Challenges, Assets & Opportunities

Challenges–Assets–Opportunities is a method that aims to help you work with others, or independently, to frame and transform complex, multidimensional challenges into ideas. It is an ideation method—a method for generating multiple concept ideas that respond to the root causes of challenges, while also identifying ideas that are actionable (feasible) because they are grounded in existing, accessible assets.

You begin by mapping challenges and identifying their root causes. You then identify assets: these can be any observed features, characteristics, or existing resources—whether physical, technological, social, human, economic, or environmental—that could play a positive role in addressing a challenge. By combining challenges and assets, you explore new ideas that respond to identified challenges while being supported by existing assets.