SIX Blog

"Socially-Responsible Design's Highest Award"

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is an annual international design Challenge awarding $100,000 to support the development and implementation of a strategy that has significant potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems. It attracts bold, visionary, tangible initiatives focused on a well-defined need of critical importance. Winning solutions are regionally specific yet globally applicable and present a truly comprehensive, anticipatory, integrated approach to solving the world's complex problems.

Deadline is Monday, October 4, 2010 at 5pm, Eastern Standard Time

http://challenge.bfi.org/

- 24 hours
- 10 people affected by social problems
- 50 Social Inventors
- 100 new ideas on how to solve social problems

This is the recipe, when Social Development Centre SUS in Denmark is hosting the first Danish Social Invention Camp on September 1st - 2nd.

The setting is the small island of Ven, where the great inventor Tycho Brahe spent much of his time.

We look forward to telling everyone about the output of the camp!

One of SIX’s founding members, Josephine Green, (formerly Senior Director of trends and strategy at Philips) will be one of the key note speakers at Innovation in Education, 21st Century Learning in an Age of Austerity - a one-day conference exploring the models, principles and disciplines that will enable educators to rise to the challenges faced in a changing world.

In her interview with the Guardian newspaper, Josephine talks about how the 21st century will be ‘less about doing things for or to people and more about doing things with and by people themselves.’ A 21st Century education system will therefore focus more on working collectively is likely to be messier, more informal, exploratory, experimental and improvised.’

‘Times change, needs change, demand changes, education changes and radical innovation opens up the opportunity for more disruptive and game plan changes. The reality, however, is that this is very hard for educators to do in the present cultural climate. We have trapped ourselves in a managerial mindset in which everything must be pre-programmed, pre-planned and excessively managed. Accountability has replaced responsibility. This, together with an over inquisitive and persecutory press, has made us timid. We want change but we don't tolerate the process of change. We don't tolerate failure, we expect perfectionism and we get scepticism and cynicism’.

To read more about how Josephine thinks we could facilitate a self-innovating system, where the opportunities are for innovation in the 'age of austerity and how pockets of innovative practice be effectively transferred and scaled, you can view the full article here . For other recent articles on social innovation from all over the world, remember to look at teh SIX website articles section

Last months conference in Shanghai brought together mayors, developers, architects, academics and planners from across the globe to share cutting edge ideas on urban innovation as part of the World Expo 2010 and the launch of the Smart and Connected Communities Institute.

The conference explored some of the big ideas in creating cities that are physically, economically and socially sustainable, such as the role of networks, of technology, and of nurturing and growing innovation.

One of the key messages that arose was that although a good deal of progress has been made in thinking about IT infrastructures and how to lower carbon emissions from cities, thinking on social design is lagging behind.
Many of today’s developments are repeating the mistakes of the past, employing designs that are repetitive, soulless and disconnected - potentially the sink estates of the future. History has shown us that without appropriate design, design that takes account of social needs, new built environments can all too easily lead to depression and isolation for communities. And if we make it an explicit goal of cities to improve the happiness and wellbeing of their inhabitants very different design principles start to become relevant.

We have proposed what some of these principles should be (you can see my presentation here). We argue that we must be ambitious for the future, but also learn from the past, from what has and hasn’t worked – so many developments in the past looked good on paper but then failed dismally. All of the world developments are being demolished only a few decades after they were built because of poor understanding of human needs and social design. Design has to build on an understanding of how people live, and what makes them feel they belong, with the right balance of interaction and privacy, of boundaries and identities, and providing permeability through mixed communities. We also need to understand that living ecosystems are not made up of identical repetitions: design should nurture the multiplying circuits, complex edges and inter-relationships which are integral to social sustainability. Social networks should be supported, and accelerated in the early stages, alongside social circuits that provide for mutual support and create space for enterprise; incompleteness must be designed in to allow for evolution; myths, stories, and other tools that make meaning should be encouraged, using mediums from mobile applications to oral histories to link past, present and future. In creating communities that work for everyone, we also need to design in enabling infrastructures – access to smart grids for energy, which empower the citizen as well as the system. Design should allow ‘green’ behaviour to be an easy default. And underpinning all of this, we must cultivate the collaborative leadership needed to sustain a socially attractive city.

The conference saw some fascinating examples of new ways through which cities can become aware of their own connections with one another, for example showcasing other countries or cities or linking through wifi in real time. The potential was seen on the one hand through the much greater visibility of things like energy use, and at the other end of the spectrum, through the mapping of social relationships using tools like social network analysis.

A major linking theme for the conference was the aim of promoting happiness. If this is to become a goal alongside economic growth a much more serious attention to the fine grain of social relationships becomes critical – with China being one of the countries now beginning programmes to promote happiness in cities such as Zhejiang. And linked to this is one final idea I want to highlight: in promoting such a goal, how can we make cities that are not just liveable, but loveable? How can we mobilise history, sense of belonging, and the excitement of urban settings so that the cities we create in the 21st century, truly are sustainable, economic and socially attractive? This is part of the challenge we’ll be taking on in the future communities programme.

