Return On Lives (ROL)
The First Metric That Measures What Truly Matters in Innovation
Return on Lives (ROL): Measuring Innovation's True ImpactROL is the first rigorous metric that measures how investment dollars translate into actual improvements in human lives, environmental health, and future wellbeing.
The Problem: Traditional metrics reward harmful innovations (AI data centers displacing water access, job automation without retraining) while overlooking life-improving solutions. Even impact investors lack standardized ways to measure real-world outcomes.
The Solution: ROL quantifies innovation impact using the formula:ROL = (Lives Supported – Lives Displaced) ÷ InvestmentThis yields a standardized score (lives per €1 million invested) enabling direct comparison across all innovations.
ROL = (Lives Supported – Lives Displaced) ÷ InvestmentStandardized score: lives supported per unit of investment(e.g., lives per €1 million)
"Because the question isn't whether we can afford to measure Return on Lives—it's whether we can afford not to." - Earth05