Situating the Next Generation of Impact Measurement and Evaluation for Impact Investing

In taking stock of the landscape, this paper promotes a convergence of methods, building from both the impact investment and evaluation fields.The commitment of impact investors to strengthen the process of generating evidence for their social returns alongside the evidence for financial returns is a veritable game changer. But social change is a complex business and good intentions do not necessarily translate into verifiable impact.As the public sector, bilaterals, and multilaterals increasingly partner with impact investors in achieving collective impact goals, the need for strong evidence about impact becomes even more compelling. The time has come to develop new mindsets and approaches that can be widely shared and employed in ways that will advance the frontier for impact measurement and evaluation of impact investing. Each of the menu options presented in this paper can contribute to building evidence about impact. The next generation of measurement will be stronger if the full range of options comes into play and the more evaluative approaches become commonplace as means for developing evidence and testing assumptions about the processes of change from a stakeholder perspective– with a view toward context and systems.Creating and sharing evidence about impact is a key lever for contributing to greater impact, demonstrating additionality, and for building confidence among potential investors, partners and observers in this emergent industry on its path to maturation. Further, the range of measurement options offers opportunities to choose appropriate approaches that will allow data to contribute to impact management– to improve on the business model of ventures and to improve services and systems that improve conditions for people and households living in poverty.

Municipal support of wireless access network rollout: a game theoretic approach

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Exploiting Qualitative Information for Decision Support in Scenario Analysis

The development of scenario analysis (SA) to assist decision makers and stakeholders has been growing over the last few years through mainly exploiting qualitative information provided by experts. In this study, we present SA based on the use of qualitative data for strategy planning. We discuss the potential of SA as a decision-support tool, and provide a structured approach for the interpretation of SA data, and an empirical validation of expert evaluations that can help to measure the consistency of the analysis. An application to a specific case study is provided, with reference to the European organic farming business

Lignocellulosic Ethanol: The Path to Market

The cost effective production of transport fuels from biomass is essential if the EU aspiration to substitute 10% of transport fuels with sustainable alternatives by 2020 is to be met. The hope, voiced by the Parliament’s Industry and Energy Committee, is that at least 40% of the 2020 target will come from second-generation biofuels, and therein lies the challenge: second-generation conversion technologies are not yet commercial. Multiple pathways are being investigated around the globe, but dominant pathways have yet to emerge and business models have yet to be proven. Nevertheless, expectations are running high and there has been significant investment in R&D in the US, Europe and Asia. The production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass is commercially and environmentally one of the most promising options, and in 2007 the US Department of Energy (DOE) provided more than US$1 billion toward lignocellulosic ethanol (LE) projects. Their goal was to make the fuel cost competitive at$1.33 per gallon, when deployed at scale, by 2012. The majority of studies also suggest that LE will result in superior greenhouse gas savings compared to ethanol produced from starch. Despite favourable predictions for cost and environmental performance, market deployment requires practical and plausible development paths that are able to support progress from existing small-scale demonstration plant to large industrial installations. Moreover, these development paths must be sufficiently attractive to persuade developers and investors that lignocellulosic ethanol remains an opportunity worth pursuing

Mobile Communications Industry Scenarios and Strategic Implications for Network Equipment Vendors

Mobile infrastructure markets have changed dramatically during the past years. The industry is experiencing a shift from traditional large-scale, hardware-driven system roll-outs to software and services -driven business models. Also, the telecommunications and internet worlds are colliding in both mobile infrastructure and services domains requiring established network equipment vendors and mobile operators to transform and adapt to the new business environment. This paper utilizes Schoemaker's scenario planning process to reveal critical uncertain elements shaping the future of the industry. Four possible scenarios representing different value systems between industry's key stakeholders are created. After this, five strategic options with differing risk and cost factors for established network equipment vendors are discussed in order to aid firm's strategic planning process. --

The New Airport and its Urban Region: Evaluating Transport Linkages

Privatized airports are emerging as significant transportation and logistics hubs competing with traditional CBDs as activity centres with significant environmental, social and economic impacts. The major implications for transportation planning and evaluation of options have been highlighted as: the difficulty in arriving at an agreed set of relative weights to be attached to each objective; the need to undertake any interface analysis at the regional scale; the need to model the complex nature of the interaction between mixed land use activities within the emerging airport precinct and the supply, pricing and regulation of the relevant transportation links; and the relevance of 'option value' concepts when evaluating transit access to airports

Regional integrated infrastructure scoping study

The purpose of the study is to consider how the Region should take infrastructure forward in an integrated way at a strategic level and to help scope further work to inform the RSS 2009 Update. It is envisaged that this scoping study is the first part of a major work stream for the Assembly to enable infrastructure to influence future locational decisions and develop a better understanding of the impact of higher levels of growth on the Region’s infrastructure

Sharpening the Cutting Edge: Corporate Action for a Strong, Low-Carbon Economy

Outlines lessons learned from early efforts to create a low-carbon economy, current and emerging best practices, and next steps, including climate change metrics, greenhouse gas reporting, effective climate policy, and long-term investment choices