at least a year. The prizes it into the market rapidly. The could be cash or supports like organizer should have provided Mentoring, Financing, Business incubation and mentorship to all Model, Marketing, [software] interested participants and not Licens[ing] […].” just the winners.” “Financial and “[I would have] preferred the Business Networks.” [mLab] to let us meet there […] so that we could get the ideas straight and also get resources for testing and [meet] guru developers who would have come in greatly to help us improve the […] application.” —Hackathon participants on the reasons why they didn’t pursue their app start-ups 42 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market quality, and continuity of engagement. The Make a Strong Effort for Viable Innovation Competition of Step 2 should be broad- based, but participation should be enhanced Partnership Models through more targeted and intense outreach and The activities that infoDev, as well as mHubs and education through local nodes, such as mHubs, mLabs, implement are always designed to leave mLabs, or other partner institutions. During the room for partnerships that enhance the value m2Work Idea Challenge, this was done as an that they create for developers and entrepreneurs. adjustment at the midpoint of the submission m2Work was no exception. The project thrived period. In the future, these outreach activities on contributions of various partners—from the should be emphasized more and implemented IdeasProject platform for the global Idea Challenge from the start. to the numerous local implementation partners for the hackathon (see the Overview section of “‘From The frustration of several hackathon participants Mind to Market’ through the Example of m2Work”). over a buzz that they felt ebbed off too quickly However, given the short preparation time lines for leads to the conclusion that local and global both the challenge (December 2011 to February competition stages can and should be integrated 2012) and the hackathon (July to September and alternated. While infoDev originally intended 2012), infoDev and the entrepreneurship enablers to go from global to local both in terms of prizes were not able to crowd in as many partners as they and support, it became clear that it is advisable to would have wanted. give finalists and winners exposure and experience through competing regionally and internationally. The lesson here is that it is worthwhile to plan in Hands-on entrepreneurship support will always more time and resources for partnership building need a strong local component, but high profile and expansion of the activities beyond the infoDev regional and global events can serve as a pressure microcosm. For m2Work, infoDev experienced and proof point for good teams, pushing them to great readiness to support the project from forge their product toward marketability. various partners locally and globally, but often this was realized only when it was too late to For both Step 2 and Step 3, infoDev learned that draw up more intensive partnerships. So it is likely community facilitation is key on virtual platforms that the marginal return on more effort spent that aim to bridge physical distances. Without and time taken to build partnerships would have a dedicated community builder, collaboration been very high. In particular, infoDev realized that and team building between innovators during developing a well thought-through outreach and the Idea Challenge happened, but rarely. partnership plan already in the topic identification Moreover, no teams formed in the virtual space. period could have helped to secure larger-scale In addition, the affordances of the IdeasProject engagements from partners, in particular at the platform did not offer enough opportunities for global level. exchange, such as dedicated discussion forums and comment functions for blog posts. Similarly, during the hackathon, the participants hardly In the future, infoDev “I participated from Nigeria; I did not should use more elaborate collaborated across the five sites, and organizers get any information from the organizer partnerships to strengthen had other priorities than to send updates to the the effect of event on the review of my app […]” interactive website that had been put in place. and competition based Any future activity that aims to enable cross- support models, in that the country collaboration and exchange will require models provide branding community leaders that push questions and and awareness, additional engagement on virtual platforms. For instance, outreach channels, and open code repositories and video “check-ins” every unique support resources. few hours could enable global collaboration, if For instance, it would have they are moderated and incentivized properly. been hugely beneficial —A virtual hackathon participant Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 43 to include tech entrepreneurship hubs outside not all focal points saw room for improvements. of the mHub and mLab network in m2Work. While hackathons and similar events should These satellite hubs could have hosted their own not be misrepresented as ready-made tools for activities on their own account, but using toolkits start-up creation, they can contribute both to and branding provided by infoDev. In this respect, the galvanization and continuation of sustained the Water and Sanitation Hackathons1 were models partnerships