Day 4 · Nail Down the Problem

Today’s mission

Each group leaves with one problem worth solving — and the evidence to justify it

🔬

Analyse

Full life cycle thinking · Stakeholder analysis · Business Model Canvas.

🧭

Frame

WHY the problem matters · WHAT you might offer · WHERE it happens · WHO is involved.

⚖️

Justify

Compare existing solutions to prove your WHY, sharpen your WHAT and confirm your context.

The pitch framework

Six questions build your pitch. Today we answer four.

Comparative analysis runs through WHY, WHAT and WHERE — it is how you prove the problem is real, still unsolved, and specific to your context.

Question	What it asks	When
WHY	What problem — and why does it matter?	Today · Day 4
WHAT	What is your solution to the problem?	Today · Day 4
WHERE	In what context does it happen?	Today · Day 4
WHO	Who do you need to consider?	Today · Day 4
HOW	How do you make the product?	Later · for the pitch
IMPACT	Social · Economic · Environmental	Later · for the pitch

Analysis toolkit

Three lenses from the Entrepreneurship Framework

♻️

Full Life Cycle Thinking

Extraction of natural resources / agri production → Production → Distribution → Use → End of Use.

Feeds · WHY · WHERE

🌐

Stakeholder Analysis

Government, producers, consumers, service, knowledge and resource providers, industry, local community.

Feeds · WHO · WHERE

🧩

Business Model Canvas

Nine blocks mapped onto WHAT, HOW and WHO — integrated into the ecosystem.

Feeds · WHAT · WHO

🎯

Holistic frame — look at every problem through Social, Technical and Business eyes.

Innovative Pedagogy · how we work today

Five of the seven principles carry today’s session. The other two take over when you build your pitch.

01

Find what you care about — find purpose, touch the heart

Connects content to what students personally care about.

WHY

02

Full life cycle thinking and holistic frame

Social · Technical · Business across every stage.

WHY

03

Bring local and local use cases to the classroom

Chizhou, Anhui and world cases in the room.

WHERE

04

Peer-2-peer learning

Five groups, cross-disciplinary debate and paired critique.

GROUPS

05

Personalised mentorship

Mentoring while you work.

MENTOR

06

Immersive content and practice

Takes over when you build the pitch.

PITCH

07

Strategic communication

Headlines that reframe — for the pitch.

PITCH

Workshop flow

Six moves from a topic to a justified problem

1

Choose what you care about — a shortlist of problems WHY

2

Walk the life cycle — one hotspot stage WHY

3

Set the local context — place, sector, ecosystem WHERE

4

Map the stakeholders — stakeholder table WHO

5

Sketch a solution idea — draft value proposition WHAT

6

Test against existing solutions — comparative table + the gap COMPARE

📣

Share-out: each group presents its problem statement and the gap it found in existing solutions.

WHY · 为什么

What problems do you want to solve?

Are you addressing a pain point? What’s your purpose? Find what you care about — find purpose, touch the heart.

Every problem has three sides — each points to where you look

Problems to solve	Areas to look at	The question
Social	Stakeholders	Who is affected, who holds the power, who is left out?
Technical	Full Life Cycle Value Chain	At which stage — extraction to end of use — does it break down?
Business	Admin, Management, Finance and Team	What cost, capacity or organisation gap keeps it unsolved?

Group task: for each problem on your shortlist, note one Social, one Technical and one Business angle.

Walk the full life cycle. Circle the hotspot.

Extraction / Agri Production Production Distribution Use End of Use Closing the loop reuse / remanufacturing · reverse logistics · recycling / material recovery

1

Where does the pain point sit — which stage?

2

Does fixing it shift the burden to another stage?

3

Can the loop be closed back into the value chain?

Write it as one sentence:
“For WHO in WHERE, the problem is WHY at the life cycle stage stage. It matters because purpose.”
Write in either language — both are welcome.

