About

Impact&Scale is a program of Groupshot supported by Tufts University’s Institute for Global Leadership and the EMPOWER program. The big questions of scalability and impact come up again and again in the innovative social enterprise sector. Impact, not output, means a social enterprise needs to do more than just be sustainable and put out a series of products or projects–these enterprises should create real change and have tangible outcomes from their projects and outputs. Scale, implies that the concept behind a social enterprise can grow beyond a one-off success or pilot to different communities and regions around the world.

In June, 2012, Impact&Scale will conduct a short term design research studio in three distinct regions of India. A joint team of 5 students from the Fletcher School and Tufts University will be looking at the underlying concepts and ideas behind a selection of up and coming innovative social enterprises. We will be looking at these questions in each region to understand not only how to improve a pilot or idea once, but how to embed adaptability into the core concept and growth strategy.

Importantly, as the success rates of social enterprise start-ups is still being understood, we believe that low cost, rapid product and design oriented research that starts with context can lead to more successful, sustainable, and scalable enterprises at a lower financial and social cost than speculative pilots and rapid scale-ups.

Please follow our blog to learn more about our thinking, methods, ideas, and examples through our time in India this June and beyond.

Adam White, Creator
Co-founder of Groupshot
adam@groupshot.org