Washington, D.C. — June 27, 2017 — The International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA) recently launched a series of reports sharing insights and good practices around the challenging processes of scaling and measuring the impact of innovation. Results for Development serves as the secretariat for IDIA.
These reports represent the culmination of a year-long review and synthesis of learning by different IDIA Working Groups that brought together development innovation experts from a wide range of agencies both within and outside IDIA. As global public goods produced through the IDIA platform, they are intended to further build the learning and experience of development agencies and their partners engaged in innovation around the world.
The first report, Insights on Scaling Innovation, focuses on various challenges, lessons learned and practices of funders seeking to take promising development innovations to scale, and includes:
- A categorization of six key Scaling Stages synthesised from leading development innovation funders
- Eight Good Practices for development innovation funders to maximize the impact of their support in scaling innovations
- A Matrix of the main factors influencing the successful scaling of an innovation that funders should be aware of, including those that relate to the innovators they are supporting and those in the external environment
The second report, Scaling Innovation — Good Practice Guides, is designed to accompany the Insights on Scaling Innovation and includes:
- A detailed guide to eight Good Practices for funders that experience has shown will enhance their ability to support the successful scaling of innovations
- Links to a range of quality, contemporary resources that will help funders implement each Good Practice
- Valuable empirical insights direct from leading developing funders – the tips and tricks they have learned along the scaling pathway
The third report, Insights on Measuring the Impact of Innovation, focuses on the various challenges and lessons learned of funders seeking to measure the impact of development innovations they support, and includes:
- A simple yet comprehensive architecture for measuring the impact of innovation
- A discussion of the main challenges around measuring the impact of innovation that funders will typically face
- A detailed case study from Grand Challenges Canada around how to predict the future impact of an innovation to help inform better selection and decision-making
All reports are available to download here.
About the International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA)
The International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA) is an informal platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration around development innovation. Established in 2015, it brings together the following entities (including bilateral and multilateral agencies, innovation platforms and private foundations), with a shared mission to actively promote and advance innovation as a means to help achieve sustainable development, including through the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