for mLabs and mHubs. that infoDev could have emulated. Such partnerships can take different forms. Similarly, the hackathon sites were able to conduct It became clear that there is more potential, successful events, but they, too, pointed out that if sufficient thought and time are invested in more time and additional resources would have designing a tie-in with partners’ existing support enabled them to raise more contributions from programs. For instance, platform providers, such partners locally, multiplying the hackathon’s as BlackBerry and Nokia, sponsored additional effectiveness. It is important to note that prize categories that rewarded innovators working partnerships go beyond financial sponsorships for a given device series at individual hackathon and prizes, and often include in-kind contributions, sites. But these large players also have acceleration such as sending experts and coaches to the programs and international events for hacker teams hackathon sites. The partnerships that were (such as Nokia’s and Microsoft’s App Campus, or struck already provided substantial additional BlackBerry’s regional and national Jam Hack series). value for hackathon participants, but most if It would have been useful to create a structured follow-up process that would guide teams toward 1 For an evaluation of the Water Hackathon, see such offerings, while at the same time creating a http://water.worldbank.org/publications/water-hackathon- lessons-learned. The Sanitation Hackathon website is at greater motivation to do well. http://www.sanitationhackathon.org/. Photo credit: mLab ECA 44 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa On the global level, additional partnerships would Next to sponsoring and entrepreneurship support, have been possible with more preparation time. an interesting resource that partners could make Microsoft’s Innovation Centers or Qualcomm’s available for mutual benefit is open data. Several Global Reach program are just two examples of hackathon organizers mentioned that coders global entrepreneurship support networks that found the mobile microwork topic interesting projects such as m2Work could tap into, if the right and compelling, but they were lacking specific partnership can be struck. Moreover, organizations context and information. For instance, open data that focus on international development such as resources (compiled by the World Bank,2 the the GSMA Development Fund, the Bill and Melinda Open Knowledge Foundation, and many others) Gates Foundation, or other World Bank units could be enhanced with context-specific meta- could have added tremendous value, if infoDev information to provide a breeding ground for more had been able to spend the time necessary to compelling app prototypes. coordinate and set up such partnerships. Again, the Water & Sanitation Hackathons have shown how powerful broader engagement of partners and sponsors can be. 2 http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 45 Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa 46 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market The Future of the ”From Mind to Market” Approach Although m2Work can be seen as a successful international competition leg onto local pilot, the lessons learned should inform several competitions. mLabs and mHubs have adjustments to the methodology of infoDev’s and already hosted several successful innovation others’ upcoming “From Mind to Market” projects: competitions,1 implying vast tacit and explicit implementation knowledge on • Upcoming projects should be designed with a their part. Ongoing pilots and projects shorter and more integrated schedule between that infoDev is conducting—including a the broad-based innovation competition start-up internationalization initiative, an (Step 2) and the incubation and acceleration mAgri Challenge,2 virtual incubation,3 and phase (Step 4). For instance, hackathons can distributed entrepreneurship support pilots, be run in parallel to the advanced stages or crowdfunding—will bring more insights of the innovation competition, and the into how global and virtual entrepreneurship prototypes developed can be made part of support can be run most effectively. the submission requirements. Mentoring, coaching, incubation, and acceleration • infoDev should also aim to build and broaden support will be offered as prizes at different its partnership models, for instance, by stages of the competition for finalist and collaborating with strong implementing winning teams. partners, including global level partners. With the growth of the “From Mind to Market” • In addition, the requirement of an brand and infoDev’s implementation capacity, entrepreneurial mindset should be the activities should provide increasing value emphasized more strongly in selecting for partners. support and award recipients. With the support from infoDev’s donors, the network • Finally, infoDev now has a better sense of of mHubs and mLabs is growing in depth and the resources required to run a “From Mind breadth. This can enable a better and more to Market” project and which tasks external continuous activation of local entrepreneurial partners should implement. This will help talent, as well as the integration of hands-on to make (annual) repetitions more efficient support to winners of competitions and other and effective, while building “From Mind to promising innovators. Market” activities as a brand and an important and well-integrated part of its portfolio. • infoDev should aim for greater regional reach of events and support, as well as a more structured global linkup between the 1 See Annex for weblinks. nodes that mHubs and mLabs represent. In 2 http://infodev.org/mAgri. particular, infoDev should follow requests from m2Work participants to add an 3 http://infodev.org/virtualincubation. