KNOWLEDGE HUB

Innovation Project

REBECA DALLAL

Chapter 1

This hub is becoming one of the most important assets of a real estate development for North American, Canadian and European retired VIPs in the vicinity of the city of San Miguel de Allende, in the state of Guanajuato.

This project has been qualified as “priority” by the governor of Guanajuato because it is self-sustainable, environmentally friendly and will be a very important enabler for the development of the state’s economy.

KNOWLEDGE HUB

This project was conceived with the main objective to develop a community to provide international retired VIPs with the highest standard of sustainable living conditions that provide for all their needs:

• Privileged location in the central mountains of the country, a 170 mile drive from Mexico City.

• International airports less than 1.5 hr. away.

• A few miles away from San Miguel de Allende, ranked in the “Top 25 cities of the world” (Condé Nast Traveler, 2011).

• A short drive from excellent restaurants, history and cultural activities.

• Pleasant year-round weather oscillating between 60ºF and 78ºF.

• Especially trained bi-lingual staff: cleaning, doc-tors, nurses, etc.

• Environmentally friendly based on sustainable ar-chitecture.

• Infrastructure to satisfy all residents’ needs: hous-ing, food, health, entertainment, sports, etc.

This is a $40,000,000 USD unique project that has carefully considered senior citizen’s specific needs, espe-cially for top executives who seek to retire in a place

that offers everything they need in one place. The pro-ject will provide housing accommodations for 20,000 families and permanent employment for up to 250,000 people.

This project was presented to the governor and econ-omy ministry officials of the state of Guanajuato and it was considered a priority project because of the sus-tained development and economic growth it will pro-vide to the zone, it is justified because the amount of people aged 65 and over is growing, especially in the US and most European countries, and increasingly more so, the population 85 and over. Because of the increase in the quality of healthcare, the quality of life also increases as well as the years people remain pro-ductive.

According to the Pew Research Center, the amount of seniors who go online is now over 60% and there is a growing group of them which leans toward younger, more highly educated, or more affluent seniors and have relatively substantial technology assets, and also has a positive view toward the benefits of online plat-forms.

OBJECTIVES

❖ Clearly identify peoples’ need in order to provide the best technological and tools to promote internal and external collaboration.

❖ Design and develop state-of-the-art facilities for collaboration and knowledge sharing for the people living in the community to allow them to remain active by sharing their knowledge and expertise.

❖ Offer the greatest possible value added to the project.

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SECTION 1

Knowledge Hub

In addition, affluent and well-educated seniors adopt the internet and broadband at substantially higher rates than those with lower levels of income and educational attainment:

• Among seniors with an annual household income of $75,000 or more, 90% go online and 82% have broadband at home. For sen-iors earning less than $30,000 annually, 39% go online and 25% have broadband at home.

• Fully 87% of seniors with a college degree go online, and 76% are broadband adopters. Among seniors who have not attended col-lege, 40% go online and just 27% have broadband at home.

(Pew Research Center, April, 2014)

Something that makes this project is very interesting is that it has a holistic approach regarding the value chain because it contemplates the design and implementation of the newest green technologies for raw materials (such as ecologic and thermal bricks), which will supply for the several stages of the project and after that keep working for external customers.

Another area of this project contemplates training facilities, a state-funded university, for cleaning, healthcare and other employees with a focus on bilingualism. The project also contemplates providing for employees and their family’s needs, such as childcare, schools, etc. to guarantee the quality of the services provided to the residents.

I was involved in this project by one of the two partners. He was explaining the pro-ject and when he described the customers as top-level executives I identified they would be people with a lot of knowledge and experi-ence, which represents a very valuable asset. I did some research about this profile of people and found out that

even though they retire from full-time positions they remain active teaching or as consultants and given the networking opportunities within the communities I consider that a lot of ideas and innovation can arise as a result, the networking conditions will promote the ex-change of ideas to allow innovation related knowledge

So, my proposal is to design a knowledge architecture, a Knowledge Hub, to allow the residents to remain active in their professional area with high internal and external networking as well as knowledge shar-ing capabilities. Although the project contemplates providing broad-band WiFi for residents at their homes and they can use their PCs, the Knowledge Hub offers a highly specialized area which I explain in this document.

