The Progress Economy

We have an innovation problem; contributing to stagnating growth (the “tepid twenties” as the Chief of IMF has called it).

We’re redefining VALUE as a measure of making PROGRESS (to a more desirable state)…

Our traditional value model (value-in-exchange) has been wildly successful…
…but it has innovation and growth blind spots:
- before, after, and across a point of exchange
- a goods vs services mentality
…and a poor, hard to leverage, definition of value

Progress – moving over time to a more desirable state – is our new focus. It:
- is simpler to define, capture and act upon
- comprises functional, non-functional and contextual elements
- is made through a series of resource integrations.
- removes the point of exchange
Value now:
- incrementally emerges as progress is made – value-through-progress
- needs to be recognised – akin to revenue recognition – for it to be meaningful; often on different timescale to it emerging

…where PROGRESS PROPOSITIONS are bundles of supplementary resoures, offering to reduce a lack of resource in making progress

Progress propositions address a lack of resource (the fundamental, of six, progress hurdle) limiting progress.
They include a proposition specific:
- resource mix – employees, systems, data, goods, physical resources, locations
- proposed series of progress-making activities (better known as instructions, manuals, process, recipe…)
But they introduce 5 new progress hurdles to minimise^*.

Propositions sit on a continuum between:
- enabling
- relieving
…based on who performs the majority of progress-making activities
Progress is now a joint endeavour; value is co-created

* (lack of resource), adoptability, resistance, lack of confidence, misalignment on continuum, equitable exchange

…leading us to a more ACTIONABLE definition of INNOVATION – based on improving progress

innovation: creating and executing new – to the individual, firm, market, industry or world – progress proposition(s) that offer some combination of:

improving how to make today’s potential progress

increasing progress that can be made (getting seeker’s closer to their individual progress sought)

reducing one or more of the six progress hurdles^*

persuading value to be recognised quicker

whilst maintaining, or improving, the survivability of the innovator.

And the progress economy reveals a variety of levers making innovation more systematic, not least:

altering the resource mix
improving individual resources
moving along the continuum

responding more individualistic to progress
reducing progress hurdles
enhancing progress-making activities

Explore functional operating system »

…revealing actionable definitions, architectures and tools

Uncover context hierarchy »

Understand key concepts »

…and finding we can offer the new notion of value called for to transition to the CIRCULAR ECONOMY

one of the biggest challenges…to transition from linear to circular is that it requires…revisiting the very notion of value creation
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2023) “From ambition to action: an adaptive strategy for circular design”

Traditional Value-in-exchange thinking (embed⇒exchange⇒destroy) encourages the linear economy of take⇒make⇒waste

Value-through-progress thinking frees us from the distracting focus on a moment of exchange
- Firing up the circular economy…if that is the progress being sought