Photo:  Stephen  Alvarez  

REINVENTING CONSERVATION prospectus

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  2  

THE CONSERVATION X LABS CONCEPT

 

THE  PROBLEM  Human  pressure  on  natural  resources  and  biodiversity  is  intense  and  accelerating:  nowhere  is  this  as  acute  as  in  the  developing  world.  As  the  fastest  growing  region  in  the  world  in  terms  of  both  human  population  and  economic  growth,  the  developing  world  contends  with  environmental  degradation,  species  extinction,  emerging  diseases,  poor  health  outcomes,  and  decreased  food  and  water  security.  By  2050,  the  planet  will  hold  9.1  billion  people,  with  a  growing  middle  class  seeking  meat,  cars,  and  air  conditioning,  which  will  put  huge  demands  on  our  planet’s  resources.  

The  developing  world  also  contains  the  majority  of  the  planet’s  biodiversity  and  ecosystems.  And  so  these  pressures  have  placed  us  in  the  middle  of  a  sixth  extinction  event.  The  current  extinction  rate  on  the  planet  is  between  1,000  and  10,000  times  higher  than  the  expected  background  extinction  rate.  One  in  four  mammals  and  one  in  eight  birds  face  a  high  risk  of  extinction  in  the  near  future;  and  our  knowledge  of  most  invertebrate  and  plant  species  is  highly  incomplete.  Unlike  mass  extinction  events  that  have  occurred  in  Earth’s  geological  history,  the  current  extinction  crisis  is  driven  by  a  single  species—us.  

The  cruel  irony  about  this  conservation  crisis  is  that  as  we  destroy  natural  systems,  we  destroy  the  very  foundations  of  human  development.  Humans,  as  a  part  of  nature,  depend  on  the  services  provided  by  other  species  and  habitats  to  power  our  lives.  Though  we  may  be  undermining  our  own  survival,  we  are  not  powerless.  Just  as  we  are  driving  extinction,  we  have  the  power  to  reverse  it.  We  can  apply  our  unparalleled  innovation  capacity  and  harness  our  technological  advances  to  engineer  resilience  to  global  environmental  changes,  change  demand  and  incentive  structures,  and  improve  our  ability  to  monitor  and  protect  species  around  the  world.  

Yet,  despite  billions  of  dollars  spent  on  conservation  efforts,  we  are  losing  the  battle.  Some  of  the  world’s  most  critical  species  are  in  danger  of  extinction  due  to  habitat  loss,  invasive  species,  exploitation  and  wildlife  trafficking,  and  global  climate  change.  Conservation  in  its  current  form  is  not  nearly  fast  or  effective  enough  –  our  natural  resources  and  species  are  vanishing  at  an  exponential  rate,  but  our  solutions  are  incremental.  By  harnessing  the  exponential  growth  of  science,  technology,  and  connectivity  generally  means  we  have  the  power  to  change  the  reality  of  what  is  possible.    

We  believe  hope  has  a  place  in  conservation.    

VISION:  Conservation  X  Labs  will  harness  disruptive  financial,  technological,  and  behavior  change  innovations  to  dramatically  increase  the  efficacy,  speed,  sustainability,  and  scale  of  global  conservation  efforts  with  a  goal  of  ending  human-­‐induced  extinction.  

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  3  

CHANGING  THE  PARADIGM  FOR  CONSERVATION  Conservation  X  Labs  seeks  to  create  a  new  model  for  conservation.  We  are  an  innovation  platform  focused  on  developing  new  breakthroughs  in  technology,  behavior  change,  and  financial  incentives;  using  the  power  of  open  collaborative  problem  solving,  and  the  private  sector.  Our  goal  is  to  develop  new  approaches  to  conservation  that  improve  the  efficacy,  speed,  cost,  and  scale  of  global  conservation  efforts.  

First,  by  harnessing  the  democratization  of  science  and  technology,  and  accelerating  connectivity  through  mobile  platforms,  we  can  allow  conservation  to  operate  at  the  pace  and  on  the  scale  necessary  to  keep  up  with—and  even  get  head  of—the  planet’s  most  intractable  environmental  challenges.  There  is  a  clear  need  to  accelerate  conservation  solutions,  harness  new  technologies  and  connectivity,  and  draw  upon  new  solvers  and  new  solutions  (including  in  biodiversity  rich  states)  to  help  us  co-­‐design  and  co-­‐create  a  different  set  of  solutions.  We  believe  in  harnessing  the  power  of  the  crowd,  coupled  with  open  source  approaches  to  problems.    

We  will  focus  on  transformational  breakthroughs  around  the  critical  constraints  of  the  individual  challenges—breakthroughs  that  can  reach  scale  through  adaptation  to  many  different  cultural  and  biological  contexts.  Technology  can’t  solve  every  problem  we  face,  but  new  tools  can  change  the  boundaries  of  what  is  possible.  Innovation  opportunities  for  addressing  conservation  problems  include  sensors,  mobile  platforms,  financial  leveraging,  social  marketing,  remote  sensing  (e.g.,  nano-­‐satellites,  drones,  networked  sensors),  advanced  molecular  approaches  (e.g.,  DNA  barcoding  and  phylogeography),  data  and  analytics,  collaborative  design,  crowdsourcing  &  crowdfunding.  We  believe  in  creating  platforms  that  empower  the  larger  conservation  community  to  use  new  tools  of  science  &  technology.  