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 47 From all that is known, m2Work appears to have that 12 mHub and mLab pilots are operational— been a successful starting point toward more and more in the pipeline—it is time for infoDev to effective entrepreneurship support projects for create additional value for these entrepreneurship very early-stage innovators, helping viable ideas enablers and their clients. The overarching goal and business models move “From Mind to Market.” is to make the network “more than the sum of its m2Work delivered satisfactory results for the small parts.” m2Work has demonstrated that there is project size, but more importantly, it was a rich demand for such an approach, and it has yielded learning exercise for infoDev and its network of first insights on how to serve this demand. mLabs and mHubs. More iterations and thought will be necessary While the project is only a small piece in a larger to further refine projects that convene local mosaic of mobile innovation support programs, innovation networks for maximum output of high it has been a crucial step toward finding a growth start-up creation. As more benchmarks formula of support activities that convene mobile and knowledge become available, it will be entrepreneurship networks across the globe. Now important to conduct more rigorous impact and 48 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market cost-benefit evaluations than this report was able time-consuming and effort-intensive tracking and to deliver. Overall, it appears that m2Work showed analysis will have to be budgeted for in advance. good, promising results, but strictly speaking, only long-term tracking of start-ups and control group The continuing support from infoDev’s donor comparisons could yield highly reliable findings. partners indicates that there is room for further This report serves to set initial benchmarks for exploration of new pathways, and for innovation future editions, but more work needs to be and iteration. This report finds that “From Mind to done on a comprehensive evaluation of “From Market” projects such as m2Work can become an Mind to Market” projects. This evaluation should important pillar in early stage innovation support, include quantification of the impact on start- and that infoDev should further strengthen the up generation and private sector development approach. With the lessons learned, future “From indicators, but also of the generation of immaterial Mind to Market” editions could create even more resources, such as knowledge and skills. However, value for the many bright and motivated mobile project implementers need to be aware that, if tech entrepreneurs that infoDev serves across long-term impact evaluation is an important goal, the globe. Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 49 dit: m P h o t o c r eGuiding 50 Lab Ideas S oMind from u t h to e r Market n Africa Annex Links on m2Work Hackathon Idea Challenge Web page: http://m2workhackathon.org Web page: https://ideasproject.com/web/m2work Announcement: http://www.infodev.org/en/ Article.894.html Announcement: http://www.infodev.org/en/ Article.797.html Summary: http://www.infodev.org/en/ Article.914.html News archive (incl. spot prize announcements): https://ideasproject.com//web/m2work/m2work- Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd. Final Report: http:// newsarchive m2work hack athon.org/sites/default/files/ downloads/Report_m2Work_Hackathon.pdf Closing: http://www.infodev.org/en/ Article.826.html Further Reading Finalist selection: http://www.infodev.org/en/ Useful Links from the infoDev Network Article.834.html and the World Bank Refined finalist submissions: http://www.infodev. infoDev Work Program: http://www.infodev.org/ org/en/Article.840.html workprogram Winner announcement: http://www.infodev.org/ infoDev mAgriChallenge: http://infodev.org/mAgri en/Article.842.html infoDev virtual incubation material: http://www. Alhurra TV / I-Tech video: http://www.youtube. infodev.org/virtualincubation com/watch?v=zG1UH4dCAaY mLab East Africa’s Pivot East: http://www. Blog post by Vili Lehdonvirta: http://blogs. pivoteast.com worldbank.org/psd/developing-world-innovators- rule -first-lessons-from-mobile -microwork- mHub Nepal / MobileNepal’s Pivot Nepal: http:// competition pivot.mobilenepal.net/ Blog post by Alexander Shakaryan: http://blogs. mLab ECA’s Regional Mobile App Contest: http:// worldbank.org/psd/microforester-seeding-social- w w w.mlabeca.com/eng/regional-mobile - entrepreneurship-while-planting-trees application-contest/; http://www.mlabeca.com/ eng/news-announcements/regional-mobile-app- Blog post by Nicolas Friederici: http://blogs. contest_-best-idea-winners-announced/ worldbank.org/psd/expose-engage-empower- connecting-unlikely-entrepreneurs-in- mLab East Asia’s Mobile Innovation Challenge: the-mobile-era http://mic.mlab.vn/en/; http://www.techinasia. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 51 Photo credit: mLab ECA Heydebreck, P., Klofsten, M., and J. Maier. 