“2024 was a year of careful growth, change, and team-wide thought leadership. As I enter my 10th year at Orange Sparkle Ball, this past year stands out as notably different. We have evolved from solely innovating alongside our clients into incubating some long dreamed about concepts for ourselves. Incorporating decades of project learnings, piloting new technology, and cultivating a deep understanding of the ecosystems and people that drive true innovation, we have applied our growing body of knowledge to launching several internal initiatives that put us at the forefront of innovation. We have some exciting things lined up for 2025 that we can’t wait to share!”

“Extensive piloting and testing with autonomous technologies enabled us to design an autonomous pickup and delivery platform to drive change in the use of micromobility solutions. By addressing real-world challenges, we investigated how technology can seamlessly integrate into daily operations while influencing broader systemic evolution. This project highlights the importance of adaptability, collaboration, and forward-thinking in shaping the future of transportation and innovation. This understanding is the perfect validation of our Innovation Stack framework.”

“As we piloted autonomous robotic pickup in Detroit, our goal was always to transition to a full-fledged service offering, which we’ve now launched as Penny Pickup. To ensure the service’s success, we’ve strategically prioritized building strong partnerships within the Detroit community, collaborating with local organizations, neighborhood associations, and tech startups that could become long-term robotics vendors. We’ve also worked closely with the City of Detroit to secure additional permits, expanding our serviceable area. In parallel, we’ve engaged local businesses to better understand material processing needs and commercial pickup opportunities, while collecting valuable community feedback to refine the service.”

“Coaching a Leaders Program focused on inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems revealed the transformative power of fostering these ecosystems to drive tech-enabled economic growth. We were able to empower leaders with the tools and mindset to champion diversity, we witnessed how innovation thrives when opportunities are accessible to all. This experience underscored the importance of collaboration and inclusion in shaping sustainable and impactful regional development. By utilizing strategies and methodologies that we have designed internally we can demonstrate how adaptable, forward-thinking, and innovative influencing our team is”

“In 2024, I had the chance to work with some amazing people both inside and outside of OSB, especially on multiple network analysis projects that led to several papers being accepted at the Sunbelt Conference. This was a whole new area for me, and I got to dive deep into network analysis and academic research, even contributing as a co-author. What I learned has not only expanded my understanding and appreciation for academic work but also showed me how to apply these insights in the real world. Moving forward, I am excited to use these learnings to shape my thinking around ecosystems and networks in future projects”

“Through Social Network Analysis, we uncover the intricate dynamics of innovation and mobility ecosystems, revealing valuable connections and influence patterns. By transforming these insights into actionable strategies, we empower stakeholders to actively shape and optimize the ecosystem for sustained growth and impact. These learnings can be applied to our strategies for future projects.”

“In 2024, I learned a lot about the value of measuring a community, not just mapping one. This year, we worked closely with our partner at the Social Innovation Labs at KU on many projects, including our ongoing Ecosystems Designed for Change (EDC) series. We advanced and evolved our understanding and techniques in our approach to how we look at networks, how we measure them, and what that can mean for projects of many scales. These new approaches will inform how I develop the evaluation plans for the exciting upcoming projects in 2025, and I look forward to further discussing our approach in future issues of the (EDC) series.”

“Since joining Orange Sparkle Ball in 2021, I’ve led pilots and helped to build a pilot program focused on testing autonomous robotic delivery technologies, including ground robots, vehicles, and drones. One pilot program, which spanned four years, concluded at the end of 2024, and I’ve been leading the creation of the business case to present the outcomes to client leadership. Wrapping up this dense, multi-year initiative has involved extensive research, consolidating metrics from various pilots, and synthesizing insights to present a cohesive narrative. The key takeaway for me has been the importance of intentionality when building a pilot program, ensuring that pilot learnings can be aggregated, ladder up to a program level, and tell a cohesive story.”

