Communication plays a key role in helping innovative, world-changing ideas start to come to fruition in a meaningful way. … [+]
World hunger ranks second on the United Nations’ top list of Sustainable Development Goals. With more than 600 million people worldwide living in food poverty, the UN’s youth-led World Food Forum has come one step closer to closing the global hunger gap through a creative collaboration with Narratize, a storytelling AI platform for tech research teams. The partnership enables researchers around the world to draw attention and funding to innovative solutions to end hunger.
A powerful partnership
The World Food Forum (WFF) was launched in 2021 as a youth-led, independent global partner network facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with the goal of ending world hunger by the end of the decade.
One way they do this is by supporting the next generation of researchers with original ideas that challenge traditional approaches, and a big part of their efforts is their annual Transformative Research Challenge (TRC), which calls for open submissions of groundbreaking ideas.
The problem is that innovative ideas often remain stuck in research because they are so innovative that they are difficult to express. Equally difficult is distilling vast amounts of research data into a concise presentation that will attract widespread attention and, ultimately, funding.
WFF began collaborating with Katie Trout Taylor, who earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Purdue University, in 2023. At the time, Taylor was in the midst of launching a new tech startup called Narratize, which gives researchers access to an AI platform focused on translating research insights into impactful communications.
Taylor was excited about the possibility.
“Every day we learn that solutions to major societal challenges are out there, and we can accelerate those solutions through effective communication. We knew that using Narratize for the Transformation Research Challenge would help researchers more effectively market their ideas and improve their chances of receiving funding,” Taylor said in a recent phone conversation.
Simplify your message
More than 250 research teams (nearly half of those that participated) chose to use Narratize to help prepare their 2023 submissions. Taylor explains, “Groups that participated in the Transformational Research Challenge used Narratize to help with tasks like adding key, precise phrases to their final scripts, reducing the amount of jargon in their submissions, and simplifying their messages to be compelling and easy to understand.”
The impact is undeniable: Five of the six winners used Narratize to prepare their submission materials. Winning projects co-written with Narratize include:
- The first and only study on food waste in Latin America
- A framework for integrating indigenous science into Kenya’s zoonotic disease prevention policy.
- A biotechnology company that uses waste palm kernel meal to produce prebiotics that boost the immunity of chickens, a key part of Indonesia’s food system.
Claudia Burgos, a member of the Honduras-based research initiative CATIE, is proud that her group won the Food Waste category. Her team was delighted to have the opportunity to create their presentation using Narratize.
“The AI has generated a document that is written in simple language, but with a bit of science thrown in. It’s easy to read. A layperson will be able to understand it, but senior researchers will also be able to understand what it’s talking about,” she said in a recent video interview. “Even people who don’t know anything about the subject will understand the subject when they read it, and experts in the field will be fascinated.”
The impact of clear communication
The World Food Forum’s partnership with Narratize reflects the power of clear communication, especially in the fields of science and health, where more than 70% of funding applications fail.
Companies often struggle to communicate their messages and strike a balance between getting the right message across to both experts and non-experts. Messages get confused and lost across teams and departments. Great ideas and efforts get undermined as organizations struggle to communicate their intentions and priorities to team members and external stakeholders.
In my conversation with me, Taylor expanded on this dilemma, saying, “When companies are applying for funding or pitching their idea, they need to know their message through and communicate it well to give themselves the best chance of success. For many organizations, clear communication is a challenge, especially when it needs to be implemented across different areas of the organization.”
Conclusion
The conclusion?
Communicating your ideas effectively is essential to getting funding for your innovative, world-changing ideas. Having a great idea is often not enough. Sometimes you need help understanding the most important elements of your message to achieve your communications goals.