2000. “Innovation Support for New Technology-based Firms: the Swedish Teknopol Approach.” R&D Management, Vol. 30, Is 1: 89-100. Murray, F., Stern, S., Campbell, G., and A. MacCormack. 2012. “Grand Innovation Prizes: A Theoretical, Normative, and Empirical Evaluation.” Research Policy, Vol. 41 (10): 1779-1792. Quantitative Hackathon Survey Results com/5-top-winners-mlab-east-asias-mobile- innovation-challenge/ Note: infoDev publishes these data sets to increase transparency and enable replication and additional Water Hackathon Lessons Learned: http://water. analysis by third parties. Most open-ended worldbank.org/publications/water-hackathon- responses were omitted to ensure participants’ lessons-learned anonymity. The data were collected in order to generate illustrative descriptive statistics. There are Sanitation Hackathon website: http://www. substantial analytical limitations connected to the sanitationhackathon.org/ usage of the data for other purposes and without contextual knowledge. If you want to use the data, World Bank Apps for Development Challenge: you are advised to obtain background information http://www.worldbank.org/appsfordevelopment from infoDev and to ensure appropriate contextualization. Academic Papers Hackathon Participants Auerswald, P. E. and L.M. Branscomb. 2003. “Valleys of Death and Darwinian Seas: Financing the https://www.dropbox.com/s/z30xqwp971i7ohz/ Invention to Innovation Transition in the United m 2 Wo r k % 2 0 H a c k a t h o n % 2 0 Pa r t i c i p a n t s _ States.” The Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol 28, public.xlsx Is 3-4: 227-239. Hackathon Follow-Up Survey Blohm, I., Bretschneider, U., Leimeister, J. M., and H. Krcmar. 2010. Does Collaboration among https://www.dropbox.com/s/9p0ct3swhsg97yt/ Participants Lead to Better Ideas in IT-Based m2Work%20Hackathon%20Follow-Up_public.xlsx Idea Competitions? An Empirical Investigation. Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences: 1-10. Bullinger, A. C., Neyer, A.-K., Rass, M, and K.M. Moeslein. 2010. “Community-Based Innovation Contests: Where Competition Meets Cooperation.” Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 19 (3):290-303. Campbell, G. A. 2011. Incentive Competitions as a Policy Tool for Technological Innovation. Sloan School of Management Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa 52 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Summaries from Hackathon example, gadgets or cash prizes for techies that don’t want to start a company, incubation or seed Focal Point Interviews money for participants willing to start a company). However, a global prize should be awarded in the Integration of Idea Challenge future, as this is much more prestigious and would and Hackathon be a very strong motivator to do well. There was agreement that the integration of Hackathon Preparation (Outreach, challenge and hackathon did not work well. Idea Design, or Pre-Events), Excluding Few ideas from the challenge period were taken Team Formation forward during the hackathon. The challenge helped to introduce the topic to some, but To make full use of all the opportunities in the often the participants or constituencies of the preparation of a hackathon, more time is required hackathon were different from those interested than was the case. A virtual community for idea in or participating in the challenge. Probably the exchange and preparation, as well as team- hackathon would have worked almost as well building, for the signed-up participants can help without the idea challenge. to advance the ideas even before the event starts. Topic of Mobile Microwork Participants and Team Formation The topic of mobile microwork was challenging The m2Work Hackathon mainly attracted students to understand in the beginning. It required direct and junior hackers. Fewer senior, experienced, coaching and hand-holding to get participants to highly-paid coders attended. Pre-events helped think about and understand the concept. However, for team formation, saving time at the event. participants thought the topic was meaningful and Teams that had members with different and interesting. In the end, participants understood the complementary skills did better, especially when concept better and sometimes small communities entrepreneur or business types teamed up with of practice formed around the topic. techies. Women often added specific skills, for instance, in terms of presentation and design. Motivation to Participate and Perform Nontechnical or entrepreneurial people (such during the Hackathon as development practitioners or students from other fields than computer science or information Hackers are problem solvers. It helps when hackers technology) did not participate in significant are able to identify and work on problems from numbers. Although there were concerns that not their own day-to-day experience. For the kinds of enough was done to match up the participants, it hackers that m2Work attracted, the prospect of is not obvious that the organizer should intervene social impact is important. Whatever the app that and prescribe team formation entirely. they develop, a feeling of ownership of the app motivates hackers. Event Facilitation, Design, and Content Standardization versus Local Adaptation The clear and structured facilitation through YIPL of Award Structure helped the site organizers. Additional evaluation tasks (such as interviews) were