News From August 2022
Inaugural Tony Cowling Industry Innovation Award – Winner announced!
In March, the Tony Cowling Foundation (TCF) announced a new award in memory of industry pioneer and leader, Tony Cowling. The TCF Industry Innovation Award aims to continue Tony’s legacy recognising people whose work will help drive the future of the market research industry.
The Foundation was looking for innovations that could be widely adopted, would improve data quality and advice, and have the potential to expand the market research industry reach.
The response to the call has produced entries from throughout the world. We are pleased to announce the winner of the first TCF Innovation Award is the innovative LOCAN approach developed by Dalberg Research, an impact driven research agency headquartered in Kenya. Dalberg Research’s winning entry builds on the understanding that place is a powerful factor in shaping people’s attitudes and behaviours. Millions of location specific data points from publicly held data are combined with survey data and proprietary estimates to understand a respondent’s environment. This data allows Dalberg to understand the interaction of populations with their environment, at scale.
Most Dalberg Research clients use these insights to maximize the impact or market potential of development interventions. Other applications include detailed geo-spatial sampling, optimized control group design, advanced machine learning based estimates for un-surveyed target areas, data driven site selection, geographic expansion strategies and many more. This innovation holds significant potential in applications for public policy, civil society, and any client who is present on a large number of sites in a country!
In talking about how LOCAN came about, Dr Jasper Grosskurth, Managing Director Dalberg Research said
“We developed LOCAN, because we were as curious as our clients about the impact of small changes in the environment on the behaviour of our respondents. Then one question and one data set lead to another and another. Today, our clients love the clarity with which we tell them where to look for their next success. Our maps show them where their products will thrive, because their clients live there and the environment is just right for them.”
The Judging Committee felt this entry had some ground-breaking elements of relevance to the global research community; building out from research skillsets the concepts inherent in LOCAN broaden the scope of research into other areas in a meaningful way – using talent from adjacent disciplines and enriching research findings with secondary data which remains an important topic. Their ideas are highly transportable into many different applications and across many populations.
Commenting on the winning entry the TCF Board said
“Apart from recognising the innovation of integrating place powerfully in sample design, data mix selection and the advice delivered, we were also attracted to the potential to expand market research services more deeply into the worlds of social geographers, environmental scientists and infrastructure engineering. We are delighted Dalberg will use the Award money to fund interns to gain experience at the interface of market research and geo-spatial analysis.”
The award was open to people around the world, regardless of background or role in the industry.
Mike Kirkham, Chairman, Tony Cowling Foundation Board was delighted to see entries from 12 countries, from people with skills across all disciplines in the industry and from people in industries adjacent to traditional market research.
“We have come away from this process with our confidence in the future of the industry refreshed and our respect for the passion people in our industry show all over the world renewed.”
Above all, the winning entry reflects Tony’s values of Internationalism, Innovation and Inclusion.
The Tony Cowling Foundation Team
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