Deloitte Consulting was selected as a Devex Top 40 Development Innovator based on a poll of thousands of global development professionals who are part of Devex, the largest network of aid and relief workers in the world.
Announced on April 18, Devex Top 40 Development Innovators is an impressive listing of the world’s leading donor agencies & foundations, development consulting companies, implementing NGOs, and advocacy groups.
We asked each of the Innovators four questions to learn how they stay ahead to the curve and tackle old development challenges in new ways. Deloitte Consulting Principal James Horner responded:
‘Deloitte combines decades of technical experience with local understanding to drive the development of sustainable innovations for the developing world’
If you had to condense it to just one or two sentences, overall, what is it that makes your organization innovative?
Deloitte practitioners bring a fresh perspective and leading insights to our programs around the world while drawing from our decades of development experience. Our global capabilities and reach allow our teams to work locally to create sustainable, practical solutions to the development community’s toughest challenges.
Can you provide a specific example of something your organization has done that is particularly innovative?
Deloitte is committed to bringing innovative, sustainable solutions to the development community. We begin by developing a culture of innovation within our organization. This year, Deloitte hosted an innovation tournament for its practitioners where over 100 teams developed unique ideas for service offerings to serve our federal government clients and competed for the opportunity to formally develop the offering. A number of the innovations submitted impact our development work specifically, including the winning solution, a grants management information system.
Looking ahead 10 years, what are some of the innovations in international development that your organization wants to be a part of?
Deloitte is looking ahead to where our principal clients and counterparts in the development space are headed over the next decade and beyond. In an era of growing populations, rapid economic and social change, and increasing, dramatic effects of global climate change, we aim to be at the forefront of innovation across a host of technical areas, from food security and sustainability to alternative energy and climate change mitigation. We want to be at the forefront of innovating new ways the world’s leading companies — our clients — can play an active role in development. Finally, we want to leverage the cutting-edge technologies at our disposal, from geospatial analytics to new and exciting ways to visualize and manage data, to improve ours and our clients and counterparts’ abilities to know what’s working in development.
One factor in driving innovation at any organization is the talent you hire and the partnerships you make. How does your organization take into account innovation when it comes to cultivating talent and partners?
Deloitte is widely recognized as an employer of choice. This reputation is founded in a sustained commitment to the development of our people. One example of the investments Deloitte makes in its talent is the establishment of Deloitte University, a facility and series of training programs dedicated to developing technical, industry, and leadership skills among Deloitte’s practitioners to better serve our communities.
Check out the full listing of all Devex Top 40 Development Innovators on Facebook.