sometimes Letting each hackathon site or organizer decide on challenging to carry out for the organizers. the prizes awarded to the local or regional winners is Whenever ideas and teams were fixed before the necessary to accommodate the specific conditions events, this allowed for more focused and effective at each site. If incubation spaces are available, work during the hackathon. There is disagreement incubation should be offered as a prize, as it is a very whether such a hackathon event should be strong motivator. Different prize categories can be extended to three days. Sometimes it was useful to incentivize different participant types (for advocated to leave it at two days to accommodate Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 53 professionals and to do more preparation work “Sound Bites” from Hackathon (such as pre-events, including team-formation and “ideathons”) in advance. Other times, it was Participants 1 pointed out that travelling to the site multiple General Feedback times can be a problem for participants, so that a three-day “all-in-one” event makes more sense. In “m2Work was great. It showed me my potential, future editions, subject-area and technical experts like if I can design a prototype from an idea in just should be present at the hackathon, fulfilling 30 hours, I can do anything. Also I came to meet roles of mentors, coaches, and potential investors. with top-level developers there, which was like the Specification of problem statements, such as best prize hackathon can provide me.” during the Water Hackathon, might be helpful to generate more meaningful output, but there has “What an incredible experience it was. I would like to be room for hackers’ need for ownership and free to work more on apps.” thinking if they are supposed to follow through on prototypes toward start-ups. One way or another, “Having subject experts a coordinators will give more context material to work with should be hackers confidence in building a prototype.” given to hackers, in particular topic-specific open data repositories or market research. There should “Make winning price more so that the winners be at least one follow-up event after the hackathon have more financial help to further refine the idea.” for the teams to refine their prototypes. “Overall the event was very good, it helped us Global and Virtual Collaboration focus on our development. We were able to test some control procedures that we are interested A global collaboration element would be of great in implementing in our start-up. It has also value for the hackathon. Teams could jointly follow highlighted the need for doing research and presentations that introduce or explain the topic, presenting our ideas to potential investors. It has identify similar projects and work together, adapt also highlighted the value of team work and being solutions to a different mobile platform (depending in a contributing group. It has also highlighted on local coding expertise), partner up globally the need to turn ideas into ventures which is very for app marketing and distribution, and listen to different and requires total support.” everyone’s pitches at the end. The collaboration and virtual element should probably not interfere “The hackathons events are a very great opportunity with the intense coding period. especially for me as student to acquire more skills as developer. Currently on most universities we as Value for mLabs / mHubs students don’t get opportunities to showcase our different abilities in the IT field.” Overall, the hackathon added value for the mLabs, for instance, through solidifying existing “I think that the apps that were presented at the partnerships, building the mLab brand locally, and hackathon are pie-in-the-sky applications that generating incubatees. are difficult to diffuse in the market due to the complex environment of the stakeholders involved in implementing the app successfully. I think that hackathon judges must not be amazed by the complexity of prototypes but recognize the ease of applicability of the app into real-world systems.” 1 The comments came from m2Work Hackathon surveys. They underwent light copy-editing to improve legibility. Photo credit: mLab East Asia 54 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa “m2work ideas are just too many for a few groups to exhaust so frequent hackathons and better publicity is necessary to ensure that more ideas are provided and acted up on. Judging should also take the m2work aspect as the fundamental goal.” “Support mobiles to test.” “Need to check carefully what every team is about: Did they really do the task at the time the contest happened or have they already done it at home?” “The m2Work hackathon event in Vietnam was good in overall. But the time of announcement about the event was too tight. The information about the event should be opened more, via a trusted distribution channel. We received appropriate emails, but we would like the information to be distributed to wider community.” at the top by the judges. I think this is not good “Great support from organizers. A good start for because it discourages creativity of new ideas. us just in two days. Not fair for busy one. If we It’s not nice to have a working idea in the market have only one idea and one platform with clear being presented in M2work hackathons over and standardize evaluation will be better. However, it over again.” will