Therefore, there is a great social responsibility to deal with the issues related to climate change, migration, student dropout, the health system, the construction industry and the community of senior citizens. Most of us want to promote positive changes in all areas, all aspects of society, but that is easier said than done.
The social problems are of various kinds, some are large and difficult to manage, so it is important to work efficiently and systematically to the core of the problem and work on solutions. KLAK in collaboration with experts from MIT DesignX and Höfða Peace Centre, in the community accelerator Smartness focuses on start-up companies, take risks and find solutions. All of them have to deal with difficult decisions and solutions when building a start-up company whose goal is to solve social problems.
Marel, one of the sponsors of Snjallræði, one of the most well-known innovative companies in the country that places great emphasis on social responsibility, invited the startups of Snjallræði to its headquarters, where Svafa Grönfeldt from MIT DesignX managed the MIT DesignX studios and was joined by the American expert and entrepreneur Yscaira Jimenez.
Yscaira Jimenez, an analyst at MIT DesginX in Boston, began the workshops by reviewing early stage decision-making in building a startup and getting to the core of societal problems to come up with solutions. MIT DesignX works with an incentive system in the studios that guides the creatives into the path they want to take. Dissecting the social problem to its core is a challenging but feasible task.
Sveinn Kjarval, project manager at Marel welcomed everyone and then took all the staff to Smart Talk about Marel and talked about Marel's innovation process, idea creation and the production that takes place in Garðabær to everyone's great admiration.
"It was great to have Cleverness join us at Marel. We are excited about the collaboration and therefore welcomed this opportunity to meet the startups, discuss innovation from all sides and be a fly on the wall in their studios. We believe that a good partnership is not only about financial support, but we have the most fun when we manage to create situations where we learn from each other and stimulate creativity” is observed Svein Kjarval, project manager in the event department at Marel.
The start-up companies On To Something, Fort, BioBuilding, Okkar heimur, Orb, Sara, a girl with ADHD, Ylur, Laufið, Igmyndasmiðir and Hringsveppir that participate in Sjjallräði all have in common that they think outside the box when it comes to societal problems.
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