“I learned a lot about aligning multiple stakeholders through the pilot ideation and development processes. Even after a concrete plan is made, getting everyone logistically aligned and keeping everyone on the same page is critical to getting a pilot off the ground. Complexity increases exponentially with the number of stakeholders involved and striking the right balance between effective coordination and the value of incorporating diverse perspectives is a challenge I’m continuing to understand.”

“As we continue to refine our approach to innovation research, in 2024 we took a fresh approach to analyzing industry specific trends. The feedback I received during this project was incredibly helpful in refining the final approach, which ultimately led to more opportunities for ongoing research. This experience really highlighted how important clear communication and flexibility are when collaborating with both colleagues and clients. Moving forward, I plan to continue building these skills to better manage projects and foster stronger relationships with clients and teammates. ”

“Because so much of our work is about making change, we are constantly scanning across industries, technologies, and countries to understand how people are tackling similar problems. This broad focus means we are looking for successful strategies and approaches to provide learnings for our work. In 2024, we also focused on developing novel data-driven analysis techniques to forecast technology and ecosystem hub trends, as well as understand growth patterns overall.
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“This past year, we furthered our work in the Detroit mobility sector, continuing our network analysis of the ecosystem surrounding the incredible work happening there. We had the opportunity to track the changes over the last year and a half and intervene in the network directly by bringing new partnerships together and sparking new, innovative programs. Through this experience, I have learned so much about the necessity of having a diverse, complex network and the impact that a single, influential member of a community can have. At Orange Sparkle Ball, ecosystem and cross-sectoral thinking is a key part of our approach, and our network work in Detroit this past year has demonstrated exactly why that is so important.”

“In 2024, we worked in many innovation ecosystems - with teams launching new initiatives, with ecosystem builders working to create a sense of shared purpose, with practitioners focused on connecting their work broadly across the ecosystem and with corporates exploring external solutions. I was consistently reminded that key to successful ecosystem growth is developing multi-sector partnerships where incentives are aligned for mutual benefit. Ecosystems don’t flourish in silos.”

“In early 2024, we received a grant from the State of Michigan to run a series of pilots testing the autonomous robotic pickup of various materials for sustainable end-of-life processing. This work leveraged my past experience running technology pilots for clients, but leading a grant-funded initiative was a new challenge that came with a learning curve. Beyond managing the project’s budget, milestones, and deliverables, I also had to engage a diverse set of stakeholders, including government agencies for permits, local businesses for partnerships, and community members for participation. This experience deepened my understanding of the complexities involved in testing innovative solutions in real-world settings.”

“Orange Sparkle Ball runs a lot of pilots, across technologies and sectors. I, however, am typically on the research and policy side of projects. This year, I expanded my skillset and partnered with colleagues to design a series of increasingly more complex pilots that sit at the intersection of public health and technology. This approach to iterative pilot design not only scales into a cohesive platform, but also builds on each other to deepen our understanding of the problem they aim to solve.”

“For several members of the OSB team, including myself, staying connected to the Georgia Tech School of Industrial Design through our friend Steve Chininis and the Make 10 entrepreneurial program has been a privilege. Make 10 is a class for entrepreneurs or those interested in entrepreneurship that tasks students with developing and manufacturing their own product with the goal of making and selling 10 units. We typically consult on these products as they’re in development and then are allowed the honor of choosing several for entrepreneurial awards. I’m consistently impressed with the creativity and craftsmanship produced by these student entrepreneurs! ”

“At Orange Sparkle Ball we foster strong relationships - so much so that we sometimes struggle to put a title to the people, companies, cities, and startups that enable our work and continuously help our thinking grow. Clients, partners, stakeholders, community, supportive ecosystem...you know who you are! We create lasting relationships with people in our network and believe in the power of true collaboration, entering into relationships with the sole purpose of helping advance partners’ goals and initiatives. We have found that rising the tide together is much more powerful than working in silos. In 2024 we expanded our network into new cities, industries, sectors, and if you are along for the ride, we appreciate all you do with us.”