Against the background of Government austerity and cuts in services, new players have entered the societal problem-solving arena. Acumen and Ashoka, Kiva and Kaggle, Zipcar and Zimride, Recyclebank and RelayRides, SpaceX and M-Pesa, Branson and Bloomberg, Omidyar and Gates – they all form part of a long and growing list.
They operate within what the authors of this book call a solution economy. These new innovators are closing the widening gap between what governments provide and what citizens need. This approach promises better results, lower costs and the best hope we have for public innovation in an era of fiscal constraints, they say.
Partnerships are in action now across multiple sectors including healthcare and transport. New problem-solving innovators and investors power the solution economy.
The authors spent two years intensely studying this phenomenon, travelling to dozens of hotspots around the world, and interviewing hundreds of problem solvers both big and small. They conclude that almost invisibly, a large and growing global movement has developed around delivering better societal outcomes.