lack the creativeness, freedom, and playing for fun (that I really like in this hackathon).” “One suggestion for the next events can be an online video connection with the other m2Work “1. The rules (candidates must do 80 percent of hackathons.” project at Hackathon contest): Someone or some teams are repaired (50-80 percent) at home or re- “A higher internet access bandwidth will be highly used their project (from others contest, from their appreciated during the hackathon.” own projects) and bring them to the Hackathon contest. They played games, listened to music, “Provide hackers with a template / process / chatted when other teams were working very hard. checklist that can be used to generate ideas. The (This thing make me very disappointed about this same questions are asked over and over: how will Contest, others are fine and I like it). 2. Award your app make money? Who will use it? So how criteria: Some teams made their app not following about putting all that stuff together and converting Hackathon’s m2work spirit.” it into an FAQ wiki? Secondly the same applies to coding. Most of the apps are connected to the web “Continued mentorship of hackers. Maintain so how about providing hackers with tutorials on records of hackers who have participated before so developing simple cross platform web connected that when they establish they can offer mentorship apps. Follow ups: This survey is a good example to new hackers. Link hackers with potential of a follow up. So follow up on hackers in a few investors/venture capitalists. Extensive publicity days’ time, plenty of good ideas and apps were of hackathon events to increase participation and presented . . . something good is and will come competition. Look into ways of advising hackers of out of this. Overall: I attended the South African securing intellectual rights of their inventions.” Mlabs Hackerthon. Awesome event!!! A troop of developers are and will change the way we use “I noticed that there were repetitions of ideas that technology for a long time.” were in the previous hackathon and were rated Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 55 Photo credit: mLab Southern Africa “I was a virtual participant, maybe more interaction hope to make a big impact with our prototype. with the virtual participants could be applied.” M2work is a great platform as it took many of us out of our comfort zones and challenged us to be “High amount of cash prizes would do great. Also more than we can be.” a trip prizes to attend various worldwide national business conferences than only cash prizes would “There needs to be more “awareness campaign” help us to learn more and help turn our ideas into especially to software development houses to real business venture.” understand the value of bringing their developers to hackathons. So some more PR exercise for “This was a good job for a hackathon that was first organizers.” of its kind. We hope to attend many more. Work on the facilities like badges and t-shirts to ensure “This event is so important to IT specialist and the everyone who attended the hackathon left with problem is that it is not well known, so if you will one of them.” make sure that people understand what is all about then you will see many people getting involved. “It is very helpful event for our team in general, we Also it must be known to our government because have noticed our advantages and disadvantages.” there are many opportunities that government can get from it (e.g., creating jobs for people via their “Most of the people that entered the SA phones). This is an excellent idea that anyone came competition are students, the prize must also up with, pick it up guys.” include an incentive for them and not just towards the start-up. Otherwise, thank you very much, we “m2work hackathon was an awesome experience. 56 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market It was a lot more than I had imagined. All the that I’m happy with the support that I’ve received hackers were amazing. We were fully dedicated so far. Though I am open for more support.” towards our work. Me with my team gave our best and we hacked the hackathon. It’s a proud feeling “Highly satisfied with the support. It inspiring me to be a part of the hackathon. We are still working and give me very much useful information and on it to bring it to a live product so that it’ll be knowledge.” useful to lots of people. Really a great and amazing experience of my life.” “Highly satisfied with the support. We highly appreciate the support from mLab [ECA] that we “m2work Hackathon was a life time opportunity received in the early stage of our development. for me. I would like to give special thanks to World Now, when we moved forward, we are trying to Bank for showing interest in this sector and to build a network with potential partners outside organizers, who gave their full dedication to make Armenia. Also we are making efforts to afford the it perfect. This learnt more than I had imagined, best UI designers and developers, so we will be able and to my and my team’s hard work we hacked the to make using MicroForester a fantastic experience. hackathon. We are still working for it and looking I have already told in the previous survey that we towards World Bank for next competition with would be happy to receive assistance on dealing seed amount, so that we make our dream come with UK organizations and events.” true and help