Innovation

Community Network Integration (CNI) is an idea formulated by Jeff Wilson while working closely with Jocelyn Rivers and other members of the Novometrix team along with key external network collaborators. The idea is to highlight the usefulness of collaboration in creating economic and social value and to put more power within the hands of individuals and communities.

In the multi-step process of CNI, firstly the geographical units are identified to recognize the network concerned. This may involve the government, academic units, corporate units, or even individuals. Then, all involved stakeholders from these units are brought together to identify their problems. The process gives them all a chance to express concerns on their end, while simultaneously sparking a platform to foster collaborative thinking. This helps brainstorm solutions to problems that are all-inclusive and holistic. Finally, ethical research is performed using transparent literature in order to identify scientific solutions. This is followed up by providing consultation and training to the client in order to correct the issue first identified.

This concept seeks to solve many complex non-linear problems by working together, creating new ideas, solutions, and innovations. Jeff Wilson states this is a “practical and now validated process to bring distributed network partners together under a collaborative business process”. The company has had great success enacting these qualities, gathering individuals to volunteer their time, businesses, and their resources.

Novometrix began capitalizing on the trend of a collaborative economy 8 years ago and has since seen success and opportunity. The world today is seeing a boom of successful collaborative companies and business models such as Uber and Airbnb, creating new opportunities to utilize and create good for the world. Novometrix’s innovation creates much social value, impacting multiple sustainable development goals directly or indirectly such as ‘Industry, innovation, infrastructure’ (SDG 9). Life on Land (SDG 15) has also been affected by their work and research on the honeybee crisis. The company has a primary goal of enacting SDG 17 within its work, creating a partnership to help work on and support all goals. The company furthermore is involved in a community project to create more sustainable cities and communities known as the “Guelph Wellington project” showing furthermore their commitment to all goals. Though the innovation may only directly impact a few SDGs, the company hopes to use CNI to do good in all aspects around the world.

Inspiration

Ever since a young age, Jeff Wilson has loved the idea of collaborating. As a kid, Jeff had a strong sense of social justice and how people should be treated. This led him to focus on collaborative projects, games, and activities in school which he often brought up with his teachers. Traditionally, the sports activities were led by the top athletes, often playing the most desired roles such as pitching and batting in softball. This left the more unathletic students stuck in positions such as outfield where they had little involvement.

Jeff noticed how poorly and unfairly these games were being played and challenged the school. He spoke to his father and brought up the question “What if I brought in my own ball and bat so we can all be included?”. After his teacher noticed what was happening and that more people were playing in Jeff’s game she pulled him aside and said “how about if I talk to those boys and we set it up so that everybody gets to play.” The results of this transition to increased participation and collaboration really stood out to Jeff and inspired him to lead more activities.

These conversations and ideas Jeff had were extremely beneficial for the students as most of them were happier and enjoyed participating rather than watching the best athletes from the outfield. The result of Jeff's collaborative efforts was amazing as it brought out skills that his classmates didn't know they had. When everyone gets to play, individual skills are combined and the team becomes much stronger, smarter, and more motivated. Jeff knew that the same benefits from collaborating at a young age would be useful for businesses. The transfer of skills is the key element of collaborating as it leads to faster solutions and better results. Jeff saw the success of collaborating in his childhood and decided to bring his efforts to the business world and created a business focused on Community Network Integration (CNI).

Overall impact

Novometrix has successfully applied its unique innovation of CNI to efficiently work towards their goals of addressing complex issues in ‘One Health’ (animal, human, and environmental health). Wilson stated that Novometrix’s ultimate goal with CNI is to bring networks together to build economic, social, and environmental sustainability which has worked successfully. The company thrives working in a collaborative economy where there is transparency and a goal to help other businesses through achieving strong communication and defining a design thinking model (which is asking questions to partners on how to solve issues) throughout the client’s business.

