Though the Covid-19 pandemic has been a truly awful event, some nuggets of positivity have emerged. Indeed, the members of our Emergent Alliance team – now so united – would otherwise have represented a motley crew of organizations, large and small, who would have been competing against one another. We have suppressed those instincts in the pursuit of public service, and that is genuinely amazing.
As we bed into 2021, we wanted to take a moment to toast our achievements so far. After all, they represent a small slice of the common humanity that 2020 helped us to discover.
Highlight the Work of Our Members
There are some incredibly talented folks volunteering time, data, and technology on a variety of challenge statements within the Alliance. We would like them and their respective organizations to have more recognition in the public sphere.
We intend to use the marketing and public relations resources of the Alliance to expose their excellent work to a larger audience.
Prove Our Value to The Public
There have been several pieces of analysis, such as the Regional Risk Pulse Index Forecasting & Simulation (RRPI), Rail, Aviation, Supply Chain Resilience, Regional Skills & Redeployment, Cabinet office, PPE and others that have produced fascinating results.
However, much of that insight is not immediately apparent to those beyond a small group of Alliance members. We have directed our team to make some of these visual tools and apps available directly on the website, starting with RRPI.
Our belief is that the value of Emergent Alliance should be clear and obvious to the public. To be recognised as successful, our work must be impactful, widely available, and advance our mission to recover stronger together.
Our Continued Existence
Our organizational charter was established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is set to expire in April. We believe that the foundational work to bring several commercial organizations together, providing data for the common good, is a remarkable accomplishment. We would be dismayed to see such an Alliance disbanded, given that there is no shortage of problems in the world where our tools and talents can play a critical role. However, we must show to the public, and especially to our members, that our voluntary time is serving a real and clear purpose.
Our team is focused, and their guidance is clear, so please continue sharing your ideas and support.
Being More Creative with Fundraising
We have been surviving on the generous contributions of our members in the form of cash, time, data, expertise, and infrastructure. The Emergent Alliance would not exist without this incredible generosity, and we are deeply grateful for it.
Nevertheless, we need to consider a mix of income sources moving forward, such as grants, contracted work, licensed intellectual property, and donations from the public. We will use this funding to continue promoting the tremendous work of our members so that we can create a perpetual motion machine that attracts more volunteers, data companies, and technology providers. All while delivering tangible value to the public.
We feel incredibly optimistic about what we can achieve as an Alliance. There have been growing pains as we’ve learned to work together, but we hope that you will all recommit yourselves to the good work that lies ahead.