Launchpad: Working with partners
How might I work most effectively with a partner to achieve success? (And how do I find one?)
This is part of the Frontier Tech Launchpad blog series, sharing key content from our third Launchpad session: Working with partners. This blog is aimed at FCDO Pioneers who are working on a pilot. Read more about the Launchpad here.
All FCDO pioneers have a vision which they are aiming to bring to reality. Implementing partners play a key role in this vision, by bringing specific sectoral or technical expertise to the pilot.
The FT Hub unites FCDO colleagues with external partners to collaborate in lean, agile ways and explore a frontier technology idea. From procurement and tender, all the way to learning out loud and keeping aligned on vision, we’ve learned lessons from supporting over 70 pilots across more than 20 countries over the last eight years.
Below, Frontier Tech coaches Dave and Nada share 8 pieces of advice to find, set up and manage successful partnerships, building on session three of our Launchpad series.
In Peru in 2023, an FCDO colleague Rodrigo Acevedo had a vision for a solution that improved access to healthcare. After applying successfully to the FT Hub, Rodrigo started working on this idea. Although numerous stakeholders shared the vision, the technology was not available locally.
Inavya Ventures, a global AI solution provider for the healthcare sector, already had an app which was working successfully in Brazil. They joined the pilot to work with Rodrigo and adapt their existing Avatar app to the Peruvian context. For patients who were recovering from surgery, the app set up a connection between the patients and their healthcare. The app provided them with patient care, for example diet recommendations, and they used the app to feed information back to their doctors, for example their daily pain threshold.
Join Rodrigo and the EmpatIA pilot throughout this blog, learning how he started to work with Inavya Ventures to bring better healthcare to communities around Peru.
When to Seek Support from External Partners
There are several moments that you as a Pioneer may want to bring in external support. Here are the most common moments across the pilot life cycle:
You have a solid understanding of your problem area, what part of it you want to explore and an understanding of your overall ambition for the pilot. Bring in external support to help you realise your vision.
You have a clear need for expertise on critical, uncertain questions around your idea. Bring in external support to help you answer these important questions.
You are using your grant money to develop a solution based on ‘real world’ testing. Bring in external support to do this with you.
The procurement process can take many weeks on the Hub and it's important to bear this in mind. When you have a sense that you may need external support, move at pace to ensure you are able to utilise this support as soon as the contracting process is over.
Understand what’s possible
You can begin by speaking to the wider ecosystem, including industry, academics and specialists to help you understand the problem space and the kinds of suppliers that might be available to work with you.
When you're ready to start working on the scope of your procurement, you might want to conduct an Early Market Engagement (EME) or a Marketplace of Ideas. The FT Hub uses these specific workshops to gather more information and insights.
Early Market Engagement
An EME can take the form of a workshop which brings together a number of stakeholders, including suppliers and industry experts. The workshop aims to gather insights, explore market capabilities, and shape the scope or design of a project or procurement in collaboration with external stakeholders. It can help you to understand the specification you are building and build interest in a potential invitation to tender. The more thought goes into EMEs, around who is convened and how the session is set up, the more successful they are likely to be. Your coach will be able to speak to someone with experience.
Marketplace of Ideas
A Marketplace of Ideas (MOI) invites a wide range of stakeholders to a workshop, aiming to foster creative and collaborative thinking. This is the first instance in which the pilot is introduced to groups and offers a space for friendly collaboration. Potential partners and suppliers are invited to explore innovative concepts around the problem and potential solutions; the competitive process comes later on. This workshop is usually held in the locality where the pilot will be tested. An MOI ultimately helps you build an understanding of what you might want a supplier to build.
The EmpatIA pilot had initially hoped to test out this app and AI technology with public hospitals, however due to challenges in contracting, the team decided that working with a private hospital to test a use case of the technology would allow the pilot to move forward.
Rodrigo has an impressive stakeholder network in Lima and was able to utilise this network to bring a group of private hospitals together, and find a clinic which would be interesting in testing this technology.
Crafting Effective ITTs (Invitation to Tender)
Once you’ve decided to take your idea to tender, you’ll need to craft an ITT with a scope of work detailing the project outline and expected activities and deliverables.
In general, the clearer the scope of work you have, the more likely it is that you will find the right partner.
However, there are some interesting tricks you can play to maximise the procurement process. Knowing when and how to play your hand is an important skill.
When creating an ITT, you can experiment with specific and directive descriptions versus more abstract or vague statements. By tailoring the language to be vague, you can elicit certain types of responses and gauge the level of understanding and creativity of potential partners. This may generate solutions that you haven't thought of yet, with new and exciting ideas!
Think about where the work will fit in your idea’s journey to implementation, and which kind of partner might be best suited for the work.
Is this part of an early stage research phase to better understand and test some of the critical assumptions underpinning your idea? If so, you’ll likely want to work with a partner able to conduct desk research, landscape reviews and convene stakeholders in the sector.
If you’re looking to implement your solution directly, a partner with strong technical expertise in the technology would be more appropriate.
Tailoring your message to specific audiences will allow your ITT to resonate more with certain groups or individuals, so think carefully about your wording!
Creating comprehensive scoring and interviewing processes
Once applications close, we run a first round of scoring followed by an interview. The scoring criteria could cover points such as technical competency, sector experience, geographic or ecosystem links, value for money etc.
You can invite external experts to join and lend their own expertise to the interview process, and the Hub can pay for this time. This can help you to assess the technical capability of the potential suppliers.
You will also have opportunities to ask questions directly to the potential supplier, so it’s worth noting that there is no such thing as a stupid or basic question here. It’s often surprising what you find out when you trust your gut in this way.
Roles and responsibilities
The typical team structure is: the Pioneer, the FT Hub coaches and the implementing partner. You may want to consider if other team members, such as local consultants or other partners, could support the pilot.
It is important that everyone in the team clearly understands who is a part of the team and how the roles and responsibilities are split between the different team members. Here is how the FT Hub sees the roles as pilots kick off:
The Pioneer is the custodian of the idea and so ensures the vision of the pilot
The FT Hub coaches guide the team through the methodology
The implementing partner brings the solution or technology expertise
In some cases, the project might pivot from the initial plan and so reviewing the roles and responsibilities in the planning stage of every sprint is good practice.
The EmpatIA team, based in the UK and Peru, draw out roles and responsibilities and show these on a video call
Establishing Effective Team Dynamics for the duration of the pilot
Determining ways of working together is key, beyond defining roles and responsibilities. This includes practical collaboration methods like meeting frequency, communication channels, and updates, as well as agreeing on shared team values. A cohesive set of values fosters a productive environment and guides decision-making.
In the EmpatIA pilot, our 'shared values' workshop surfaced agreements around the use of Spanish language with government stakeholders, and how the team would navigate and respect time zone differences.
The EmpatIA team's shared values shown on a team charter on Miro
Once you have established your roles and how you are going to work together you are ready to get started with planning for your first sprint.
And there you have it! Your guide to identifying and collaborating with partners. We hope that was useful.
If you have any questions about any of the above, take these to your next coaching session. Our team is there to support you, and we have experience working with a wide range of different partners in varied contexts.