Measuring Impact
By Serena de Nahlik, Licensing and Ventures Manager, Oxford University Innovation
Universities proliferate world-changing ideas, with concepts touching every science and discipline known to humanity. Supporting the development of these ideas is crucial in advancing technology and civilisation, casually known in university spheres as generating impact. But what is impact, and how do we measure it?
Traditionally, universities have “spun out” profit-driven companies based on STEMM technologies- think blood testing, radiation detectors and DNA sequencers. Over the past year and a half, OUI has been working with more and more purpose-driven projects, across every division within the University. We now have a pipeline of around 40 social enterprise projects, with three already in existence — Greater Change (cashless giving to the homeless), sOPHIa (a multidimensional poverty index), and Rogue Interrobang (using creative thinking to solve the world’s wicked problems). As a consequence of this work, we’ve really started to grapple with the concepts behind impact measurement.
Impact measurement is important for a multitude of reasons — and their significance depends on the lens through which you are viewing the situation. Many will argue that impact measurement is necessary to show funders that money is spent wisely, in the hope that you can secure more in the future. Some will say that it can be used as a marketing tool, to engage stakeholders and distinguish the company from its competition. Others might suggest that it encourages people to work for the company and drives them to work hard to support the company’s beneficiaries. Whilst all of these are indeed beneficial uses of impact measurement, I’d argue that for university spinouts, they’re not the most important. For me, the most important is “simply” understanding whether your activities are achieving your intended impact, and how you could achieve more impact with the same resources. But what is that intended impact in the first place?
It’s crucial at the beginning of a spinout’s journey to think about the intended outcomes of the company’s activities:
· What are the company’s long-term goals?
· What outcomes need to be in place to achieve these?
· What activities should the company do to realise these outcomes?
· Who are their beneficiaries?
All of these questions can be answered by putting together a Theory of Change. A theory of change can systematically help a company identify the impact it’s trying to create and construct a list of measures that will need to be taken to prove that impact is happening as a result of the company’s activities.
For each outcome, it’s clear that both breadth and depth of impact are important to understand.
· How many people are you affecting?
· How much is each person affected?
· Are there any unintended impacts of your activities?
· How much has your activity contributed to this impact — is it actually something else that is causing the observed effect?
To understand the answers to these questions, it’s important to understand the situation before you start your activities, to establish a datum. It will also require dialogue with multiple stakeholders, and careful consideration for how to collect the data needed. For more information on these, The Impact Management Project and Acumen’s “Lean Data” approach provide useful insights.
It’s fair to say that doing impact measurement diligently and considerately can appear to be a daunting task, especially for a young, small company. But by embedding these practices in at the beginning, and by regularly reviewing the company’s Theory of Change and analysing their impact data, I think any company — spinout or otherwise — will be well set up to conquer some of the biggest challenges facing society and will be significantly better placed to succeed for many years to come.