Second,  by  expanding  the  market  in  which  healthy  ecosystems  are  valued,  we  incentivize  the  demand  for  conservation.  Approximately  $52  billion  is  spent  annually  on  global  conservation  projects  –  80%  of  which  comes  from  public  funds—whereas  the  estimated  annual  value  of  goods  and  services  provided  by  natural  systems  is  $125  trillion  dollars  a  year.  This  is  an  opportunity  to  create  new  financial  products—such  as  conservation  bonds  and  direct  payments  for  conservation—that  are  based  on  incentivizing  conservation-­‐friendly  actions,  but  also  return  a  profit.  Moreover,  those  who  bear  the  cost  of  protecting  natural  resources  are  not  those  who  have  the  means  to  invest  in  it.  Our  goal  is  to  connect  these  two  communities  (the  biodiversity-­‐rich  and  the  financially  wealthy),  by  bringing  value  to  conservation  efforts  and  paying  for  conservation  performance  based  on  habitat-­‐  and  species-­‐specific  targets.    

Finally,  by  igniting  citizens  as  change  agents  for  conservation,  we  change  the  equation  from  humans  being  the  problem  to  be  the  solution.  Any  approach  to  conservation  needs  to  change  the  incentive  structures,  both  in  biodiversity-­‐rich  countries,  and  in  those  countries  that  generate  the  demand  for  products  and  goods  that  put  pressure  on  ecosystems  and  species.  We  seek  to  use  models  taken  from  marketing  (including  social  media),  psychology,  evolutionary  biology,  anthropology,  global  health,  and  economics  to  develop  breakthrough  approaches  that  encourage  behavior  change  for  conservation  at  the  societal  level.  By  harnessing  these  tools,  and  combining  them  with  novel  financial  solutions,  we  can  shift  demand  and  incentive  structures.    

Much  as  humans  have  created  the  problems,  we  have  the  means  to  solve  them.  

Capitalizing  on  Exponential  Innovation  

By  harnessing  the  democratization  of  science  and  technology,  and  combining  this  with  financial  and  behavioral  innovation,  we  will  bring  breakthrough  solutions  to  wicked  conservation  problems.  

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  4  

FOCUS  AREAS  We  focus  on  addressing  three  fundamental  problems  in  conservation:  Engineering  resilience  against  environmental  changes,  changing  demand  and  incentives  structures,  and  by  improving  our  understanding  of  species  threats  and  biology.  

1. Engineering Biological Resilience & Slowing Extinction We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  period  of  extraordinary  change.  The  result  of  global  climatic  disruption  coupled  with  environmental  degradation  has  been  the  massive  disruption  of  the  biological  and  physical  environments  in  which  species  live.  Entire  communities  of  species  are  changing  composition  and  distribution,  physical  parameters  of  the  environment  such  as  rainfall,  temperature,  and  climatic  circulation  patterns  are  changing,  biological  processes  are  occurring  at  novel  times,  and  we  are  seeing  the  emergence  of  new  pathogens.  Species  differ  in  their  ability  to  respond  to  these  environmental  changes,  which  is  in  part  a  result  of  a  result  of  their  ability  to  adapt,  coupled  with  the  opportunities  in  their  natural  environment  to  do  so.  We  seek  to  engineer  new  solutions  for  species  and  ecosystems  to  gain  greater  resilience  in  the  face  of  environmental  change,  harnessing  advances  in  molecular  biology  and  technology.  As  a  starting  point,  we  have  focused  on  wildlife  diseases,  using  open  source  collaborative  approaches  coupled  with  modern  scientific  tools  to  build  a  platform  for  new  solutions  based  on  the  successful  Indian  model  of  open  source  drug  discovery.  

2. Changing Conservation Incentives & Demand. As  humans  are  drivers  of  conservation  challenges,  we  need  to  change  demands  for  wildlife  products,  and  which  drive  environmental  change,  and  create  new  incentives  for  conservation.  First,  how  do  we  change  the  incentives  for  those  who  bear  the  burden  for  conservation  efforts  to  also  benefit  directly  from  the  demand  for  its  protection?  International  donors  and  private  citizens  have  invested  billions  of  dollars  to  protect  biodiversity  in  developing  nations.  The  most  popular  investments  aim  to  encourage  economic  activities  that  indirectly  protect  ecosystems  and  species.  We  propose  an  alternative—paying  directly  for  conservation  outcomes  (“pay  for  performance”)  through  crowdfunding  and  conservation  bonds.  This  would  be  the  basis  for  a  larger  dedicated  platform  that  could  help  conservation  biologists,  local  communities,  and  governments  raise  funding  for  incentive  payments  to  local  communities  for  endangered  species  conservation  targets  that  are  set  in  advance.  

