This was the fundamental question presented to 7 entrepreneurs from around the world who were accepted to the first cohort of the Innovation Hub, at the Weiss – Livnat International center for Holocaust Research & Education headed by Prof. Arie Kochavi, at Haifa University.
Dr. Yael Granot Bein’s, who conceived and realized the Hub, chose to adopt and implement the Design Thinking methodology tool box as the working concept of the Hub and Whiteboard as a professional ally to guide the professional process.
A process based on the Design Thinking methodology starts with defining a challenge reflecting the need of a client or community. This working concept of the Hub confronted the entrepreneurs with a significant challenge. If as part of the admission process to the Hub, the entrepreneurs were required to present the main idea at the base of their project and its inherent proposed value for Holocaust commemoration, now, they had to look at it from the client & community point of view.
For the first time they were required to address their original ideas from a skeptical point of view forcing them to examine and define “who is the client”? What need will this initiative answer? Who are the active interested parties in the arena the product is intended for? What is their interest in this arena? What are the main issues the product must handle? What are the characteristics of the ecosystem in which the product intends to create value in commemorating the Holocaust? and more critical questions relevant for their projects’ success.
The entrepreneurs conducted an ethnographic study during their stay at the Hub through digital communication platforms and in their countries of origin through face to face meetings with different parties of interest.
Making “The voice of the consumer/client” more accessible by processing the outcomes of their qualitative study in the Hub’s arena created great value for the entrepreneurs. Some realized that they must change direction in their thought process about their proposed solution, others found reinforcement and motivation to continue developing their format as planned.
I could go on describing how these entrepreneurs applied the methodology tool box in their work until forming a valid prototype for a project, but the story reflected in the attached link is more powerful than any description.
This is the story of young women from around the world each has a committed passion to create value in the field of Holocaust commemoration.
And most of all, this is a success story, as a number of innovative new projects are now working in different countries around the world, all of which, each in its own unique way, join together in the crucial effort that this day and age poses, to share and instill the lessons to be learned from the Holocaust on to the next generations.