Sabanci Foundation, which aims to promote social development and social awareness among current and future generations, brought a new perspective to civil society in Turkey with the Turkey's Changemakers Project.

"Turkey's Changemakers" is a weekly TV program which aired on CNN Turk and shared the stories of 32 Changemakers who contributes to social development in Turkey. It aims to highlight the efforts of unique individuals who promote change and development in their communities and create a remarkable impact in the lives of others.

The Sabanci Foundation's main objective is to advance social and human development in Turkey, with an emphasis on women, youth and persons with disabilities. Therefore, they are supporting this project with the hope that everyone- especially youth- will realize the value of making a difference, to see these individuals as role models and to recognize that they too, can make a difference in other people's lives.

More information about Sabanci Foundation and their Changemakers can be found on their website: http://www.sabancivakfi.org/eng/programlar/fark_yaratanlar/fark_yaratanl...

You can also check out Turkey's Changemakers on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Turkeys-Changemakers/186204046410?ref=sear... . You are most welcome to share your own inspirational stories on their page!

SIX was very pleased to have Sarah Schulman from InWithFor visiting our office this week. InWithFor works together with The Australian Center for Social Innovation (TACSI) to create innovative solutions to solve social issues. InWithFor are using new and innovative methods to meet the needs of the society. One of these are backwards problemsolving. See the video of Sarah introducing InWithFor and the way they work to solve social problems here: http://www.vimeo.com/13543367

You might also be interested in Sarah's more in depth explanation of their methods and tools and what it means to work backwards in her closing keynote speech at this years IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion in Geneva. See her speech here: http://www.inwithfor.org/2010/07/keynoteiuhpe/#start

Also check out the InWithFor website for more information: http://www.inwithfor.org/

What links a boat with a space for ideation that has coloured padded walls like some kind of creative version of the attic for the mad woman in Jane Eyre; a piece of industrial land,  unused since it became redundant as a tyre factory 10 years ago; and an old fisherman’s house full of machines, electronics and jigsaws for prototyping – apart from the fact that all three  are based in Bilbao in the Basque country?

The answer is that together, they make up the home of the first attempt in the world to create a Social Silicon Valley, a vibrant and unique industrial park for social businesses, NGOs and co-operatives committed to tackling social problems in Bilbao.   

I have just returned from an energising a few days in Bilbao during which I visited the Social Innovation Park, the concept of  SIX partners DenokInn - the Basque Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and New Business Development. Under their leadership,  private companies and banks, local and regional government, and public sector organisations have begun to collaborate  with local communities  to  identify  problems, ‘grow’  ideas ,  develop  new ways to tackle them  and  pilot potential solutions and organisations to improve the way in which  people live.

 The idea for the Social Innovation Park came about at the first Social Innovation eXchange (SIX) summer school , the annual global gathering of cross sector social innovators 3 years ago, in San Sebastian, the beautiful resort a few kilometres up the Basque coast. Carlos Fernández Isoird, Juantxu Martin and Iñigo Urkidi were instrumental in the success of the Innovation and Knowledge unit (MIK) at Mondragón, the world’s largest cooperative group, and are all founding partners of SIX. These three modern musketeers came up with the idea of creating the world’s first ‘Social Silicon Valley’, but unlike the original Silicon Valley where the best minds in technology were driven by profits, theirs was a social purpose. 

Understanding something about Bilbao and the Basque traditions make it easier to comprehend why the Park is situated where it is, what it does, and why it is working so well. Basque people are renown for their creativity and inventiveness.  Bilbao was one of the few international cities which overcame the steel and shipbuilding crisis of the 80s, transforming itself into a new economy employing 100,000 workers around the globe. Its vibrant economy has always been coupled with a deep concern for social problems, reflected for example in the large number of cooperatives in the region (hundreds are still active and new co-ops appear all the time).

Bilbao is the economic powerhouse of the Basque country and Northern Spain. The city thrives from its large and still growing port. Although regeneration projects such as the Norman Foster designed Metro and Frank Gehry’s stunning Guggenheim Museum underline an attempt to shift in focus to the service sector, Bilbao still feels like an industrial city and is proud of its industrial heritage.

 In Britain, social innovation tends to be associated more with the service sector, for instance through new ways of engaging citizens in designing services, or changes in the provision of education. In Bilbao, Carlos and his partners are building on this city’s tradition of innovation, and its deep social approach, but they are innovating within the industrial context. The city and the surrounding area are buzzing.  DenokInn are linking hubs and clusters of social innovations, and are determined to have a joined up social innovation system, where it is easy to find the next place and resource to help you as your idea develops. 