Due to the knowledge, expertise and professional level achieved by the residents, the Knowledge Hub will result in valuable outputs as a result of knowledge sharing, research and development.

Geographical space has been theoretically downgraded and proximity or distance devalued (Brown and Duguid 2002), modern technology allows rapid access to knowledge, modern means of communication are used to eliminate geographical distance by allowing instant, real-time exchange of information. The extremely low transaction costs of data, information and knowledge seem to invalidate the theory of agglomeration and the spatial clustering of firms (James 2005).

Knowledge hubs are local innovation systems that are nodes in net-works of knowledge production and knowledge sharing. They are characterized by high connectedness and high internal and external networking and knowledge sharing capabilities. As meeting points of communities of knowledge and interest, knowledge hubs fulfill three major functions: to generate knowledge, to transfer knowledge to sites of application; and to transmit knowledge to other people through education and training (Hans-Dieter Evers. Bonn, 2008).

Historically, a Knowledge Hub takes time to develop because it re-quires certain social and economic conditions as well as critical mass of local knowledge acquired through a long period of time. However, this case is different because it has already been identified that a con-siderable number of people with a lot of experience and knowledge will concentrate in one place at the same time.

Providing the proper physical and technological conditions to facili-tate collecting, archiving, using, sharing and distributing data and information will add value to the project and make it more attractive to potential residents.

The proposal is as follows:

• Provide wireless 100 MBs broadband. (maybe Google as an ISP?)

• Individual and group working spaces in top-notch facilities.

• Provide 24/7 technical support.

• Optional secretarial and support staff services available.

• Virtual conference rooms.

• Room specially designed and equipped for distance teaching.

• Highest safety and privacy standards.

• Training.

Along with the development of the World Wide Web a new architec-ture was introduced by leaving the core resources of the internet in a commons (which are built into the architecture of the original net-work) which was a decisive factor for the creativity and innovation spurred by the internet. (Lessig 2004:227-228). The intention is to take advantage of this and provide the highest possible value added to the project.

Providing this profile of residents with the appropriate technology to remotely participate and collaborate, will enable them to participate and increase companies’ innovative capacity by sharing ideas and innovations for products, and services.

By providing this setup, the project will be the only place of this na-ture to have the most comfortable installations to continue a produc-tive life and feeling useful without leaving the community in which they live in, this increases their quality of life and extends their useful years.

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It is considered very important that people who retire can continue carrying out fulfilling activities. According to UK’s Institute of Eco-nomic Affairs 40% of retirees suffer from clinical depression, while 6 out of 10 report a decline in health and the May 1998 issue of Jour-nal of Business Ethics, Al Gini asserts “work is not simply about trad-ing labor for dollars.” Work is the way we find identity as individuals and how others identify us.

According to experts it is important for retirees to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to remain active. By not having to work 9 to 5 for a living retired executives will be able to pursue other activities such as volun-tary work or spending time in subjects that are passionate for them. Since the profile of people that this project is aimed at are people with a high academic level, have many years of experience and are well respected experts in their are, they will most probably be asked to participate as consultants or as professors, and the Knowledge Hub will be the ideal place for them to do so virtually and increasing the opportunities for them to do so.

The setting in this community will naturally favor the interaction within people, which will most likely result in talks about business and new ideas. With the necessary tools to record, save and further de-velop these ideas it will be easier to follow-up and share them, increas-ing the odds of them becoming a reality.

ConclusionIncorporating the Knowledge Hub to the project will add competitive sustainable value due to it being the first of its kind, it makes the whole project especially attractive because it offers hi-tech and com-fortable facilities that will make it possible for residents to continue living an active and fulfilling life without having to travel; this is par-ticularly attractive because it will make them feel useful and meaning-ful by remaining active after retirement, thus increasing their quality of life and decreasing the probability of depression and other ill-nesses.