CNI helps clients by bringing their networks together through connection between experts in the industry and the public (all stakeholders) to define a solution to an issue within the business (For example, Varroa mites wiping colonies of bees created an industry issue within the beekeeping industry – which is a current client case Novometrix is using CNI to solve). When asking Jeff Wilson about why he believes CNI has become successful, he stated that “We are at a place where in society, we are all in acceptance of collaboration which is why the business process continues to succeed”. Novometrix values transparency, respect, collaboration, and the value of helping others while helping yourself. Through their CNI innovation, the company is able to clearly establish these core values when solving their client’s issues. Jeff communicated that his mission is to move CNI forward. As for Novometrix he believes that monetary goals don’t matter as much currently, as he believes that through ‘doing the right things’ in regard to sustainability that it’ll all come together in the future. This relates to SDG 17 as Novometrix highly values partnerships to achieve their goals which align with creating a more sustainable future. In regards to SDG 17, CNI creates a collaborative environment as it solves an issue stated in the interview that modern businesses typically face, as many departments don’t get the chance to share ideas with each other. CNI helps solve this issue by bringing various important voices and teams together to find the best innovative solution for clients.

Regarding the short-term effects, the CNI innovation immediately creates a collaborative economy for clients. Collaborating benefits them by bringing all stakeholder networks together to find sustainable solutions to current issues the client is facing, establishes business transparency, and builds a quality management system which is clear through the honeybee, outbreak responses, and poultry industry projects, which all contributed to Novometrix’s strong reputation.

In regard to long-term effects, CNI provides clients with the opportunity to build toward a sustainable future. Novometrix searches for projects which push customer outcomes as the company model is built on bringing all of society together. Societal cohesion and collaboration are important to Wilson as he believes that the biggest businesses in the next 20 years are collaborative ones that bring communities together.

Business benefit

Novometrix is a one of its kind company that pioneers using collaboration in the geographical community to solve common and individual problems. The company has collaboratively worked with many corporate clients and provided consultation/training, resulting in better and all-inclusive solutions to problems, resulting in a direct impact that aligns with SDG 17. It has perfected its model to work with all stakeholders involved so that all relevant members of the network are represented, their concerns are heard, and essential expertise, resources, and funding are brought to the table.

The company’s primary source of revenue is providing consultation and training to corporations. They have expanded into working with educational organizations regarding animal health, and also work on individual projects which benefit society at large, such as transmission management of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Novometrix also provides consultation to government organizations, resulting in specific government and commodity group policy changes, response protocol development, product approvals and withdrawals, and a variety of other significant outcomes.

However, Jeff and his employees have set the corporate culture such that financial profit is secondary to the organization. Together as a team, Novometrix aims to serve as a means to benefit its community by working in an empathetic, understanding, and passionate way with them. Jeff’s vision of a collaborative economy, where all elements of society are working together to achieve their common and individual goals is what drives Novometrix.

Social and environmental benefit

Novometrix’s innovation of the Community Network Integration framework helps society and the environment in many ways. It helps society by fostering a culture of collaboration and helps to address environmental concerns by giving the environment representation.

Instead of stakeholders always conflicting inefficiently (ex. regulatory agencies and businesses), CNI aims to bring all concerned groups together in a collaborative setting to see what and how they can all work together to maximize value for each stakeholder. This holistic view can serve to be a template for many firms moving forward and for society as a whole. Maximizing value not only for the firm but for each stakeholder is a commonly neglected situation in the world of business. Collaborating to reach goals is oftentimes significantly more efficient than conflict. Allowing collaboration toward sustainability is directly linked to SDG 17 and SDG 11. Novometrix’s innovation effectively addresses both SDGs.

CNI also ensures to include environmental concerns in the CNI and in its mission statement. Novometrix has recently made big strides when it helped discover through its research that Varroa mites were the cause of bee colonies exponentially shrinking. The company is also responsible for some of the public health measures in place today due to the results from extended research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These impacts among others directly align with SDG 15 and work to make life on land better.

Novometrix allows for the world to be seen not simply through a black-and-white perspective, but through a lens of nuance. Ensuring that all stakeholders are addressed, and negotiations occur to maximize total value, allows for society and the environment to be better off. It can be summed up that innovation facilitates a culture of cooperation through collaboration, instead of a culture of forced and inefficient cooperation.

Interview

Jeff Wilson, President