3. Improving Conservation Intelligence & Developing New Tools An  estimated  80%  of  species  remain  unknown  to  science.  And  for  those  species  that  are  well  known,  the  risk  of  extinction  has  been  determined  for  less  than  5%.  The  most  famous  species—elephants,  lions,  and  the  like—have  large  geographical  ranges  and  are  often  common  within  them.  Most  known  species  have  small  ranges,  however,  and  the  numbers  of  known  species  with  very  small  ranges  are  increasing  quickly,  even  in  well-­‐known  taxa.  They  are  geographically  concentrated  and  are  disproportionately  likely  to  be  threatened  or  already  extinct.  Existing  survey  techniques  have  been  slow  to  use  modern  technologies  such  as  mobile  platforms  and  big  data  analytics,  and  there  are  newer  technologies  that  are  emerging  (such  as  UAVs,  nanosatellites,  and  DNA  barcoding)  that  give  us  unprecedented  ability  to  monitor  environmental  change,  create  new  financial  tools,  and  improve  global  enforcement  against  wildlife  trade.    We  focus  on  improving  data  for  predictive  analytics,  risk  assessment,  monitoring  and  verification,  and  improving  the  ability  to  undercover  new  species,  and  their  distribution  and  abundance,  harnessing  new  tools  of  technology.    

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  5  

WICKED  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  WICKED  PROBLEMS  The  conservation  innovation  space  remains  open.  The  few  innovations  that  we  do  see  come  through  are  generally  one-­‐off,  developed  by  NGOs  or  research  institutions.    There  is  a  great  need  to  build  a  pipeline  that  will  allow  us  to  develop,  test  &  evaluate,  and  to  scale  up  these  solutions.  Simultaneously,  we  need  build  a  community  of  practice  around  the  emerging  field  of  conservation  technology  and  innovation.      Our  initial  research  and  review  of  the  field  shows  that  from  across  the  traditional  conservation  field,  academia,  government  and  the  business,  there  is  a  clear  need  and  a  desire  for  leadership  to  bring  innovation  to  conservation.  The  need  for  leadership  in  the  development  of  new  tools  that  can  serve  conservation  is  concentrated  on  our  focus  areas.  The  private  sector  needs  to  be  part  of  the  solution  to  ensure  that  conservation  innovations  are  sustained  and  scaled.  

 

1.  CREATING  INNOVATION  PIPLINES  &  PLATFORMS  FOR  CONSERVATION  

Over  the  next  3  years,  Conservation  X  Labs  will  build  a  viable,  scalable  conservation  innovation  pipeline,  including  an  innovation  investment  fund,  working  with  a  large  consortium  of  partners.    We  will  source  technologies  and  IP  in  our  program  areas  around  developing  resilience,  changing  demand  &  incentives,  and  improving  conservation  intelligence.  We  will  source  innovations  through  three  channels:  

! Directed   Innovation   (Research  &  Development).  With  our   combination  of   in-­‐house  expertise  and  technology  development,  as  well  as  partnerships  with   the   top   thinkers  and   institutions   in   science,  technology  and  finance,  we  will  design  new  solutions  that  build  on  existing  technologies  being  used  in   other   sectors   for   conservation,   or   partner  with   universities   and   tech   firms   that   are   developing  them.   This   includes   a   strategy   of   licensing   existing   IP   from   universities   and   applying   it   to  conservation  challenges,  as  well  as  developing  new  innovations  directly.    

! Grand  Challenges  for  Conservation  &  Open  Innovation.    We  recognize  the  vast  untapped  potential  of  citizen  scientists  and  solvers  around  the  world,  including  in  the  developing  world.  Conservation  X  Labs  will  engage  new  solvers  both  inside  and  outside  of  the  conservation  community  through  a  set  of  grand  challenges  for  conservation  to  co-­‐design  and  co-­‐create  a  new  set  of  transformative  solutions,  as  well  as  source  existing  approaches  that  the  development  community  has  used  in  other  fields  such  as  global  health.  We  will  open-­‐source  innovative  solutions  to  find  reveal  novel  approaches  within  technology,  data  analytics,  finance,  behavior  change  and  bio-­‐engineering  that  address  specific  conservation  challenges.  

! Collaborative  &  Open  Platforms.    We  will  also  seek  to  accelerate  research  around  emergent  threats  to  conservation  through  collaborative  research  and  citizen  science,  and  create  new  platforms  to  unlock  new  sources  of  financing  for  the  conservation  community.    

To  support  this  innovation  pipeline,  we  are  creating  a  fund  to  support  the  development  the  best  ideas  in  conservation,  including  core  technologies  developed  through  our  programs,  our  prizes  and  challenges,  and  other  aligned  organizations.    We  will  use  a  multi-­‐tiered  staged  finance  model  that  will  allow  us  to  pilot  and  test  new  ideas,  and  invest  and  scale  those  that  demonstrate  the  greatest  efficacy,  cost-­‐efficiency,  and  adaptability  to  other  important  wildlife  species,  new  cultural  contexts,  and  new  geographies.  Conservation  X  Labs  co-­‐founders  Alex  Dehgan  and  Paul  Bunje  have  recognized  global  expertise  in  the  use  of  prizes,  challenges  and  open  innovation  platforms  through  their  experiences  with  USAID  and  X  Prize.  

 

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  6  

2.  ACHIEVING  SCALE  

Conservation  solutions  are  insufficient  if  they  can’t  be  deployed  at  scale,  a  key  criteria  for  all  innovations  we   identify.  We  will  work  with  a  wide   range  of  partners   to   take  promising   technologies  and  solutions  from  the  lab  or  the  garage  to  the  marketplace,  and  refine  them  in  the  field  environments  in  which  they  are  intended  to  flourish.  We  will  prototype,  field-­‐test  and  rapidly  iterate  the  innovations  across  multiple  locations,   in  different   social-­‐cultural   contexts,   focusing  heavily  on  understanding  efficacy  and   regional  appropriateness,  to  ensure  that  the  particular  solution  is  scalable.    

