Supported by the World Bank, Bank of Georgia and GITA, the accelerator program 500 Georgia partnered with ADG to demonstrate how a design & society approach can lead to large-scale change in Georgia.

Growing a National Economy

The country of Georgia, located along the Black Sea to the south of Russia and next to Turkey, is a fast-growing nation of almost 4 Million and a GDP of over $17 Billion dollars. A former Soviet State, Georgia is now a representative democracy and has been moving closer to Europe in the last 3 decades. The country has developed immensely since it left the Soviet Union and is currently ranked 7th on the World Bank’s 2019 Global Ease of Doing Business Index – directly after the United States.

Eager to grow the country, the Georgian Government has been working with the World Bank since 1995. Along with Bank of Georgia and Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA) — a governmental entity — a partnership was formed to create Georgia’s first international accelerator in order to create jobs, bring in foreign investment, and grow the country as a startup and technology hub.

ADG was asked to be a leading partner in this accelerator in Tbilisi, the capital city, by the World Bank, Georgia’s Innovation & Technology Agency and 500 Startups. ADG is a keypartner in this project and is providing design education relevant for startups.

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Strategy: Meeting Confidentiality with Creativity

AGD jumped right in with the Ventures team to establish needs, constraints, and potential solutions. After interviewing team leaders, ADG determined high-level goals for the project:

• Clearly and realistically communicate what Bayer Ventures does—highlighting the essentials and importance of its venture design process—without sharing confidential details
• Create an engaging and aesthetically pleasing resource the Ventures team could share publicly to build awareness of its work
• Concisely demonstrate the value that Ventures brings to Bayer, and beyond

With these goals confirmed, ADG developed a solution that spanned design and strategy. If the Ventures team couldn’t speak about products in the works, ADG would apply expertise in healthcare product design to create realistic alternatives. Pairing this with a powerful visual identity, ADG could help the team convey the value of the Ventures Playbook process.

            ADG developed three alternative product designs for the next generation of healthcare innovation, following the Bayer Venture Design Playbook process.