One of the most valuable assets in the present, and near future, is information. Without people who know how to make sense of this

information it becomes useless. The Knowledge Hub connects the information with people through the use of the latest and most ad-vanced Information Technologies keeping in mind the sustainable nature of the whole project.

I am strongly convinced that this might be a decisive factor for poten-tial customers to choose investing in this project to live after their re-tirement.

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Chapter 2

The strategy is the high level plan to achieve goals. The strategy will determine actions and processes as well as mobilizing the necessary resources.

Processes and human and financial resources should be aligned with Information Systems and Technologies.

IT will be considered not just a tool, but rather a strategic weapon to obtain sustained competitive advantage by providing value added and as a driver of innovation across the portfolio of projects.

MARKETING & PROTOTYPE STRATEGY

Market Research

This project has been carefully planned. Research regarding senior’s needs and wants, as well as cur-rent trends (sustainability, etc.) have shaped the overall approach. There was an exhaustive investi-gation regarding the location of the project in order to meet accessibility, climate, infrastructure, cost, taxes, cultural and safety issues as well as the support of the local government and authorities.

Reasons seniors have for choosing a Retirement Center (*RC) (Forbes, March 2014):

• Geographic distance to sons and daughters

• Climate

• Scenery

• Cultural amenities

• Affinity identity

• Price

Particular to this segment is the profile of other residents, they are pretty much interested to the quality of relationships and networking they will be able to do. (House & Aycock, 2011)

Types of Retirement Centers:

• Active Adult Communities

• Independent Living Communities

• Continuing Care Retirement

• Communities

• Assisted Living Communities

• Alzheimer’s Care Facilities

• Nursing Care Facilities

Target

Seniors with college or further education who earn $75,000 USD and above.

There are many RC throughout the world, but this is the first one with this concept in Mexico and there is no other Knowledge Hub in an RC.

The competition for this project will be similar facilities in the United States and Canada as well as in some European countries, although there are no similar facilities that provide easy access with such high IT innovation and standards.

• Connect• Collaborate• Innovate

“Extend your potential”

An uncontested marketplace in RC

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SECTION 1

Strategy

Due to the high profile of the customers and the high level of the KH, we will seek to partner with Google as an ISP for the high-speed broadband and with other partners such as Samsung, Sony, NVidia, etc. for the facilities.

It is important to focus on a design, both of facilities and tech-nology, aimed at users 55 years of age and older in order to provide the best usability for them. If this is not accomplished it will not be as attractive to potential customers and could hin-der sales.

Target Market

This particular segment of seniors will purchase a lot of goods and services because of their high acquisition power, this results in a high creation of jobs (one of the reasons the state govern-ment considers it a priority project).

According to the Wall Street Journal sales in communities cater-ing to those 55 and older have grown an average of 20% in the last four years, and a 41% increase in later part of last year.

Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964 and account for about a quarter of the population) started hitting retirement age a few years ago and in the next decade will drastically drive up the number of retirees, by 2020 the share of households over 55 years old could be near to 50%. This group tends to be very active and plan to move to age-focused communities be-fore they need attention (medical and other). This is a very de-manding group, that is why it very important that the commu-nity offers a wide arrange of amenities and activities as well a concepts such as sustainability and a holistic approach to cover all their needs and wants. Covering as many of their demands as possible will add value to the project.

Product & Service

The Knowledge Hub will be located in what is a combination of an Active Adult Community (*AAC) and a Retirement Com-munity (*RC) because it is intended for residents who retire as active adults, and remain so for a number of years, but will turn into residents who require increasing supervision, aid and attention.

The Knowledge Hub will offer unique facilities for residents’ internal and external communications. State of the art hard-ware and software will provide everything necessary so resi-dents can continue professional, academic and creative activi-ties so that they can continue an active and productive lifestyle.