 We  will  set  up  the  ecosystem  to  help  given  technologies  to  transition  to  scale,  based  on  the  successful  LAUNCH  model,  which  our  partners  SecondMuse  and  Further  by  Design  developed.  We  will  bring  together  actors  in  the  social  innovation  ecosystem.  Actors  such  as  social  innovators  and  serial  entrepreneurs,  social  venture  capitalists,  angel  investors,  donors  and  foundations,  to  provide  innovators  with  services  such  as  seed  funding,  grants,  incubation  and  accelerator  services,  networking  opportunities,  business  support  services,  knowledge  exchange,  and  technical  assistance.  We  will  also  facilitate  access  to  equity,  debt,  and  other  capital.  

Conservation  X  Labs  is  not  seeking  to  replace  existing  conservation  organizations,  but  to  amplify  and  accelerate  their  work  and  their  successes.  However,  we  look  to  transform  the  entire  field  through  our  innovations  and  platforms  to  improve  the  speed,  efficacy,  and  scale  of  global  conservation.  We  collaborate  to  improve  the  ideation,  iteration,  piloting  and  scaling  of  our  activities.  We  are  developing  or  have  key  partnerships  with  universities,  technology  companies,  conservation  and  development  organizations,  scientific  agencies  and  research  institutions,  and  local  governments  around  the  world.  These  include  novel  partnerships  with  the  Smithsonian  Institution’s  Bar  Code  for  Life  Program  and  Duke  University.  

 

3.  BUILDING  THE  MOVEMENT  

For  Conservation  X  Labs  to  be  successful  with  its  goals  and  mission,  we  must  do  more  than  create  an  organization;  we  must  help  create  and  curate  a  movement  that  can  create  new  markets,  solutions,  and  ideas.    CX  Labs,  through  the  strength  of  its  founders  has  the  credibility  to  convene  elite  networks  from  science,  technology,  conservation,  and  finance.  Through  our  past  work,  we  have  the  credibility  to  engage  to  hundreds  of  innovators,  technologists  and  futurists  in  the  innovation  and  conservation  fields.  Finding  the  sweet  spot  of  interested  players  from  different  disciplines  to  come  together  and  identify  as  a  ‘conservation  innovation  tribe’.  These  networks  will  be  critical  in  assisting  not  only  problem  selection  around  our  focus  areas,  but  identifying  solutions  that  have  the  potential  for  dramatic  breakthroughs  and  success.    

Creating  the  Signals.  A  key  focus  for  CX  Labs  in  the  early  phase  of  our  work  will  be  to  help  lead  and  develop  the  movement  of  folks  who  want  to  bring  innovation  to  conservation.  We  can  do  this  through  partnering  with  others  to  develop  media  and  content,  sourced  through  our  programs,  to  build  to  transform  the  thinking  about  conservation  approaches.      

Hope  is  Critical  to  Conservation  

By  building  a  network  of  conservation  innovators,  we  will  lead  the  “tribe”  that  is  demonstrating  success  at  dramatic  breakthroughs.  

Bringing  Innovation  to  Scale  We  will  work  with  a  wide  range  of  partners  to  take  promising  technologies  and  solutions  from  the  lab  or  the  garage  to  the  marketplace,  and  refine  them  in  the  field  to  make  them  flourish.  

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  7  

Building  the  Tribe.  The  existing  conservation  scientific  societies  and  organizations  are  losing  membership,  and  interest.  We  propose  creating  an  alternative  that  embodies  and  supports  the  larger  movement:  ConXCon.  This  would  be  the  first  innovation  &  tech  conference  for  conservation,  and  would  include  partnering  with  National  Geographic,  Mongabay.com,  Duke’s  Nicholas  School  of  the  Environment,  and  the  Smithsonian  Institution.    It  will  involve  not  just  speakers,  but  makers,  including  a  science  &  tech  “faire”  for  conservation.      The  goal  would  be  to  bring  conservation  scientists  together  with  experts  in  engineering,  technology,  social  marketing,  entertainment,  and  design.    We  will  model  this  on  the  Clinton  Global  Initiative.  

The  CX  Labs  event  will  bring  together  the  CX  TRIBE  around  programs  and  opportunities  to  

Learn  |  See  the  future  of  conservation  innovation  and  technologies    

Engage  |  With  new  leaders  in  the  conservation  innovation  space    

Select  |  Engage  on  CXLabs  prizes,  challenges,  and  hacks  to  co-­‐design  and  co-­‐solve  problems  

Inspire  |  Come  away  with  hope  for  the  future  

The  League  of  Extraordinary  Gentlemen  &  Gentlewomen:  CX  Fellows.  Modeled  on  Poptech  Fellows  &  National  Geographic  Emerging  Explorers  programs,  we  will  create  a  fellows  program  of  extraordinary  individuals  who  focus  on  media,  behavior  change,  financial  innovations,  technology,  conservation,  and  are  committed  to  rethinking  conservation.      Our  goal  will  be  to  have  half  of  the  fellows  be  from  the  developing  world  annually.  

