Our offers
Innovation Missions
Moving systems forward through collective missions
Most challenges of our time don’t exist in a vacuum. They are part of complex systems, shaped by human behaviour and worked on by teams and organisations.
To truly address these challenges, we must work with these systems and the people in them. Transforming systems requires bold goals, collaboration across borders and sectors, and a participatory approach that values local expertise.
When the path ahead is uncertain and one idea isn’t enough, missions unlock the way forward. They call for a unifying vision, intentional investment in multiple diverse approaches, and a readiness to learn and adapt as new insights emerge.
It also requires intentional activity and investment at multiple levels, and likely a mix of portfolios running concurrently, addressing different parts of the system.
Brink’s CoLabs projects, such as the Oxygen CoLab and the Vaccine Data CoLab, do this by
- Bringing together stakeholders to build a long-term vision
- Realising that vision collaboratively (the ‘Co’ in CoLab) and experimentally (‘the Lab’) to keep our progress and impact grounded in the real world
- Deploying capital proactively and collaboratively
- Providing non-financial support that goes beyond access to expertise and innovation coaching, to include building learning networks and advocacy groups, and feeding into existing global coalitions
These missions combine
- Multi-stakeholder coalitions (governments, corporates, NGOs, innovators, citizens)
- Concurrent investment in product innovation + service models across multiple portfolios
- Learning networks and advocacy groups, feeding into existing global coalitions
Related work
-
Full case studyFrontier Tech Hub
Piloting a radical new platform for locust control in Kenya
Exploring whether drones could be used as a nimble, low-cost and environmentally friendlier complement to traditional locust control, particularly for early-stage outbreaks, hard-to-reach areas and smaller swarms.
Read the case study → -
Full case studyOxygen CoLab
Improving access to medical oxygen in low and middle income countries
The FCDO-funded Oxygen CoLab exists to address the shortage of oxygen provision in low-resource settings. To date, across the portfolio of five grantees, more than 10,000 patients have been treated; and in 2024, for the first time ever, there will be fit-for-purpose oxygen concentrators for low-resource settings in the world.
Read the case study → - Full case study
Macmillan CoLab
Addressing health inequalities through inclusive design
In just five months we designed and tested a holistic ‘fatigue safety net’ proposition that was then piloted by healthcare staff across an NHS Trust in two hospitals. Along the way we changed.
Read the case study →
