Our History
Born in the frontlines.
2015: The idea was born in Nepal
The idea for Response Innovation Lab (RIL) was formed by founder Jennifer Wilde as she led the World Vision (WV) response to the devastating 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Realizing that traditional humanitarian spaces were closed to the emerging ecosystem of start-ups, social entrepreneurs, researchers and other non-traditional actors capable of contributing solutions to the response, she and her WV Nepal colleagues decided to create a platform dedicated to collaborative problem-solving — the World Vision Nepal Innovation Lab.
This new concept quickly gained traction and led to a number of impactful innovations, such as FieldSight, which subsequently scaled to several countries in Asia.
As Jenny sought to replicate the concept in other contexts, she began to seek out partners to co-create a global network of response-based innovation labs.
The World Vision Nepal Innovation Lab
2016: The five founding partners came together to establish the Response Innovation Lab.
Jordan 2017: Jenny Wilde, the RIL Founder visiting refugee camps to get feedback from NGOs on the joint initiatives design.
Starting in 2016, seasoned humanitarian professionals from Save the Children, Oxfam and World Vision, researchers from George Washington University and social innovators from Civic came together to develop a blueprint for what was initially known as Crisis Response Innovation Lab. In designing this new type of collaborative platform, the founders agreed on an initial set of features. Each lab would be:
A place to send a Challenge
A place where local innovators, INGOs and global tech firms can meet
A home for innovation tools
A channel for funding and support
A space for innovations to be shared from past and current disasters
A place to pitch ideas and submit external innovations
Over the next two years, staff from these five Founding Members developed the Convene-Matchmake-Support model of lab interventions, drafted comprehensive manuals for the RIL network, its Central Support Unit and the future Country Labs, and started work on a global Collaboration Agreement to formally define the partnership.
2018: RIL had launched four labs in four different humanitarian responses.
By 2018, RIL had launched labs in four response contexts (Jordan, Uganda, Iraq and Somalia), developed the online MatchMaker tool and mapped four humanitarian innovation ecosystems.
Today, RIL continues to grow its network and partnerships to improve its service offerings, tools, systems, and most importantly, to help innovations meet the needs of humanitarian responses all over the world.
London 2017: A meeting of humanitarian minds to get feedback on the design and construct of the RIL as it was in it’s “idea” stage. From right to left: Civic, Grey Dot Catalyst, George Washington University, Oxfam, More than Shelters, and World Vision.
2020: RIL launches Pop-Up Labs as a new service for humanitarian responses where a full lab presence is not necessary.
© Save The Children / Yemen 2020
In March 2020, as the COVID-19 virus began taking hold in our global community, the labs responded by working with relevant health and media innovators to respond with awarness and preventative messaging campaigns, and prizes for emerging innovations responding to mitigation and prevention. The Central Support Unit of the RIL launched Pop-Up labs that leveraged current innovators to respond to challenges faced in humanitarian responses where RIL had not been present (Yemen and South Sudan), as well as the workshops around capacity local humanitarian teams with challenge identification, defining, and solution analysis skillbuilding. Interested in launching a Pop-Up Lab with RIL - click to connect.
2020: RIL transitions its first lab to local institution.
In July 2020, the Puerto Rico RIL has fulfilled its initial mandate and closeout pf its Hurricane Maria activities. Working with our local host entity - The Puerto Rico Science Trust (PRST) - the determination was made that the same need and output of the RIL wouldn't be necessary as other activities within the PRST were transition to fill those gaps.
A principal of the RIL isn't to be around forever, but rather to fill a gap in the response ecosystem and build local capacity to respond. As we continue to expand with additional labs and pop-ups, we are thrilled to have worked through our first lab transition and exit strategy.