 

CONSERVATION  X  LABS  FINANCIAL  MODEL  Conservation  X  Labs  is  a  B  Corporation,  partnered  a  501c3  research  organization,  to  ensure  that  we  can  solve  problems  irrespective  of  the  source  of  capital.    We  will  use  grants  for  research  and  development  to  help  create  new  products  and  build  new  platforms,  including  in  partnership  with  universities.    As  we  develop  prototypes,  we  will  also  harness  crowdfunding  to  expand  production,  test  and  build  market  interest  in  our  products.    We  will  also  use  grants  to  help  sustain  our  overall  platform  with  the  goal  of  being  financially  independent  through  our  equity  investments  and  services  over  time.  

Our  approach  is  to  harness  the  power  of  the  private  sector  and  create  new  markets  to  ensure  that  our  efforts  are  scalable  and  sustainable  in  the  long-­‐term.  We  are  focused  on  building  and  sourcing  technologies  and  products  that  are  “dual  use”,  where  those  technologies  have  applications  both  within  and  beyond  conservation.  Our  goal  is  to  create  a  revenue  base  that  can  subsidize  conservation  activities  and  research,  but  to  create  products  that  have  their  own  value  in  other  markets.    

We  expect  to  create  revenue  flow  from  three  areas:  

! Structuring  Licensing  fees  and  sales  of  technology  we  develop  directly.  

! Taking  equity  in  technologies  coming  out  of  prizes  and  challenges  we  administer,  through  direct  investment  into  new  companies  we  incubate,  or  where  particular  technologies  or  solution  sets  are  better  scaled  as  wholly  owned  subsidiary  companies.  

! Delivering  services  in  partnership  with  development  &  conservation  organizations.  

! Developing  sponsorships,  memberships,  event  revenues  from  Con  X  Con.    

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  8  

INITIAL  PRODUCTS    

• DNA  Barcoder  for  Conservation:    We  propose  the  development  of  a  DNA  Barcode  device  that  would  allow  for  the  instantaneous  field  identification  of  millions  of  plant  and  animal  species.  The  goal  is  the  development  of  a  hand-­‐held,  battery  powered  field  device  that  will  sequence  a  DNA  barcode  (648  bp  in  length)  from  a  fresh  tissue  sample  (plant  and  animal)  for  a  few  pennies  in  the  field,  accessing  a  global  database  of  species  when  connected  to  the  internet.    It  will  also  offered  opportunities  to  populate  databases  of  species  incidence,  and  connect  to  other  species  natural  history  and  distribution  data.  This  device  will  harness  over  20  years  of  research,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  scientist-­‐hours  cataloging  species  barcode  sequences  since  originally  proposed  in  the  2003  Bar  Code  for  Life  Initiative.  These  reference  DNA  libraries  have  been  built  for  2,000  endangered  species  and  an  additional  2,982,396  specimens,  making  up  332,047  species/morphospecies.  This  technology  will  accelerate  biological  surveillance  and  inventory,  including  the  identification  of  invasive  species  and  agricultural  pests.  

• Direct  Payments  for  Conservation  Platform.    International  donors  and  private  citizens  have  invested  billions  of  dollars  to  protect  biodiversity  in  developing  nations.  The  most  popular  investments  aim  to  encourage  economic  activities  that  indirectly  protect  ecosystems  and  species.  We  propose  an  alternative  -­‐  to  pay  directly  for  conservation  outcomes  (pay  for  performance)  –  here  specifically  to  incentive  the  protection  of  animal  populations,  such  as  elephants,  through  funding  raised  through  an  Indiegogo  api  embedded  in  a  dedicated  conservation  platform.    This  platform  would  allow  conservationists  raise  funding  for  individual  endangered  species  through  incentive  payments  to  local  populations,  harnessing  the  concept  of  direct  payments  for  conservation.  

 

INITIAL  ACTIVITIES    

• Conservation  X  Con.    We  will  convene  the  international  conservation  community  together  around  conservation  innovation  through  a  dedicated  conservation  meeting  –  Conservation  X  Con  in  Washington,  DC.    Our  goal  will  be  to  create  a  new  model  or  paradigm  for  conservation.      

• Grand  Challenge  for  Conservation  for  Wildlife  Trafficking.    We  will  use  a  series  of  tailored  prizes,  data  hackathons,  crowdsourcing,  and  challenges  to  harness  the  incredible  democratization  of  science  and  technology,  coupled  with  improved  data  and  connectivity,  to  help  develop  new  tools,  systems,  and  solutions  for  addressing  wildlife  trafficking.  Specifically,  we  will  focus  on  transformational  breakthroughs  around  the  critical  constraints  of  the  individual  challenges  that  can  reach  scale  through  adaptation  to  many  different  cultural  and  biological  contexts.  Innovation  opportunities  for  combating  wildlife  trafficking  include  sensors,  mobile  platforms,  remote  sensing  (e.g.,  nano-­‐satellites,  drones,  networked  sensors),  advanced  molecular  approaches  (e.g.,  DNA  barcoding  and  phylogeography),  data  and  analytics,  co-­‐design,  crowdsourcing  &  crowdscience,  behavior  change  campaigns,  and  financial  innovations.    

