Perpetual Innovation

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  • Innovative Countries — Global Innovation Index

    Innovative Countries — Global Innovation Index

    This is a great summary of innovation by country from Visual Capitalist. See the Global Innovation Index (GII) map here:https://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-innovative-countries-2022/

    First Published on IntellZine.com. Note the sustainability implications from innovation, and the lack of innovation.

    We,
    at Strategic Business Planning Company, www.SBP.com, are always
    interesting in all aspects of innovation. Sometimes we hear from a
    layperson or an executive that the most innovative country in the work
    is …  

    Israel and Ireland were
    mentioned in recent years.  One executive said that “all innovation
    comes from Israel”. All right, admittedly, Israel is a great source of
    innovation and invention, but it is a very small country (population,
    GDP). In absolute terms, Israel is not even close, but in relative terms
    (adjusted for size of country), Israel is a very respectable #16 in the
    world (GII score of 50.2).

    So,
    a quick search came up with this great source at Visual Capitalist
    shows that the top 6 countries are: Switzerland, USA, Sweden, and the UK
    all with innovation scores above 60. The rest of the top 10 had
    innovation scores over 56.

    Rank

      Country / Region

    Score

    1

    Switzerland

    64.6

    2

    U.S.

    61.8

    3

    Sweden

    61.6

    4

    United Kingdom

    59.7

    5

    Netherlands

    58.0

    6

    South Korea

    57.8

    7

    Singapore

    57.3

    8

    Germany

    57.2

    9

    Finland

    56.9

    10

    Denmark

    55.9

    Here is the summary of how the Global Innovation Index is developed/designed. (quote)

    Innovation is inherently challenging
    to quantify, but the Global Innovation Index is a longstanding attempt to do
    just that. The framework used for the index was
    designed to create a more complete analysis, comprising of 81 indicators
    across seven categories to calculate a country’s score:

    7 Categories

    Example Indicators

    🧳 Business Sophistication

    Business R&D spend, net inflows of foreign direct
    investment

    📈 Market Sophistication

    Size of economy’s GDP, intensity of local market
    competition

    🛣️ Infrastructure

    Road, hospital, school construction, energy efficiency

    👩‍🏫 Human Capital & Research

    Government funding per pupil, quality of scientific and
    research institutions

    🏛️ Institutions

    Political stability and safety, ease of starting a
    business

    💡 Creative Outputs

    Most valuable brands, industrial design applications,
    trademark applications

    👨‍💻 Knowledge and Technology Outputs

    Patent applications,
    increase in labor productivity, spending on software

    As the above table shows, the
    framework aims to identify indicators that foster an innovative environment and
    breakthrough technologies.

    Other Countries

     The article talks about regions, like North America (namely, US and Canada) and the EU with some 15 very innovative countries. 

    China came in 11th
    (GII score of 55.3). China sucks up technology from around the world —
    legally, unethically, and illegally. And then China shamelessly deploys
    and commercializes technology. In terms of patents, China is by far the
    busiest patent office in the world. World Intellectual Property Organization shows
    that China continues to be the busiest patent office in the world. The
    patent protection in china is not because it is the 2nd largest economy
    in the world behind the USA, it is because patent protection in the
    other big economies is also protected by reducing the knock-offs and
    piracy from China (India and other countries).

    South Africa is generally low on the GII innovation index with South Africa rated 61st country (GII of 29), then Morocco and Tunisia. The nexus of innovation (regions or pockets of innovation) seems to explain much of the GII innovation.

    Summary

    Innovation is complex with may areas that enable economic growth and development. A well rounded environment for invention and innovation is best. There are several ways to get to an economic environment that is innovation enabled and invention friendly.

  • Tight Labor Market is Hitting Nonprofits Hard

    Tight Labor Market is Hitting Nonprofits Hard

    Nonprofits generally pay less than other options, government or private sector. With high costs of living and a super tight labor market, nonprofits are seeing a double whammy.
    See an article by Kohli from the Boston Globe, In a tight labor market, nonprofits are losing out.
    They need to raise wages rapidly to employees, but starting at a low level to begin which means that employees are pressured to go into the government or private sector — sometimes with a 2x or 3x salary increase.

    The great COVID disruption may have multiple other macroeconomic impacts on nonprofits; some may help or aggravate the issue of tight labor squeeze. As the article discusses, many nonprofits — say food pantries and youth services — may find the needs increasing dramatically.