The facilities will have high-speed broadband, its own servers, rooms for virtual calls and presentations, rooms that provide for an easy way to research, generate and store data, information and knowledge.

The profile of the target residents is of people with a high level of education and a long professional life in which they have been able to reach a senior level position. Since life-expectancy and the quality of life have extended, people now look for a place to live in which they get premium medical care and pro-vides for sporting, cultural, culinary, entertainment and aca-demic activities in the level they are used to for them to con-tinue their active lifestyle while relying on all their wellbeing matters properly taken care for.

Although the housing inventory is up, it is still clearly a seller’s market because the demand is not yet being met. The market is hot, especially for buyers willing to spend $1 million or more on a home.

Competition Describe your competition. Develop your “unique selling proposition.”, which should be articulated as a “unique cus-tomer value” What makes you stand apart from your competi-tion? What is your competition doing better, the same or worse than you and where is the gap?

A disadvantage for this project is that most resident’s families don’t live close by, they will require an international trip to visit, so potential customers will think twice before moving to Mex-ico and they will tend to favor local or closer to home RCs. However, we have in favor that good international airports are

nearby, good highways to access and excellent tourist infrastruc-ture.

The above mentioned disadvantage is greatly reduced by some of the characteristics that make this project unique. The year-round weather is mild at this place (not too dry or humid); it is located within easy access to international places and at short or medium-range flights to the United States and Europe; the project as a whole focuses on sustainability and quality as well as a holistic concept for its segment.

The Knowledge Hub will be the first one located in a RC and specially designed according to seniors, which provides a unique customer value. There are similar facilities but all of them require for users to commute from their homes, this one will be a few meters away.

Business Strategy

The Knowledge Hub will add value, and offer a unique value proposition, to the project because it is the only RC that will provide residents with the opportunity to connect, collaborate and innovate by using the newest technology in this innovative set-up.

The KH will allow residents, high-level senior executives, to “extend their potential” by permitting them to remain active and productive after retirement.

As stated before in this document, over 90% of seniors with this level of income are Internet users and will surely not only profit, but also enjoy, by having access to facilities that will al-low internal and external communication to enable profes-sional and academic activities in spite of geographic location.

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Market Strategies The RC project considers that most of the sales will be done by realtors who specialize in retirement communities, since there are only a few who target this high income level seniors, we plan to train them regarding the Knowledge Hub. We will also develop digital advertising information to provide sellers with detailed information about the KH. We also plan to establish a contact center through which a specialist will be able to be con-tacted online to solve specific questions potential customers might have, as well as any special requests.

As part of the marketing strategy we will place ads in maga-zines targeted for high-income people and that have ads from brands such as Rolex, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier, etc.

As part of the partnership with IT companies in an innovative project, we want to obtain leverage through brands’ public rela-tions and their goal to share their own participation and achievement in a first-of-a-kind project.

Since the Mexican Government will provide funds and the pro-ject will meet their goals, they will also be a strong promotional partner by communicating to the media information regarding the project.

Budget Match strategies to budgets. What strategies can you afford? What can you do in house, what do you need to outsource?

The initial investment will be done by a Norwegian partner who will provide $40 million USD. The first phase considers the construction of the infrastructure to produce some green building material, a percentage of housing for local employees, the first group of senior housing and facilities for dining, health-care, sports and the initial stage of the Knowledge Hub.

The government of the state of Guanajuato will provide funds to establish a university for training of medical and cleaning-cooking staff as well as for any other bilingual specialized em-ployees. After the project’s staffing needs are met the university

will continue operations and the bilingual graduates will have very good work opportunities in the American and Canadian market where bilingual healthcare professionals are in high de-mand.

Marketing Goals

The Knowledge Hub will be located in the RC and in order to have access it will be necessary to be an RC resident or to be granted a VIP permission by an a resident

The first phase of the project contemplates 50 new families during the first year. Regarding the KH we consider to sell a Membership to 45% of those residents and increase to 65% for the second year with a 5% growth during the next three years until we reach 80%.