 

 

 

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  9  

PAST  PERFORMANCE  

Conservation  X  Labs  founders  and  partners  have  a  powerful  track  record  of  building  successful  global  institutions  and  programs  that  have  brought  measureable  change  in  some  of  the  world’s  most  challenging  environments.    With  our  experience  and  credibility  in  designing,  developing,  and  implementing  programs  in  innovation  and  conservation,  we  are  well-­‐equipped  to  replicate  this  success  with  CX  Labs.      

Co-­‐founders  Dr.  Alex  Dehgan  and  Dr.  Paul  Bunje  are  both  recognized  thought-­‐leaders  in  innovation,  development,  and  conservation.  They  each  also  bring  deep  experience  in  managing  multi-­‐million  dollar  enterprises  that  are  at  the  forefront  of  their  industry.  As  founding  partners  and  part  of  CX  Labs  core  team,  sister  companies  FURTHER  by  Design  and  SecondMuse  bring  expertise  in  methodologies  for  sourcing  and  scaling  solutions,  building  cross-­‐sector  collaborations,  and  running  systems  innovation  programs  that  will  complement  the  capabilities  of  CX  Labs.  

Beyond  our  core  team,  CX  Labs’  deep  and  broad  networks  of  partners  and  collaborators  include  major  scientific  and  research  institutions,  including  Duke  University,  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  media  organizations,  and  global  conservation  organizations.    CX  Labs  is  populated  with  and  partnered  with  world-­‐class  scientists  and  innovators  who  include  National  Geographic  Emerging  Explorers,  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  Fellows,  and  Rhodes  Scholars.      

 Sourcing  &  Scaling  Solutions  CX  Labs  co-­‐founders  Alex  Dehgan  and  Paul  Bunje,  and  founding  partners  FURTHER  by  Design  and  SecondMuse  are  among  the  world’s  leading  experts  in  designing  and  managing  large  scale  incentive  competitions  and  innovation  programs.      

• As  the  head  of  oceans  for  the  XPRIZE  Foundation,  Dr.  Bunje  has  led  multi-­‐million  dollar  prize  competitions  from  the  earliest  phases  of  development  through  active  competition.  Paul  is  an  expert  in  both  incentivizing  breakthroughs  through  well-­‐designed  prizes  and  managing  the  complexities  of  a  competition,  including  all  logistical,  staff,  financial,  and  scientific  operations  of  these  highly  complex,  multi-­‐year  operational  deployments.      

• Dr.  Dehgan’s  team  initiated  the  USAID’s  use  of  open  innovation,  including  creating  the  Grand  Challenges  for  Development  program,  the  Agency’s  use  of  prizes  (such  as  the  Atrocity  Prevention  Prize),  development  labs,  and  directly  raised  or  leveraged  nearly  half  a  billion  dollars  of  outside  funding  for  these  programs.    These  programs  catalyzed  global  action  around  the  biggest  solvable  development  problems  and  attracted  more  than  2,500  social  entrepreneurs,  innovators,  and  scientists,  funded  more  than  150  new  transformative  technologies  and  innovations  and  set  up  the  systems  to  bring  them  to  scale.  

• FURTHER  by  Design  and  SecondMuse  are  leaders  in  both  open  innovation  and  open  implementation.    They  designed  and  run  the  LAUNCH  program,  a  partnership  between  NIKE,  NASA,  USAID  and  the  U.S.  Department  of  State,  which  identifies  and  fosters  breakthrough  ideas  for  a  more  sustainable  world.  This  program  has  supported  60+  innovations  to  date,  for  which  they  convened  customized  groups  of  key  stakeholders  to  address  innovators  diverse  needs  –  

Built  to  Succeed  

Conservation  X  Labs  brings  a  world-­‐class  team,  unparalleled  partnerships,  and  a  deep  history  of  success  in  conservation,  innovation,  entrepreneurship  and  institution  building.  

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  10  

such  as  investment,  visibility,  partnership,  and  many  other  opportunities.      • SecondMuse  runs  some  of  the  world’s  largest  mass  collaborations,  they  are  behind  some  of  the  

largest  mass  collaborations  to  date,  including  the  International  Space  Apps  Challenge,  National  Day  of  Civic  Hacking  and  Random  Hacks  of  Kindness.    Their  work  has  been  highlighted  by  UN  Secretary-­‐General  Ban  Ki-­‐moon,  Former  US  Secretary  of  State  Hillary  Clinton,  and  the  White  House  and  has  won  the  World  Bank  2011  Sustainable  Development  project  of  the  year.  

Intrapraneurship  &  Institution-­‐Building  CX  Labs’  co-­‐founders  have  built  new  institutions  in  extraordinarily  challenging  landscapes  for  the  advancement  of  science  and  the  environment  

• As  Chief  Scientist  at  USAID,  Alex  Dehgan  designed,  built,  and  co-­‐created  the  independent  Office  of  Science  &  Technology,  and  also  conceptualized,  and  designed  and  helped  build  the  new  US  Global  Development  Lab  –  a  “DARPA  for  development”  –  which  became  a  100  million  dollar  institution  with  an  80  person  team  in  the  span  of  four  years.    His  work  included  pioneering  the  Grand  Challenges  for  Development,  and  creating  new  development  labs  with  MIT,  UC  Berkeley,  and  Duke,  and  collaborations  with  NSF,  NIH,  NASA,  and  the  Smithsonian.      

