AGE OF INNOVALESQUE: On Safari: Kennisland and Portal2Dreams run Innovation Safari in Amsterdam

28 adventurers, 6 sunsets, 5 quests, 1 oasis: How The First Urban Innovation Safari Surpassed Our Wildest Expectations

I am post-Safari. It’s state of being. Everything seems possible; there is a bristling energy in my veins. Thanks to 30 amazing people who worked at Kennisland during an extraordinary week of social innovation in Amsterdam this July. By the end of Social Safari 2010 we gave 5 inspiring solutions to 5 satisfied clients and Ombudsman Pieter Hilhorst wrote a ravishing Safari review in the Volkskrant. Here's the story of what happened, and why.

Safari roadmap

3 people and their passions came together at the start of 2010. The mission of independent think tank Kennisland is to make Dutch society smarter. Director Chris Sigaloff and Digital Pioneers project manager Corline van Es wanted to share their social innovation methods with the world. And I had just published an article in Second Sight Trend magazine on the DNA of space-based innovation:

Take people out of their usual environment into a highly hosted space
Expose them to extreme diversity of culture, background, mindset
Work cross-generational
Put them through a pressure cooker journey of input and action
Spend some actual time together
Develop a strong focus on process and product / prototypes / interventions
Include a clear value component for innovation that is good for the world.

See the Safari methodology explained at the final event (start at 4:00 minutes).

Safari partners & challenges

And so the concept for the first ever Social Innovation Safari was born with this video inviting Dutch and international social innovators to “Be a tiger this summer”. We selected 28 to spend a week with us to work on 5 local partner challenges. Click on the clients below to see what they asked and the answers they received from the Safari crew by the end of the week:

Jeugdzorg EYE Institute Weekend School Ijburg Mix Academy

Safari participants

So much diversity and talent in the house! We had Tedx speaker Noam Kostucki and co-founder of Seeducation from London. The Basque Innovation Agency sent Carolina Rubio and Telecom/Industrial engineer and open source enthusiast Iker. Simon Lawrence, Cambridge alumni and Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce, joined from Prague while Tage Skofield and Mari Nielsen of BCE Impulse brought a fresh Norwegian wind to the Safari 2010. Equally impressive from The Netherlands: Patrick at Insightz, Victor Wolleart from Jonge Honden, Brock of Knowmads, Nienke from Philips, Thieu Besselink and the River Institute, Designers Mylene, Martijn, and Heleen, Hannah of Schrijfbij/The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Junior Advisor Saar, dancer Yomi, Alex - Gewoon Anders, Peter who founded Public Cinema, Trendwatcher Hortense Koster, Customer Experience consultant Tessa, Public Health student Karlijn. From Belgium/US Christina represented Evolutionize, NGO professional Anastasia joined from Russia, and we had Turkish architect Bet and Bart and Danielle from Kennisland. All profiles here.

Safari journey

What did we do? Day Zero was arrival and welcome day and coincided with the madness of the World Cup Final. We had a Safari table in Boom Chicago to watch it, but first we gathered at Kennisland on the Keizersgracht to brief the participants on the week ahead. We acknowledged that social innovation is not yet completely defined. It is richly interpreted in different places - and so mirrors the Safari's commitment to diversity. For an overview of social innovation read the Young Foundation’s recent report.

Breakfast at 8.30 ushers in Day One of the Safari. Getting to know each other, briefings on the client questions and input on methodology by Kennisland. Next up we board the Safari bus and visit all 5 clients across town. Memorable moments: Real emotion and honesty at Jeugdzorg, Simon and Alex do an on-the-spot intervention in Ijburg interviewing local shop owners. Last stop in the middle of a thunderstorm is Mix Academy. After dinner they host our Tedx inspiration talks. We finish on the rooftop around midnight. No one has slept enough, and no one will for days to come.

