SALT Network · TWG 2
Research & Innovation
Where we are, where we are going, and what we will do next.
Where we started
Context and background
- SALT is rooted in faith-based values and ESG principles, formed at the convergence of faith-based values and sustainable development.
- Core values: stewardship, compassion, justice.
- Our anchor, from the original conference objectives: "showcasing innovative strategies and initiatives that integrate faith-based or value-driven approaches with ESG criteria."
Our position
Where we want to take the group
- Position TWG 2 as a self-sustaining research and innovation entity. That is the main job.
- Focus areas: AI ethics, the African context, community wellbeing, leadership.
- Make research accessible to local people: even without Wi-Fi, they can reach the information through channels like USSD.
- Community wellbeing where the money is not landing. The Maasai Mara generates millions, yet outside it the area is seen as a place of poverty. Every such place should see community wellbeing.
- Ethical AI in African settings is high interest and timely, with strong potential for a major conference or special events in Nairobi.
Research and innovation in an ethical manner, believable and grounded in principle.
Agreed direction
Vision and mission
Vision: the seeing
"A world where every resource and operating model creates measurable, transparent and uncompromised value for society."
Originally "every corporate dollar", revised to "every resource" for broader reach.
Mission: the doing
As a result of our research and innovation, we hope to change the way research and innovation is done within our businesses and communities, in a value-based manner.
The vision is the seeing of the goal. The mission is the doing.
The shortlist
Core values
From the ten SALT values, the priorities that came up:
- Stewardship: the most emphasized; the maple keeps talking about stewardship
- Transformation
- Compassion
- Integrity
- Leadership, accountability, trust, community wellbeing, justice also on the table
We would like to be stewards, the living evidence.
The research base
Three theories that ground us
Intrinsic
Moral legitimacy
Is an organisation judged by whether its conduct truly reflects the values it professes? Are the values embedded, or only displayed?
Extrinsic
Pragmatic
Is the theory implemented in how the organisation actually carries out its work? Do practice and promise align?
People-centred
Stakeholder
Stewardship, justice and all the values, for everyone affected.
We research how to bring these theories to organisations in a way that CEOs and founders understand, and can use in their own companies.
Positioning
Strategic framing for research
- Research as a tool for change, not academic output. We are not running another school; we are running change.
- Sector transformation from a values perspective is the core lens.
- Research for advocacy and policy change is a legitimate funding avenue: money can come from anywhere.
- Policy-focused research requests may surface organically from the network, or funders may approach when our research aligns with a policy they want transformed.
"We are not just doing research for the sake of it. This is not academic work. We are running change."
Funding
Funding and resource mobilization
- Grant streams identified: training grants, innovation project grants, community wellbeing grants.
- We can apply for research grants when we have solid research with specific, evidenced findings.
- Model: write research grants, mobilize external funding, then commission TWG 1 to deliver the training.
- Grants can also support workshops that showcase the values and how to embed them.
- Money is sensitive; frame the ask around research value and outcomes, not a direct appeal.
- Leverage facilities and shared space already available.
- Partnerships: NGOs around that help with research. Partner with them to find and complete research more easily.
- Collaboration over direct funding: "we will not give you money, we work together." Partners contribute resources, not cash.
- Precedent cited: an institution running this model, paying people because they collaborated with other institutions on the research.
- Question raised: will the school back the initiative if external solutions are found but resources are limited?
- Each group identifies and proposes a leader; that leader influences and aligns the group.
- Not chasing grants by topic (climate, health and so on). We evaluate grants by fit with the values-driven sector transformation agenda: does this grant advance the mission?
Programming
What we do on the ground
- Research and innovation projects for companies that need solutions.
- Workshops to showcase how to embed the ten values into corporations.
- Innovation events, including in Nairobi, where the tech community is contextualizing AI in the African space.
- Art workshops and art galas on campus that showcase the values, with the work drawn up and sold.
- Impact events that give people knowledge, and things to create with apps and websites that people can use.
- Potential for a major conference on ethics in the African context of AI.
"The vision is the main thing."
AI
Ethical and verifiable use of AI
- Use AI as a first step, but ask for the citations of where the information comes from.
- Researchers visit those places and verify directly, with books and other sources.
- Human verification decides. AI can build a website quickly but cannot do a real backend properly.
- Weigh AI's positive and negative effects on the environment, the social and governance, and keep asking: positive or negative, should we move ahead?
Closing
Lend your eyes and sources.
Together we provide the evidence-based insights.
Next agenda item in the transcript: Training and Capacity Development, not yet discussed.