• In  Iraq,  Dr.  Dehgan  built  new  national  institutions  for  rebuilding  science,  which  have  become  the  major  science  policy,  research  &  funding  institutions  in  the  country,  and  raised  60  million  dollars  for  their  launch.    Alex  also  created  the  Wildlife  Conservation  Society’s  Afghanistan  Biodiversity  Conservation  Program,  which  led  to  the  country’s  first  national  parks.    

• Dr.  Bunje  built  the  nation’s  largest  regional  collaborative  organization  responding  to  climate  change.  As  the  first  Managing  Director  of  the  Los  Angeles  Regional  Collaborative  for  Climate  Action  and  Sustainability,  Paul  drove  the  formation,  collaboration,  and  work  of  dozens  of  cities,  universities,  businesses,  agencies,  and  civic  organizations.    Under  his  leadership,  and  they  raised  several  million  dollars  and  developed  common  response  plans  for  climate  change  mitigation  and  adaptation.  

 Scientific  &  Technological  Expertise  CX  Labs  co-­‐founders  and  staff  have  significant  expertise  in  science  and  technology,  science  policy,  and  developing  research  programs.    Collectively  they  hold  doctorate  degrees  in  science  and  engineering  and  affiliations  from  leading  institutions,  including  UC  Berkeley,  UC  San  Diego,  Harvard  Medical  School,  Duke  University  and  The  University  of  Chicago,  and  have  worked  on  the  front  lines  of  research  in  molecular  biology,  conservation  biology,  evolutionary  biology,  global  health  &  emerging  infectious  disease,  bioenergy,  and  physics.    

• Dr.  Dehgan  lead  the  scientific  research  strategy  for  the  Wildlife  Conservation  Society’s  Programs  in  Afghanistan,  was  the  Principal  Investigator  for  the  Ranomafana  Fragments  Project  in  Madagascar,  and  set  the  science  &  innovation  agenda  for  the  Office  of  Science  &  Technology  at  USAID,  developed  the  scientific  components  of  the  President’s  Cairo  Initiative,  and  helped  rebuild  the  scientific  infrastructure  in  Iraq.  

• Dr.  Dehgan’s  work  has  been  recognized  by  awards  from  SEED  Magazine  as  an  Icon  of  Science,  and  by  the  World  Technology  Association.    He  has  received  more  than  24  research  grants  and  fellowships  as  a  scientist,  including  multiple  grants  from  the  National  Science  Foundation.      

• In  2013,  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  selected  both  Dr.  Dehgan  and  Dr.  Bunje  as  two  of  their  40@40  fellows  out  of  2,600  AAAS  Science  Policy  Fellows  globally  for  their  40th  Anniversary  recognizing  exemplary  leadership  in  science.      

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  11  

 HOW  WE  WILL  CHANGE  CONSERVATION?  

• Build  a  community  of  solvers  and  entrepreneurs  from  both  the  developing  and  developed  world,  who  work  within  tech  firms,  conservation  organizations,  research  institutions,  multilateral  organizations,  governments,  and  foundations,  who  will  transform  conservation  and  create  a  new  community  of  practice  for  conservation  innovation.  

• Source  &  develop  new  financial  and  technological  innovations  that  will  substantially  improve  the  resilience  of  biological  systems,  the  quality,  scale,  speed,  and  cost  of  data  related  to  species  and  ecosystem  status  and  endangerment,  and  change  demand  and  incentive  structures  in  favor  of  conservation.  

• Unlock  new  sources  of  funding  for  the  conservation  community  through  direct  payments  for  conservation  and  conservation  bonds.  

• Create  a  new  model  and  approach  for  conservation  that  harnesses  the  power  of  science  &  technology,  is  forward-­‐looking,  and  returns  excitement  and  hope  to  the  field.    

FUNDING  &  PARTNERSHIP  OPPORTUNITIES  

We  are  looking  for  grant,  investments  (including  program  related  investments),  and  sponsorships  into  our  platform,  our  conference  and  fellows  program,  and  in  our  individual  products,  including  establishment  of  a  multipartner  fund  supporting  the  Grand  Challenges  for  Conservation.        

We  believe  strongly  in  collaboration  with  other  institutions  that  share  our  values  towards  the  protection  of  global  biodiversity,  and  of  the  betterment  of  humankind.    

For  further  information,  contact:  

 

Dr.  Alex  Dehgan  +1202.460.5628  alexdehgan@gmail.com    

Dr.  Paul  Bunje  +1310.739.0609  paul@conservationxlabs.com  

   

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  12  

CO-­‐FOUNDERS  ALEX  DEHGAN  

Alex  Dehgan  is  the  co-­‐founder  Conservation  X  Labs,  and  is  also  a  senior  visiting  fellow  in  the  Office  of  the  Provost  at  Duke  University.  

Dr.  Alex  Dehgan  mostly  recently  

served  as  the  Chief  Scientist  at  the  U.S.  Agency  for  International  Development,  with  rank  of  Assistant  Administrator,  and  founded  and  headed  the  Office  of  Science  and  Technology.  As  the  Agency’s  first  chief  scientist  in  two  decades,  Alex  was  the  architect  of  a  number  of  new  Agency  institutions,  including  the  position  of  the  chief  scientist,  the  independent  office  of  science  and  technology,  the  position  of  the  Agency  geographer,  and  the  GeoCenter.  Alex  built  the  Office  of  Science  and  Technology  from  scratch  to  an  80  person  office,  and  $100  M  dollar  research  program,  in  less  than  four  years,  and  leveraged  or  raised  $500  million  dollars.  In  2014,  this  program  received  congressional  approval  to  become  the  new  USAID  Development  Lab.  