millions of people.” “Satisfied with the support. Friendly, willing to “Everything was awesome in my point of view, the support anytime I need. - Try hard to link me to food facilities were great, and the required materials expert or other groups.” provided during the hakathon were enough. It would be great if some sort of arrangement for “Highly satisfied with the support. The m:Lab East sleeping would be made in future programs, coz Africa Management and community has been HACKERS NEED SOUND SLEEP TOO. :)” really openly helpful in the past five months. Business coaching, mentorship, testing facilities, “To ‘focus on inclusive innovation/economic & etc. . . “ social development,’ we brought the ‘new’ platform that we think it is the best appropriate platform “Not satisfied with the support. Moral support was for our selected idea. The ‘new’ platform supports good, but we were looking for investors. I want take ‘write once, deploy on all Major Smartphones this idea to business, for that we need more that a (Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and moral support. Like testing lab, mentors, grants...” Symbian).’ It is RhoMobile Suite. We also would like to have sponsors to put our app into the market.” “Satisfied with the support. They gave us ample time during the coaching. The sessions were also “I did not get a t-shirt though I really wanted one.” informative enough.” On the Support that Participants On Follow-On Support that Participants Received Following the Hackathon2 Were Missing3 “Satisfied with the support. It jump-started our “Familiarization with the environment and the way team on the proposal development and opened forward in development platform.” our eyes to see more business opportunities available for our app.” “Financial support.” “Highly satisfied with the support. Let me just say “Financial and Business Networks.” 2 Includes answers only from hackathon 3 Includes answers only from hackathon participants that received some kind of follow-on support. participants that did not receive follow-on support. Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market 57 “Yes, development support and help in terms of which helps blind people connect to the helper by my subject at hand. Mentorship program, both in phone and the helper give directions to the blind development and in a business sense.” person using blind’s phone’s camera scenery and GPS coordinates.” “Mentorship with concerned experts.” “I would have appreciated expert opinions on how “A prize to winning team to sustain their business to push the app further and how to get it into the model and prototype to at least a year. The market rapidly. The organizer should have provided prizes could be cash or supports, like mentoring, incubation and mentorship to all interested financing, business model, marketing, licenses participants and not just the winners.” of different softwares, which would be used to promote prototype.” “Yes, we liked. - Financial, ideas. - Big ideas about the application.” “Mainly we are not trained one in servers and business so this could be helpful for us. Thanks.” “I did not [...] receive anything.” “I preferred the ihub to let us meet there either at Reasons for Hackathon Participants Not the mlab, ihub or nailab so that we could get the Continuing to Work on the App ideas straight and also get resources for testing and also am sure there are also guru developers who “Lack of time.” would have come in greatly to help us improve the kaisari application.” “I need more techniques such as servers, and some phones for testing.” “We are expecting to manage some company for that. Maybe this survey would be in our mobile “Later I came to realize new idea that had better survey application which we had developed potential and for me new idea got more priority. during hackathon. So we like to get help on what However m2work did provide me exposure the organization could.” and pushed me to keep working on the mobile app sector.” “I participated from Nigeria, I did not get any information from the organizer on the review of my “We found difficulty in coordinating our team to app, and also we need such events to be organized continue with the project as we were all students in Nigeria to help other mobile developers so as to from different institutions each with equally busy Photo credit: mLab ECA create jobs to help the economy.” schedules.” “Financial and coaching to realize the core function “I stay far from the rest of the group members I of the hackathon, which is creating employment joined during the m2work hackaton.” for the unemployed.” “Team is busy doing their full time jobs. No “How to get more resources and tools.” follow up from organizers. We were called for the competition (hackathon), it got over, app got “Advice on writing the business model and the over, etc.” proposal.” “Lack of support from the organizers in terms of “We did not develop that project and therefore we funding and incubation. Only few groups which did not ask for support from Incubators or mLab. took place in the competition took the first three But if you are interested in our idea, it will be nice positions and got the necessary help.” from you to support us for promoting that project, 58 Guiding Ideas from Mind to Market ©2013 infoDev / The World Bank | 1818 H Street, NW | Washington DC, 20433 Email: info@infoDev.org | Tel + 1 202 458 8831 | Twitter: @infoDev www.infodev.org