Traditions and Innovations
Asia P3 Hub Newsletter, February 2019 issue
Earlier this month, we celebrated Lunar New Year, also called Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. Like any other holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year holds many traditions like giving hongbao or red packets with money to children, no sweeping or throwing out garbage to make sure that you don’t wash away good fortune, exchanging mandarin oranges for good luck, and, at least in Singapore, the lo hei ritual for abundance and prosperity.
“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.” — Winston Churchill
Tradition and innovation go hand in hand as innovation is tradition redefined. Innovation is not about invention. As to our concept of combinatorial innovation, it is bringing together existing ideas or resources, and together they create a new idea, a new tradition and new ways of working.
In this month’s newsletter, we explore how tradition can evolve into innovation, and how innovation can contribute to make the world better. We also offer interesting conversations and stories for you to enjoy!
GONG XI FA CAI!
The Lo Hei: A Combinatorial Chinese New Year Tradition
Among the many rich traditions practiced in Singapore as part of our Chinese New Year celebrations, the ‘Lo Hei’ is a festive and sometimes messy ritual that brings people together to invoke wishes for the year ahead. Find out how the Lo Hei tradition came about and how it has helped to form a uniquely Singaporean Chinese New Year community celebration, from the eyes of a Singaporean.
[Read the full article]
CONVERSATIONS
Restorative Innovation for Social Good
The Restorative Innovation Movement is a global effort to improve the world through innovation, and it currently consists of the RIGHT Foundation & the World Restorative Innovation Forum.
Anne Lochoff, our Strategic Business Advisor and an advocate for innovation, had the privilege to interview Jovan Tan, Founder & CEO of the RIGHT Foundation and one of the brains behind the Restorative Innovation model. Learn more about Jovan and his work in this interview.
[Conversation with Jovan Tan]
Rockstar Intern: Micaela Tam
Micaela Tam was one of our summer interns in 2018 who worked on our social media and marketing campaigns, such as the All-Rounders and Patterns of Innovation. She was very focused and dedicated with her work, and at the same time brought joy to the room with her jokes and witty statements. Micaela is currently a student at University of Toronto — University of Trinity College studying International Relations, majoring in History and minoring in Economics. Read about her internship experience with us!
[Micaela’s Internship Blog]
ASIA P3 HUB IN ACTION
Turning the Toxic Tide of Printed Circuit Board E-Waste
As access to electrical equipment and electronic devices increases, and with constant product improvements and innovations, the challenge of global e-waste management increases, and current efforts to control the ‘toxic tide’ of e-waste are insufficient. Some of the materials in one component of e-waste, printed circuit boards (PCBs), are particularly toxic and difficult to recycle, and are often dumped into landfills, on open land or in water, where they pollute the soil and the water systems, damaging human health and the environment. Take a look at the newly released white paper we published in partnership with Peoplenet Associates Pte Ltd and Seagate Technology that examines the global e-waste challenge, and suggests how to move towards a circular economy model for e-waste, and in particular PCBs.
[Read the full article]
Co-creating Lifesaving Innovations for Disaster Relief
Imagine if in the wake of disasters, the affected communities were able to design solutions to their most pressing challenges themselves, and create those solutions using materials that were readily available, in order to rescue, rebuild and recover. Nepal Innovation Lab (NLab) aims to empower communities to do just that. World Vision created the NLab as part of the organisation’s Nepal earthquake response after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in April 2015. Asia P3 Hub visited NLab last month to learn more about what they are doing, and to look at how we can work together so we can multiply the impact of their work.
[Read the full article]
UPCOMING EVENT
Save the Date! ‘Health x Social’
14 March 2019, 4:00 to 7:00pm | Singapore
In partnership with RaiSE Singapore, we invite you to another night of interactive discussions to learn and explore the power of collaboration for social and community integrated care in Singapore. Conversations will be around the trends and shifts in care integration and its impact to society, health and well-being, and how we can collectively uncover the gaps and potential opportunities for the creation of care services, delivery systems, engagement models and technology platforms for the integrated care space.
Stay tuned for more details! You can follow our social media — Facebook and LinkedIn — to keep you posted!