Quote of the Day: “I haven’t worked this hard in years” (C.J. Ozer who imports saffron into NL)

Day Two: Joeri tells the story of Kennisland as an example of real life social innovation, followed by input sessions from hosts Chris, Corline and Kwela on the How's and the What's of social innovation. We stress the importance of prototyping (testing, market research, implementation) before the 28 Tigers choose their groups and projects. The afternoon is spent developing ideas and interventions on-the-fly. At 6pm everyone must gather in front of an expert panel BBQ in the Westerpark and present their strategic client plans. We're joined by Kim Taylor of The New Motion who will on Friday provide the gift of an Electric Car to our VIP Pieter Hilhorst.

By 9pm all groups are given a symbolic survial pack and sent away for 24 hours to make their interventions and prototypes. Some choose to re-visit their clients, others make movies or conduct urban research. We don't see them again until 9pm on Day Three when they return to the Kennisland HQ to be greeted with candles, incense and ... foot baths! The 3 organisers go on their knees and wash and massage every pair of feet to say thankyou. We then share stories from each group's 24-hours mini-Safari and welcome our special visitor Dominik Wind from Berlin.

Early morning of Day Four and we choose between a Creative Commons talk, watching the Ted Global livestream, or sleeping in. Dominik of Until We See New Land joins us to share lessons learnt at the Palomar 5 Berlin Innovation Camp 2009 and stays for coaching the project groups towards their final presentations and solutions. The pace is hotting up. At night we make our way to sustainable office Groene Bocht and everyone loves co-founder Aart van Heller's talk on the Groene Bocht's Mission. For some it's their favourite Safari evening: Time to talk, time to interview each other in front of the cameras.

Carolina: "I didn't think it possible to get to results stage in one week, but we did!"

Day Five - the public summit is only a few hours away. It’s mayhem. People will start arriving at 5.30pm and we haven’t done our Golddigging session yet. We do it now. We sit on our hands and knees and make a gigantic mindmap logging our lessons learnt. It will later be displayed in the Kennisland party room. The groups are running around like mad putting the finishing touches to their presentations. I am sent out to Athenaeum to hunt for meaningful gifts for our clients. I choose Jan Rothuizen’s The Soft Map of Amsterdam. I also prepare the secret internal farewell ceremony for the Tigers - The Walk of Trust - and organize the Safari parting gifts: Engraved locks that will be displayed at a secret location in Amsterdam. They symbolise the dual meaning of the Safari journey: First, unlock your potential (creativity), then lock down your ideas around something tangible and doable (commitment to results).

The energy at Kennisland is incredible. We have officially entered the magical state of Flow. People communicate with smiles, eyes, gestures. You can ask anyone to help with anything and they will. News comes in that our VIP has confirmed: The Ombudsman Pieter Hilhorst will attend the summit and provide the closing statement. I run down to The New Motion to arrange for him to be picked up and delivered to Kennisland in the Electric Tesla. Time is running out. And then the house begins to fill up. 5 successful presentations and several moving speeches later the 28 Safaristi present us with an incredible surprise gift. I ask them: "When did you possibly have time to prepare this???"

Participants, guests & Pieter Hilhorst (right)

Future destinations

At the minimum level an Innovation Safari quickly gathers people around a purpose and enables them to trust and collaborate on an energy level rarely seen in traditional work environments. At the maximum impact level this type of innovation journey produces insights and results that are fresh, useful, applicable. Somewhere in the middle it cross-pollinates knowledge through diversity and generates inspiration and hope. My mission will be to bring Safari-like experiences to as many people and organisations as possible.

In September we will present on the Safari 2010 at Creative Company Conference and Singapore Management University. We're currently exploring how to bring Safari's to Oslo, Bilbao, Dubai, Vienna and London. A Safari aimed at the commercial sector is in planning for Amsterdam. If you would like to partner up or become a participant or receive training on how to bring innovation to where you are, please contact Kwela Sabine Hermanns. We are also on Twitter: Social Safari / Kwela Hermanns