After the fifth year we consider we will have visiting or tempo-rary users who will either visit a resident or go to the KH spe-cifically to use its facilities.

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Business vision & mission

Market segment & target

Competitive environment

Offering definition Market positioning &

strategy

Marketing & selling model

Product launch Operations & logistics

Financial Analysis

Business Plan

Strategic Marketing PlanMarket Research Tactical Marketing

• Identify and profile competition

• SWOT analysis• Generic Strategy

Model• 5 Forces Model• Enterprise Position

• Alignment with RC project profile.

• A priority is customers’ need to communicate.

• Newest IT facility to satisfy need.

• Price: membership & according to required services.

• Offers differentiation, rather than low cost.

• Validated by % of profile users who use & rely on IT.

• Sales through niche realtors.

• Ads in segment magazines, TV & targeted online.

• Presence at VIP events.

• Define ROI• Brand strategy: top of

the line facilities for VIP segment.

• Partnership with IT top brands (Microsoft Google, Samsung, etc.)

• Spokesperson model.• Support from

Mexican Government top officers.

• “Extend your potential”

• Connect, collaborate, innovate

• Only RC with Knowledge Hub

• Major barrier: prove KH is easy to use and effective.

• Provide on-site training & assistance.

• Critical success factor: proper KH design & effectively communicated to customers.

• Define timeframe & milestones.

• Measure goals according to metrics in all channels.

• Measure realtors’ results.

• Identify and manage potential risks.

• ID Value Chain within RC.

• Organizational structure (internal & relationships)

• Integration with other areas at RC

• Vertical integration• In-house &

outsourcing alignment.

• Human resources: define profiles, hire & train.

• Continuous improvement.

• Goals for sustained competitive advantage.

• Financial Model: Membership, cost by service, additional costs.

• Investment: Norwegian partner, IT allies, State of Guanajuato.

• Identify target segment of customers

• Identify and confirm customers’ needs

• Define prototype customer.

• Provide state-of-the-art facilities to create, share, transfer & transmit knowledge.

• Provide necessary facilities for internal and external communication.

• Partner with the most innovative companies for connectivity, software & hardware.

• Elaborate Enterprise Architecture.

• Goals for sustained competitive advantage.

Results It will be very important to assess the quality of the KH and customer satisfaction because this will ensure not only growth but also keeping current customers in order to be successful.

Since the KH will have facilities and staff it is important to carry out continuous tests and analyze results in order to iden-tify if there is any area that needs attention.

There will be a team doing constant quality control of the net-work, hardware and software. These results will be closely moni-tored to avoid problems or fix them ASAP.

The staff working at the KH also has a special profile because most will be trained on-site and to be bilingual, so it is very im-portant to measure their performance and establish a continu-ous improvement and development program. Project leaders will use tools such as surveys, interviews and polls to assess em-ployees performance and customer satisfaction. Since the pro-ject seeks to obtain international certification, there will be a team in charge of handling all criteria that must be met for the certifications and any further training, processes and proce-dures to implement in order to meet requirements.

Prototype

According to guidelines established by institutions such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the European Commission Digital Agenda, a knowledge management project should have three aims:

1. Facilitate access to data.

2. Enable the exchange of experience and expertise.

3. Provide users with a single access point by centralizing information.

The prototype will simulate the layout and ergonomics of the Knowledge Hub in order to be able to run trials and measure users reactions according to usability criteria and to identify any problems that require solution.

The prototype will be made based on the design of Micro-soft’s Technology Centers but with the necessary adaptions in ergonomic design and simplified interphase for senior users. The prototype will be funded by Microsoft under the agreement that they will be providers of the Virtual Partici-pation Center using Hololens.

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The first fully untethered, see-through holographic computer that enables high-definition holograms to come to life in your world, seamlessly integrating with your physical places, spaces, and things. https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

Movie 2.1 Microsoft HoloLens