EconomyBlocked v0.5 | Post-Industrial Tech & Biz Journal

Systems Innovation: Definition, Use cases, and more

📖 Glossary of terms

Definition of Systems Innovation design

✅ In short, systems innovation helps identify and resolve the underlying causes of problems within a system by developing novel approaches to solving them. It also considers the impact or value of each node and person within the system itself by analyzing the entire value chain, both physical and digital. Through SI, solutions transcend the digital/physical world, using a homogenized approach that views them as one and the same.

🌌 SI, short for systems innovation emphasizes a holistic understanding of systems, stakeholder engagement, and iterative learning processes to create long-lasting, sustainable change across societies and governments or ORGs/teams of all sizes; Reframe traditional problem-solving methods by considering interconnections and interactions within a system, rather than focusing on individual components or symptoms in isolation.

🕰 Analog to digital process implementation

Over millennia, man has used processes to remove complexity or increase efficiency, and in the post-war era, the world of designing complex systems has been in direct response to the digital age, from Agile, scrum, and control theory methodologies to design thinking. A number of the methods were developed in response to the ineffectiveness of existing methods of solving problems or the absence of consideration for the delineating pain points of those developing digital systems in an era where analog processes and frameworks were transitioning to digital processes.

🚇 An example use case for Systems Innovation

The public transportation system is a good example of how systems innovation can be applied. When designing a new train line and stations, systems innovators will consider a new train line’s value more granularly. They will consider as many edge and corner cases as possible from a value-based perspective, rather than their aggregate value or independent edge/corner cases. In system innovation, users (people) are viewed as nodes within a value chain in the same way infrastructure is considered in the transportation-focused example. We can port this same example to any industry to frame the problem space systems innovators are working to solve.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), complex robotics, climate change, political instability, war, decentralized ledger technology (DLT), autonomous vehicles and transportation, financial systems, and the list goes on. Systems innovation was born out of the challenges of the modern era, where the systems and issues we’re currently facing are more ethereal and complex than ever before.

An isometric world showing complex interconnected systems

🌍 Framing the value proposition for systems innovation 

As we think about the current state of many of the systems we interact with on a daily basis, both privately owned and publicly run, we can capture the true value proposition of Systems Innovation. In this example, we will focus on the US. A close examination of each of our social and industrial systems, including healthcare, education, public transportation, financial services, government, family, etc., indicates that we are operating on a system that was largely defined in the early 19th century, and some of the core issues can be traced back to the 18th century, and the founding of the United States. 

A key difference between each of these systems is that they have not innovated to meet the demands of a changing society. Thus, many of these challenges will require new tools, frameworks, processes, services, and systems of thinking to work through.

🎓 How to learn more about Systems Innovation

You can learn more about Systems Innovation by checking out the SI Network platform, an online community of systems innovators across most career designations and continents– Another excellent reference is the Systems Innovation: Definitions, Examples, and Benefits post by MIT ID Innovation, which can be found here.



👾 More Recent-Posts