Additionality

Larry Page uses the term ‘additionality’ to describe what Google does.

Additionality is an economics term which is used to describe whether an intervention will cause an outcome, or whether the outcome would have happened irrespectively.

An example with Google is their project to provide internet to the remaining two thirds of the planet using balloons. Nobody else was doing this, so Google’s intervention had ‘high additionality’.

It can be used as a measure for impact in the world.