Discoverize.
The Problem
Increasing and evolving threats to global biodiversity make it critical for conservation leaders such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to frequently share updates on threatened animals, plants and fungi species, to the public. Despite their efforts, IUCN has been slow to assess these species, resulting in only 116,177 species (approximately 1.3% of total species) reported to date via the Red List for Threatened Species (IUCN.org, ScienceDaily.com). Per the Smithsonian, “today’s extinction rate is hundreds, or even thousands, of times higher than the natural baseline rate.” Gaps and delays in species assessments are likely tied to challenges faced by conservation organizations and professionals, including inaccessibility to research tools and technologies that improve process efficiencies and team collaboration, and most importantly, share their results with industry leaders to achieve unified goals. Funding and resource constraints along with socio-economic and political structure, result in variances across research methods and practices applied, and also tend to heighten known issues or cause them. This in turn, increases potential for inconsistencies and skewed data results presented to the public. Ultimately the general public is left with no cohesive, trusted, single source of truth for accurate, near real-time updates on the status of threatened species, and may not be aware of the impact that their decisions and action can and will have.
Our Proposal
Scientists are racing against the clock to document species and discover ways to address species extinction. We simply cannot wait to act. To achieve IUCN’s goal of accurately and rapidly assessing as many animals, fungi and plants species as possible, we will place a mobile-enabled conservation research data entry application (and web version) in the hands of conservation and wildlife researchers, field technicians, nature and safari guides, conservationists, scientists and trusted conservation volunteers, so they may easily document, edit, organize, collaborate, publish, and most importantly, share their species research findings directly with the IUCN. Sharing enables IUCN to receive the data in a consistent, structured and cohesive manner which reduces the chances for disparate data and open interpretations. The application will be IUCN-branded to promote collaboration and partnership between users in support of shared conservation goals, such as advocating for threatened species, and position IUCN as a trusted public source for accurate and frequent updates (as near to real-time as possible) that are published in the IUCN Red List. The end result is an informed worldwide audience, who can then make decisions for actionable change, and empower corporations and community organizations to actively participate in providing potential job opportunities and financial support to our target users, for a combined global effort and approach to conservation.
We Assume that...
Key partnerships will be created between African Impact, IUCN, Fullcrum and Discoverize to accomplish project goals (substitute partners to be found, if needed).
Most users experience pain points in their research collection cycle, and/or do not share results with IUCN, due to the lack of access to, and funding for, existing technologies/solutions.
Users either currently possess or can attain, a mobile device that meets minimal operating specs (including internet connectivity).
Users are both willing and able to offload/upload species’ data to IUCN to achieve common goals and meet IUCN’s goal of assessing 160,000 species by end 2020.
Our solution will increase the accuracy, consistency, timeliness and quantity of species statistics collected and shared.
Fullcrum will agree to our user adoption/financial strategy: free to user until adoption targets are met, low usage cost from then on (some users).
IUCN desires a rapid data collection process to reach their species assessment goals.
IUCN will allow additional researchers and conservation organizations to submit species data.
There is a desire to drive positive behavior changes and decision-making among the general public, but low to minimal awareness of IUCN Red List worldwide.
This solution combined with marketing and awareness efforts will help drive the general public to engage and take action for positive change.
Our product can gain credibility to then be used by educational institutions and inspire corporations to both invest in conservation efforts and create job opportunities for our users.
Constraints to Overcome
Our breakthrough objective is to close the gap between target users, their research habits, and the general public, by providing a fast, intuitive, and easy way for users to share current species data with IUCN. Creating a worldwide network is an opportunity to start a movement that inspires those involved to take action and influence decisions made by the general public, partners, economic and political leaders. Socio-economic constraints and political structure often prohibit collaboration efforts for collective conservation research goals. Our product can break the barrier of communication and sharing between users and key partners and empower them to unite for common causes, with an equal opportunity to engage, participate and solve together. We will implement a cost-effective business model that promotes adoption, and a technology solution that both reduces user and partner pain points, and results in timely, consistent and accurate species assessments that evolve over time.
Current Work
Finalize pitch and establish partnerships with IUCN (conservation leader), Fullcrum (technology) and African Impact (wildlife conservation team). Onboard new/additional Discoverize team members. Perform in-depth user, market and competitive research/analysis. Create product backlog; elicit/refine user and product requirements from African Impact. With Fullcrum: perform gap analysis. Without Fullcrum: Discoverize team to build and introduce a competing new product. Perform IUCN data warehouse assessment to determine data offload/input strategy, structure and technology. Identify and solve database/data governance needs. Prioritize application features to meet confirmed business, product and adoption goals (minimal viable product). Define user adoption/onboarding strategy for African Impact (create supporting collateral). Create prototype and begin initial user testing with African Impact. Continue iterative product build and testing (agile approach to product development).
Current Needs
Need to establish key partner relationships and gain buy-in for project vision and goals. If Fullcrum (technology partner) does not buy-in, the Discoverize team will proceed with designing, building and introducing a new and competing product. If IUCN (conservation leader) does not buy-in, we need to seek out additional credible industry leaders and organizations (networking need to identify potential partners). If African Impact (wildlife conservation team) does not buy-in, we will connect with different conservation researchers/potential users. The Discoverize team is currently equipped with product management, business analysis, change management, UX research/strategy, and branding/marketing skills. Additional team resources and skill sets desired include a UX Designer/UI Developer, Data Architect/Analyst, a Backend Developer, a Marketing Research and Adoption Specialist (maybe) and additional industry and subject matter experts (as needed).