Institute For The Future

Experiments From the Edge

"Speakers are J. D. Lasica (Web site and blog) and Greg Steltenpohl.

Greg Steltenpohl: Interra Project is a response to the growing challenge posed by large corporations to local communities and small businesses. After meeting Dee Hock, and hearing how he created Visa as a major enterprise, he saw how networks could be used to do some interesting things.

80% of transactions now happen through credit or electronic cards; the end of the cash economy is in sight.

Interra does two things.

First it adds an "extra dimension" to credit cards, letting consumers specify a charity or organization to which a portion of your purchases can be donated.

At the same time, it democratizes the information economy of loyalty cards, and makes those scales and technologies available to small businesses.

Q: What pains or interests do merchants and consumers share?

GS: "People have a tremendous, unmet need to connect to each other, and to relate to the things tha tthey care about in life. We're big believers in the idea that people want to be connected. At the same time, people need to feel that they're getting a good deal."

JD Lasica: Ourmedia is a "global home for grassroots media." A few years ago such an experiment would have been impossible; but Creative Commons, creative tools make it feasible.

Ideas from the floor

Integrating Interra model into the construction industry, which is rife with antagonism between general contractors, designers, and subcontractors? Could an Interra system be used to build loyalty among industry partners?

Reconciling disconnect between global reach and local impact of companies.

Could you have an online exchange for bets for which no actuarial tables exist (of the sort that Lloyds of London insures)?

Knowledge commons as tool for post-hierarchial management systems.

Networks as a tool for creating transparency in philanthropy.

Blogging inside or outside companies: this is a pro-am phenomenon that could be harnessed within companies.

Changing companies from top-down innovation or NPD to a grassroots approach. For example, P&G now draws ideas from consumers and appliance makers; Herman Miller uses freelance designers as a source of new ideas; UPS bought a store chain to bring itself closer to customers.

Shift from buying products to joining associations or networks is a shift from simplec consumption to social contracts and relationships. Making differentiating value visible in such a transition is a big challenge.

Giving away IP can generate new value streams.

Companies like IBM can afford to give it away, while the young and poor have nothing left to lose; but those in the middle ground face challenges that those on either extreme do not. This means that moving from proprietary IP to open models, or from closed to open source production, can be a bigger challenge for small enterprises than either very large or very tiny.

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