The Synchronous Group is promoting rapid cycles of innovation in the post-Covid world. Synchronous is a public benefit company that works with like-minded companies.

Background: COVID-19 Pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. "This is not just a public health crisis, it is a crisis that will touch every sector – so every sector and every individual must be involved in the fight.” said the WHO director general.

WHO four key areas for emergency response:

1. Prepare and be ready.
2. Detect, protect and treat.
3. Reduce transmission.
4. Innovate and learn.

The fourth response area maps iterative agile software development, the design-build-test-learn feedback loop made popular by silicon valley startups and documented in Steve Blank’s Lean Startup Manual.

Harness Silicon Valley innovation:
Increase the sprint rate to innovate faster

The key innovation of the approach is to focus on the rate of a full experimentation feedback loop, the sprint rate. Innovative Silicon Valley software companies such as Tesla and Affirm use a weekly sprint cycle, releasing new builds of their software to the mass market at least every week.

How do we accelerate pandemic emergency response innovation and learning at global scale?

A rapid innovate and learn response ecosystem

1. Universities
2. Incubators
3. Accelerators
4. Investors

Focus them on the emergency response areas:

1. Prepare and be ready.

1. Communication
2. Data

2. Detect, protect and treat.

1. Testing cheap and mobile
2. Protective behavior training easy
3. Treatment
4. Develop vaccines

3. Reduce transmission.

1. Social distance
2. Learn from home / work from home
3. Personal Protective Equipment
4. Digital wallet
5. Digital dollars / digital money

Innovate and learn.

1. Rate of experimentation
2. Communication of what fails and works

Team

Executive director

Lawrence Rufrano
Executive Director, Technology Solutions Task Force Project
Member, United Nations International Telecommunications Union
Executive Director, Stanford Financial Technologies Lab
Executive Director, EvoNexus.org Fintech Incubator

Advisory Board

James Oury
Founder, Osiris Labs
Advisor, Threefold
Advisor, Pentatonic

Nick Heyman
Partner, ADHD VC

Working task force expert team

Tac Leung
Science | Engineering | Data | User Experience | ESG | Compliance | Innovation
Product Officer,  Synchronous Group

Raphael Laderman
Software | Security | Cryptography
CEO, Secured Scores

Kosta Vilk
Software | Security | Cryptography | Quantum Computing
Information Security Officer, QuSecure

Jess Taylor
Mobile Software | Technology Operations |
CEO, Blue Rocket

Abhijit Limaye
Hardware | Manufacturing
CEO, Allomind | Skylights

Working team member responsibilities

1. Mentors
2. Executives in residence: Plug in to incubated companies
3. Roll-up managers: Identify and manage startups that roll up / gaps and strengths Strengthen companies and roll them all up
4. Founders: Start companies and roll up
5. Thought leadership to the corporate landscape
6. Thought leadership to governments
7. Thought leadership to universities
   

Business Model

To ensure the sustainability and public benefit of the program, the working group engages with certified sustainable for-profit Environment Society and Governance (ESG) organizations and individuals that are committed to one or more of the UN SDGs.

Public Benefit Corporation designation

Benefit Corporations are a new-ish type of U.S. corporate status. In addition to the traditional corporate purpose of maximizing profit for shareholders, these companies legally declare in their corporate filing one or more additional greater-good benefits as their purpose.

Benefit Corporations  are not non-profit organizations, though they may share similar missions.

Synchronous Group’s mission

To shift technology innovation toward the construction of a more humane and verdant world.

Benefit corporations take the rigorous accounting practices traditional businesses apply to their P&L and extend it to key performance indicators that are also indicators of greater good, such as neutralizing carbon emissions that cause global warming or gender balance in the management team. One of the most widely adopted certification standards for evaluating the accounting rigor is B Corp certification.

B Corp certification

B Corp certification measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. The B Impact Assessment evaluates a company’s operations and business model impact on workers, community, environment, and customers.

From supply chain and input materials to charitable giving and employee benefits, B Corp Certification proves a business is meeting the highest standards of verified performance.