OpenKollab is a social venture that aims to connect projects to solve social problems through building open collaboration ecosystems. It operates as a virtual organization providing ecosystem development consulting services and managing an ecosystem pooled fund. Its goals are to build technology platforms, mature ecosystems around issues like climate change, and early-stage ecosystems in fields like distributed manufacturing and local foods. Revenue comes from consulting fees and fund management. OpenKollab communicates through blogs, wikis and online groups to participate in ecosystems and drive collaboration.
2. What is OpenKollab? A social venture with who`s mission it is to connect projects to solve massive social problems! A scalable open collaboration ecosystem An example of a scalable, distributed organizational structure (an ecosystem) A virtual organization A fertile community to connect with innovative and progressive thinkers A research and intelligence group A active real time discussion space An innovative investment banking model: collaborative investment banking! As a social venture we will: Deliver social value Be financially sustainable No doubt you are wondering... How can you be all of that at the same time?... Well....
4. Values and Principles Openness: low (no) barrier to participation Transparency: information and intellectual property in the public domain Radically Inclusive: we actively invite people to participate in our communities. Radically Collaborative: we actively seek to align ourselves with others Active Documentation: we document as much as possible – facilitates transparency and visibility and forms the basis for or consulting processes.
5. Mission: Connect Projects To Solve Massive Social Problems Building Ecosystems Building Technology Platform
6. OK Operating StructureBuilding Ecosystems! OK Ecosystem – service offering provided by ecosystem in aggregate Ecosystem Pooled Fund Ecosystem Development Consulting Ecosystem Research
8. The What,Why and How of Ecosystem Development Building Ecosystems
9. What Is An Ecosystem? A natural set of relationships between a group of projects that makes it possible that they collaborate! Share common goals: ‘Solve climate change problem!’ Are a part of a value chain: supplier manufacturer, distributor Share common team members Share common customers or markets Etc Manufacturer Supplier Distributor
10. Characteristics of Ecosystem ProjectsBalance between Autonomy and Synergy Autonomy Are autonomous legal entities Have independent brand Have independent missions, goals etc. Have independent information systems Have separate teams (although overlap a possibility) Synergy Share sub-project(s) Shared some goals Share some technology infrastructure (project management, collaborative research, simultaneous publishing, etc.) Finding this balance is the essential problem in cross boundary collaboration!
11. Connecting Projects Within anEcosystem Climate Change Ecosystem Project I Project II Connect via common technology infrastructure and collaboration processes Project III
13. Why Build Ecosystems?Functional Perspective Connect Projects To Solve Massive Social Problems Need To Connect Larger Organizations with Early Stage Social Ventures Need To Build Capacity for Projects Providing Social Value Need Innovative Funding Models To Finance Early Stage Social Ventures BUILD MATURE ECOSYSTEMS Note that this will be source of consulting revenue BUILD EARLY STAGE ECOSYSTEMS AND FINANCE VIA POOLED FUND
14. Why Build Ecosystems?Timing Perspective: the state of affairs Internet connectivity penetration rates are increasing Bandwithlimitations are being reduced The cost of communication is dropping (thank you Skype!) Interoperability protocols, applications etc. are evolving Social networking platforms (Facebook...) are changing the culture of communication Processing power is being pushed to the edge of the network (Smartphones etc.) The real time infrastructure is evolving (Twitter)
15. Information flows freely across organizational boundaries Geographic constraints are less meaningful Structural limitations on information management don’t constrain participation (thousands of people can work on projects!) Meetings can be run virtually Projects can be managed asynchronously Projects can be scaled to involve many people with minimal incremental cost Your communications infrastructure can be scaled to include many people with minimal incremental cost Why Build Ecosystems?Timing Perspective: the result
16. Why Participate In EcosystemsThe Benefits of Visibility and Transparency Better understanding of your context Networking opportunities Business opportunities Information flow
18. What is the OK Ecosystem Pooled Fund?Collaborative Investment Banking! Provide loans to social ventures Drive Collaborative Transactions by funding Groups of Projects that work together Develop Ecosystems by bringing groups of smaller projects together and providing financial and consulting services Provide consulting services to help projects prepare projects for financing and to ensure their success. Note that this model merges traditional corporate finance, merger and acquisition and advisory services into one ; collaborative investment banking!
19. Advantages of Collaborative Funding Model Technical due diligence handled by peers Scale mitigates risk Mutual accountability Support network of peers (like Grameen model)
20. What is Ecosystem Consulting? Information about projects within an ecosystem that: Drives Collaboration Goals, needs, resources, relationship etc. (See Project Matching Presentation) Supports Scaling of Projects Information will be ecosystem specific, for example in the Distributed Manufacturing ecosystem, we have identified the following Scalability Variables: Is your output part of value chain? It is easy to use output of project as a building block towards building other things.is your design modular? - designed for interoperability is your product replicable? - released under an open license, shareable online via a clone-able repository. Project consistently applies a local standard. (designed for interoperability) Sharing parts and suppliersProject is sufficiently visible in the network. Note that this data supports Project Matching
21. What is Ecosystem Research? Domain specific intelligence that arises out of work conducted in developing a particular ecosystem Models and processes that can be abstracted from work conducted in several different ecosystems
22. How Are Ecosystems Developed? Identify large (macro) ecosystems; distributed manufacturing, open Government, climate change, local foods etc. Engage a number of projects in the space Identify candidates for the Ecosystem Pooled Fund (if appropriate) Identify candidates for Ecosystem Consulting Services Establish preliminary collaborative processes Google Groups, real time chats Establish collaborative infrastructure as necessary Implement consulting services as necessary
24. How are Ecosystems Connected? Common Technology Infrastructure Collaboration, project management etc. FLOWS based interoperability Collaborative research Common Projects and Processes Mutual support network Coordinated business strategies Marketing strategies Referral exchanges Network development (work to build industry associations etc.)
25. Ecosystem Development Early Stage Ecosystems: OK will work with groups of early stage social venture projects to form financeable ecosystems. Mature Ecosystems: OK will work with larger organizations to help them to identify and develop their own ecosystems. (Note: this will be the revenue generating component of the consulting practice)
26. Ecosystems Under Development Early Stage Ecosystems Distributed Manufacturing Local Foods Mature Ecosystems Climate Change
27. What if 100,000,000 people were working together to solve the problem of climate change? The OK Platform Vision
28. Platform Strategy In Development We are currently putting together the platform team and crystallizing our vision: Details on the vision can be found in the following presentations: Open System Mobilization Platform Ecosystem Collaboration Platform Project Matching (Presentations will be forwarded up request)
30. OK Communications Infrastructure Central to the OK mission is to maintain visibility through actively driving dialogue via a number of communications channels. Blog: http://wiki.openkollab.com Wiki: http://mudball.net/openkollab/ Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/openkollab?hl=en Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/openkollab. LinkedIn Group
32. OK Revenue Model Pooled Fund Management Fees Consulting Fees: Mature Ecosystem Development Target for profit as well as not-for-profit clients
33. Building the OK Consulting Practice Early Stage Ecosystems Mature Ecosystems General idea is to document and develop competencies on ecosystem development and to market these to larger organizations to help build ecosystems around their organizations
34. Scaling the OK Network Aggressive Outbound Communication Active social media channels Active on ecosystem listservs Development of Ecosystems Build ecosystem teams (those within ecosystems willing to work with OK) Build connectivity as OK participates in communications infrastructure which is ever expanding Aligning with Ecosystem Partners