Prior  to  coming  to  USAID,  Dr.  Dehgan  worked  in  multiple  positions  within  the  Office  of  the  Secretary  at  the  Department  of  State  where  he  

developed  a  science  diplomacy  strategy  towards  addressing  our  most  challenging  foreign  policy  issues  in  Iraq,  Iran,  Afghanistan,  and  the  greater  Islamic  world.  Alex  was  the  founding  Afghanistan  Country  Director  for  the  Wildlife  Conservation  Society’s  Afghanistan  Biodiversity  Conservation  Program.  Through  his  leadership,  WCS  led  efforts  to  create  Afghanistan’s  first  national  park,  conducted  the  first  comprehensive  biological  surveys  of  the  country  in  30  years.    

Dr.  Dehgan  holds  a  Ph.D  and  M.Sc.  from  The  University  of  Chicago’s  Committee  on  Evolutionary  Biology,  where  he  focused  on  extinction  and  adaptation  of  12  lemur  species  during  environmental  change  in  tropical  forests  in  Madagascar.  He  also  holds  a  J.D.  from  the  University  of  California,  Hastings,  and  a  B.S.  from  Duke  University.  He  was  elected  to  the  Board  of  Governors  of  the  Society  for  Conservation  Biology.  

Alex  has  been  recognized  for  his  contributions.  In  2013,  AAAS  selected  Alex  as  one  of  its  40@40  fellows  out  of  2,600  AAAS  Science  Policy  Fellows  globally  for  its  40th  Anniversary  based  on  individuals  who  have  made  exemplary  dedication  to  applying  science  to  serve  society,  were  creative,  innovative,  and  collaborative  problem  solvers  in  addressing  global  challenges,  and  were  uncommon  ambassadors  for  the  role  of  science  and  technology.    

He  was  chosen  as  an  “Icon  of  Science”  by  Seed  Magazine  in  2005,  received  the  World  Technology  Award  for  Policy  in  2011,  and  has  been  recognized  through  multiple  awards  from  the  Departments  of  State  and  Defense,  and  the  US  Agency  for  International  Development.    

 

CONSERVATION X LABS

 

  13  

CO-­‐FOUNDERS  PAUL  BUNJE  

Paul  Bunje  is  the  co-­‐  founder  of  Conservation  X  Labs.  He  brings  substantial  expertise  in  

innovation,  conservation,  science  policy,  and  broad  public  engagement  to  the  mission  of  bringing  innovation  to  conservation.  

Paul  is  also  the  Senior  Director  for  Oceans  at  the  XPRIZE  Foundation  where  he  leads  a  broad  suite  of  ocean,  environment  programs,  including  the  Wendy  Schmidt  Ocean  Health  X  PRIZE  to  help  lead  the  identification  of  solutions  to  the  grand  challenge  of  ocean  acidification.  

Paul  was  the  founding  Executive  Director  of  the  UCLA  Center  for  Climate  Change  Solutions  and  the  founding  Managing  Director  of  the  Los  Angeles  Regional  Collaborative  for  Climate  Action  and  Sustainability.  In  these  roles,  he  facilitated  innovative  research  and  communication  between  scientists,  decision  makers,  and  the  public  and  led  the  creation  of  regional  climate  change  programs  for  the  10  million  people  of  Los  Angeles  County.  

Dr.  Bunje  has  served  as  an  AAAS  Science  &  Technology  Policy  Fellow  in  the  U.S.  Environmental  Protection  Agency  and  as  an  

educator  at  science  museums  in  California  and  Minnesota.  Paul  is  a  fellow  of  the  UCLA  Center  for  Tropical  Research  an  advisory  board  member  for  Climate  Resolve  and  the  Los  Angeles  Sustainability  Collaborative,  and  has  served  as  an  advisor  to  USAID,  Clean  Tech  LA,  and  the  Asia  Society.  Dr.  Bunje  has  lived  and  conducted  scientific  research  in  Europe,  the  Middle  East,  and  the  Pacific—providing  first-­‐hand  insight  into  the  diverse  challenges  we  face  in  protecting  critical  habitats  and  communities.  

In  2013,  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  selected  Paul  as  one  of  40  fellows,  out  of  2,600  AAAS  Science  Policy  Fellows  globally,  for  its  40th  Anniversary  to  recognize  individuals  who  have  made  exemplary  dedication  to  applying  science  to  serve  society,  were  creative,  innovative,  and  collaborative  problem  solvers  in  addressing  global  challenges,  and  were  uncommon  ambassadors  for  the  role  of  science  and  technology.  

Paul  is  trained  in  biology,  with  a  B.S.  from  the  University  of  Southern  California  and  a  Ph.D.  from  the  University  of  California,  Berkeley.  He  is  an  Associate  Researcher  at  the  UCLA  Institute  of  the  Environment  and  Sustainability  and  continues  to  serve  in  a  number  of  leadership  roles  in  environment,  energy,  and  sustainability.  Paul  is  also  an  accomplished  public  speaker  and  facilitator,  leading  many  groups  to  grown  their  understanding  of  innovation  and  solutions  to  grand  environmental  challenges.