    Two of the biggest questions for the nonprofit are related to increases/decrease in funding, and increases/decreases in volunteers. These are good topics for future blog posts.

  • Nonprofit Plan

    Nonprofit Plan

    Nonprofit Plan is about improving the philanthropic ecosystem, trying to make charities more efficient and successful while encouraging donors to become more impactful with their giving (time, talent & treasure).

    This concept and the upcoming blog (www.NonprofitPlan.org) is inspired by a book by Hall & Hinkelman of Strategic Business Planning Company.

    The Gift of Giving, the Art of Caring(tm)

    Hall, E. B. & Hinkelman, R. M. (2022). Perpetual Innovation™: Strategic planning for nonprofits and the art of impactful giving: the gift of giving, the art of caring. ISBN: ‎ 979-8842614615

    Retrieved from: Amazon.com/dp/B0BF8MB13X (Available on Kindle eBook as well.)

  • Nonprofits: Charity View

    Nonprofits: Charity View

    Nonprofit Plan is about improving the philanthropic ecosystem. The book by Hall & Hinkelman (2022) of Strategic Business Planning Company takes the holistic view: both from the charity’s point of view and from the donor’s. See Fig 17 from the book.

    The book starts with a charity Self-Assessment. A lower score would indicate a startup charity or one that is not well organized. Higher scores are representative of more mature and well organized charities that are in a good position to solicit donations (and grants) and to attract volunteers. Here’s a the summary diagram for a charity that is well into the green zone (score of 72.2).

    The self-assessment suggests areas for improvement. Improvement initiatives throughout the year would reflect in a higher score at the end of the year. The H&H book on Nonprofit Planning starts and ends with this self-assessment.

    Although the self-assessment is an internal management tool, the general format is useful for a donor or volunteer to consider in charity selection.

    The Gift of Giving, the Art of Caring(tm)

    Hall, E. B. & Hinkelman, R. M. (2022). Perpetual Innovation™: Strategic planning for nonprofits and the art of impactful giving: the gift of giving, the art of caring. ISBN: ‎ 979-8842614615

    Retrieved from: Amazon.com/dp/B0BF8MB13X (Available on Kindle eBook as well.)

  • Nonprofit: Donor/Volunteer View

    Nonprofit: Donor/Volunteer View

    Nonprofit Plan is about improving the philanthropic ecosystem. The book by Hall & Hinkelman (2022) of Strategic Business Planning Company takes the holistic view: both from the charity’s point of view and from the donor’s. See Fig 17 from the book.

    Chapter 3 and 5 are from a donor’s point of view, starting with larger charities (NGOs) and working into how to assess local/small charities.

    The Nonprofit Self-Assessment for the charity’s internal review is instructive for a donor review of a charity. Although the self-assessment is an internal management tool, the general format is useful for a donor or volunteer to consider in charity selection. For large(r) nonprofit organizations look at the information available from the large assessment organizations (fig 9).

    The results, if any, from the large assessment organizations is only a starting point. You, the donor or volunteer, still need to do additional due diligence and review how well the short list of charities matches with your own ideals/interests.

    Chapter 3 of H&H’s Nonprofits book focuses on the assessment organizations and how they rank a large(r) charity. They look at how money is spent. Since nonprofits are (generally) required to report informational 990 tax forms to the IRS, it is easy to look at the amount of money spent on executive salaries (and board compensation, if any) and on fundraising. The remainder is spent on “programs”, whatever those may be for the specific charity. Too much spent on salaries and/or fundraising leaves less for the actual programs which can be a red flag. Financial strength and best practices for a nonprofit organization (like governance) are also considered.

    Chapter 5 of H&H works through the budgeting process and how best to support a charitable cause (and various charities within that cause). You should consider contributions to charities as an investment and exercise the same due diligence. Fig 21 (H&H, 2022) outlines the ways to help out a charity (charitable cause).

    The Gift of Giving, the Art of Caring(tm)

    Hall, E. B. & Hinkelman, R. M. (2022). Perpetual Innovation™: Strategic planning for nonprofits and the art of impactful giving: the gift of giving, the art of caring. ISBN: ‎ 979-8842614615

    Retrieved from: Amazon.com/dp/B0BF8MB13X (Available on Kindle eBook as well.)