Tackling Challenges to Scale Summit Program Agenda

MIT D-Lab Co-Design Summit
October 27 - November 2, 2019

 

Oct. 26 (Day 0): International participants arrive

Oct. 27 ( Day 1):  Introductions & setting the stage

International participants take the morning to rest; local participants arrive by midday.
Connect with your team and other participants between lunch and dinner as we set expectations for the week to come.

Oct. 28 (Day 2): Learn – Gathering information from within and without

As a team, explore what you already know about the entrepreneur’s, customer’s, or relevant value chain member’s pain points, and then identify your assumptions and the remaining unknowns.
Spend some time with experts on your team, in other teams and in the local community challenging those assumptions and gathering new insight. Narrow your focus to a particular facet/framing of the challenge and set your targets for the week’s work.

Oct. 29 (Day 3): Imagine – Generating ideas

Get creative and generate ideas for a variety of different ways to address the identified barrier to scale, thinking about how other people have solved this problem elsewhere and how to respond to the unique features of this venture’s situation.

Oct. 30 (Day 4): Create – Prototyping solutions

Create a prototype that will help you generate information or feedback you need to address a key assumption or unanswered question associated with your idea’s success.

Prototyping in this case might mean creating a physical or visual representation of an idea designed to help people share information about their experience or generate constructive feedback, or it might involve approaching potential value chain members and asking them to commit to a new proposed method of engagement. We will share best practices for different strategies to ensure you are getting high-quality feedback from your stakeholder engagements.

Oct. 31 (Day 5): Test – How well does it work?

Travel to Kampala to share your prototypes with potential customers, providers, value chain stakeholders, investors, and other participants to solicit feedback. Document comments and observations carefully.
In the evening, network with other members of the Kampala entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Nov. 1 (Day 6): Implementation – What happens next?

In the morning, reconvene with your team to process the new information you gathered and figure out what you’ve learned in response to the question you had identified. Discuss what you recommend the entrepreneur’s next steps be and what types of support each of you can offer.

In the afternoon, examine the systemic issues at work in these entrepreneur’s challenges, and identify changes you might want to promote in your own practices or activities or in the larger system based on what you’ve learned and experienced.

Nov. 2 (Day 7): Reflection & Departure

In the morning, reflect on your experience and share feedback with the program facilitators and organizers. Then say your farewells and depart after lunch!


> Tackling Challenges to Scale: Enterprises & Ecosystems