Quality check before you move on

☐

It names a pain point, not a solution

☐

It sits at one life cycle stage

☐

It touches Social, Technical and Business

☐

The group genuinely cares about it

All four ticked? Move on to WHERE.

WHERE · 在哪里

In what context does the problem happen?

Bring local and local use cases to the classroom. The same problem looks different in a different place.

📍

1 · Place

Which town, region, campus or community? Who lives and works there?

🏭

2 · Sector

Agri / Food · Textile · Packaging · Electricity · Electronics · Energy · Construction.

🧺

3 · Ecosystem

What is already there — policy and funding, infrastructure / accelerators / STP, R&I institutions, supply chain and market, human resources and education?

🚧

4 · Constraints

Which local conditions — cost, skills, infrastructure, culture — make existing solutions fail here?

Output: a one-paragraph context note for your group.

Ecosystem element	What exists locally?	Helps or blocks?
Policy / Funding
Infrastructure / Accelerator / STP
R&I Institutions
Supply Chain & Market
Human Resources / Education
Investor

Worksheet · fill in during Sprint 2.

WHO · 有谁

Who do you need to consider? Start with the ecosystem.

Government Producer Consumer Service Provider Industry Knowledge Provider Resource Provider Educator Researcher Local Community

Also on the life cycle: Recyclers · NGOs · Investors · Multi-stakeholder partnerships. For each one, ask what they exchange — monetary or non-monetary value.

Stakeholder	Life cycle stage	Role in the problem	Pain / gain	Value exchanged	Influence
Consumer / user
Producer
Government
Knowledge / resource provider
Local community

Value exchanged: monetary / non-monetary · Influence: high / medium / low · Add rows for any other stakeholder you find.

Turn stakeholders into four canvas blocks

🤝

Key Partners

Who must work with you to make it happen? Government / leader · resource provider · knowledge provider · producers · distributor · user / team.

WHO

👥

Customer Segments

Who feels the pain most — and who pays?

WHO

💬

Customer Relationship

How do you reach and keep their trust?

WHO

🧠

Team

Which skills does your group bring — and which are missing? Mindset, knowledge, skills.

WHO

WHAT · 是什么

What is your solution to the problem?

Today a first sketch is enough. Two canvas blocks carry it: Value Propositions and Key Resources. Then test it: comparative analysis and competitive analysis.

Business Model Canvas block	Maps to	Today?
Value Propositions	WHAT	Yes — fill today
Key Resources	WHAT	Yes — fill today
Key Partners	WHO	Yes — fill today
Customer Segments	WHO	Yes — fill today
Customer Relationship	WHO	Yes — fill today
Key Activities	HOW	Later · with the pitch
Channel	HOW	Later · with the pitch
Cost Structure	HOW	Later · with the pitch
Revenue Stream	HOW	Later · with the pitch

Today — fill the solid blocks only. Dashed HOW blocks come with the pitch.

Comparative analysis · 比较分析

What already exists — and where does it fall short?

Criteria	Existing solution A	Existing solution B	Existing solution C	Our idea
Who it serves · WHO
Where it works · WHERE
Life cycle stage covered
Strengths
Gaps / limitations
Social · Technical · Business fit

WHY

The problem is real — and still unsolved

Existing solutions leave a gap, or do not reach the people who feel the pain.

WHAT

Our idea fills that gap better

Name the one row in your table where the idea clearly wins.

WHERE

It fits this context

Explain why solutions that work elsewhere do not transfer here.

🔄

If no gap appears — reframe the WHY or narrow the WHERE, then compare again.

Mentoring board · before you leave today

Five groups · four questions · one problem each

Group	WHY · problem	WHERE · context	WHO · key stakeholders	WHAT · idea + gap
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5

WHY

One-sentence problem statement

Pain point · one life cycle stage · Social · Technical · Business.

WHERE

Local context note + ecosystem table

Place, sector, ecosystem, constraints.

WHO

Stakeholder worksheet

Roles, pain / gain, value exchanged, influence.

WHAT

Idea + comparative table

The row where your idea clearly wins.

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