Mall of Innovation :

There are no less than 110 malls in Metro Manila alone not including supermarkets such as Shop Wise and S&R  ! This figure includes super malls like SM megamall and tiangge (flea market stalls) malls such as Divisoria. Adding all the floor space of all SM malls of the Metro Manila we will have approximately 5,166,336 sqm and that is only with SM Malls ! Taking into account every single mall in Metro Manila we would get to around 10,000,000 sqm of floor space which would equate to roughly 1 sqm per person in Metro Manila.

In the Philippines the mall and retail industry comprise nearly 11% of GNP, and 33% of the entire service sector, which is HUGE ! The malls also represent the consumeristic nature of Philippine Society, a buying nation. In fact, it is precisely this reason why effect of the financial meltdown in the United States did not affect us that much. The power of the mall is here to stay in our culture for many more years. But what are other uses of Malls other than centers of consumerism ? can malls also be a catalyst for value creation other than shopping, movies and eating ? I believe so !

The idea is to create a Mall of Innovation or even Malls of Innovation ! Creating a hotbed of innovation by placing empowered, passionate and innovative people under one roof creating an environment of innovation and creativity.

Vision of the Mall :

Mall hours : 24/7 because Innovation doesn’t rest (Midnight jolts of energy and passion ? the Mall of Innovation is open!)

The Mall of Innovation is just like any other mall, big, spacious, bright and clean. The major difference is that instead of retail outlets there are workshops/offices/concept shops/concept restaurants. There are tables and chairs everywhere. Rolling whiteboards are a common site. Toys are littered throughout the mall to foster creativity. Healthy restaurants and fast food stores litter the Mall to provide healthy nourishment. There are countless meeting rooms from open air, closed, and possibly even under water.

Stores are workshop stores, people can see what you are doing and drop by to ask how you are doing. Friends pass by and cheers up their co-innovator. People looking for inspiration, just walked around the mall until the walk turned into a jog and finally into a mad dash to create. If a industrial designer on the first floor needs to know something about certain materials for his new LED lamp or if the design would work, he would take an escalator to the 4th floor where his fabricator friend work.

Employees of the office next door, comes by and shares some cookies. You talk about a new book, and by the conversation is over all of you have new products you can’t wait to bring to market.

Investors come visit, checks with the concierge and tells them that they are looking to invest their money in something. The concierge gives them business plans ready to be funded. The investors takes them and sits on one of the sofas and browses through them while drinking coffee. By the end of the day, a few million pesos has been invested a new company is born.

This is the Mall of Innovation.