Inclusive Innovation is an R&D model that seeks to affect change by supporting communities and schools in co-designing solutions that embody novel and differentiated approaches. Inclusive Innovation starts by intentionally creating and catalyzing opportunities for communities—including students, parents, families, organizers—to be at the education R&D table with district leaders, educators, researchers, and developers.
Not only are communities at the table, they are engaging as:
Holding positions of power and decision-making
Guiding the research, design, and creation of solutions
Defining outcomes that are of value to both communities and schools
Schools and communities are leading. Digital Promise is facilitating, supporting, and resourcing their work in collaboration with researchers and developers.
The process of Inclusive Innovation moves iteratively through a set of intersecting stages. Our v2.0 model updated in 2023 acknowledges the importance of readiness and preparation to engage, the value of building trust upfront and throughout and the progress from understanding the challenge to implementing and scaling a solution.
Below describes the focus for the protocols guiding each phase of the process:
What distinguishes the Inclusive Innovation model from other R&D models is that it results in solutions that have been researched and developed by co-experts—students, parents, community members—in partnership with developers, and researchers. Co-designing solutions ensures they are contextually and culturally relevant. Additionally, Inclusive Innovation solutions are designed for eventual scale. The phases provide a roadmap for mutual partnership, embedding an awareness of community context so that solutions produced through this process are effective and can be implemented in similar contexts.
Center for Inclusive Innovation