Led by Gorka Espiau Idoiaga, the most recent addition to the DenokInn team, my tour began at the largest, most physically ambitious part of the Park – the physical space where the in-house innovation team are located and provide innovation support to some of the 50 NGOs and small enterprises which will be based there.  This is the centre of the Park, which will encourage both new and established businesses to locate and work with others and do things differently, with the help of the in-house innovation team.     

We then moved down the estuary to the small town of Zierbana., located adjacent to the port of Bilbao, where, another large piece of land has been committed to the project. We then passed through an impressive array of projects and hubs across the city and surrounding area and ended our tour at the factory of the only major motor sport team of the Basque country, Epsilon Euskadi, where DenokInn’s biggest project is being developed. The ‘city car’ is a new approach to mobility on demand and the way we interact with our cities – this fully electric car, being developed in collaboration with MIT, personifies everything DenokInn is about. It is a fully electric automobile designed to meet the demand for enclosed personal mobility in the cleanest and most economical way possible.

We met the charismatic Mayor Marcelino Elorza  of the town by the docks. He looks more like a movie star than a Mayor. Moving on we met Deputy Director General of BBK Bank, the second biggest bank in the Basque region which describes itself as a socially conscious institution ( they invest €100m annually in Bilbao’s third sector and community services, dwarfing the contributions of most global banks). He talks more like an entrepreneur than a banker.

People in business, the public sector and the third sector in Bilbao share a strong commitment. They do not deny that Bilbao shares many of the problems of growing urban areas, but they are determined to make their city a better place to live. And they practice what they preach – meaningful collaboration and whole system thinking.

An inspirational person is often cited as the reason socially innovative projects grow, spread and succeed. But what are the reasons behind a whole city succeeding? There is no doubt that without the vision passion and energy of Carlos and his colleagues at DenokInn, there would be no Social Innovation Park, but having briefly experienced the Basque region and the way of doing things over the last two days, it would be hard to ignore the Basque culture and mindset as critical parts of this equation. I’m keen to continue to work with them, and follow their progress. The whole team are passionate and focussed in the way they approach their task and if anyone can transform a whole city, the DenokInn team have a good head start.

SIX will report its progress and continue to provide input.                  

The Young Foundation and the Center for American Progress have published two reports written by Young Foundation Director Geoff Mulgan and Jitinder Kohli, Senior Fellow at the Centre for American Progress.

* Capital Ideas: How to generate innovation in the public sector

* Scaling New Heights: How to Spot Small Successes in the Public Sector and Make Them Big

Launched at an event with Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and John Podesta, one of Obama's key advisers and President of the Center for American Progress, the reports argue that innovation is essential for the public sector. In the private sector innovation is estimated to contribute some 85% of US productivity gains, yet the public sector is much less impressive. However, innovation here is increasingly needed - to tackle new challenges such as climate change and obesity or to make federal funding go further.

The key is to build a system to promote innovation in the public sector - that requires policies and investment, not just talk.

At the level of government as a whole, in Capital Ideas: How to generate innovation in the public sector the authors recommend the following:

* Identify priority fields for innovation: The government must identify the fields of public action where innovation is most needed -such as climate change, aging or schooling.

* Finance innovation: We propose a broad target that at least 1 percent of agency budgets should be used to develop, test, and scale up new and better ways of doing things in the public sector. This money should be spent in a similar manner to private sector investors - small amounts of money for early stage ideas with a small chance of success, but a high impact if they succeed. And then larger amounts of money for projects that are able to prove their potential or impact.

* Change the culture: The need to recruit large numbers of federal employees over the next few years provides an opportunity to change federal employees' skill set. Future federal employees need to be clear that they should be constantly looking for better ways to accomplish government goals.

The report points out that scaling is hard in public sector because:

* Unlike commercial markets, there is no automatic sorting mechanism for the most promising innovations. It's hard to know what really works and what does not in social settings without an "invisible hand" to help great innovations rise to the top.

* Successful small-scale social innovations receive little support scale and grow. This is in marked contrast to the private sector where investors work to help innovations succeed. The need for support is arguably even greater in social settings, but social innovations struggle to access it.

* Current funding models for social innovations are inadequate. Government funding responds slowly to new innovations; it is often stovepiped and aimed at projects with very specific characteristics, even though the most effective social innovations may well tackle issues across the neat boundaries of programs. And government is a passive and risk averse funder.

Scaling New Heights: How to Spot Small Successes in the Public Sector and Make Them Big sets out a model for the public sector to improve scaling, specifically recommending :

* Developing markets for social outcomes. Focusing government funding programs on delivering outcomes-such as reducing crime rather than building prisons and preventing disease rather than providing health care.

* Designing funding models that encourage scaling. Developing new funding models-such as stage-gate investment funds, loans, or outcome based finance-to support innovative models through successive stages of development and growth.

* Shaping the knowledge field to support what works. Developing institutions, or "Institutes for Effective Innovations," to advise the government and other funders on what works and what models are most cost-effective in key areas of public policy and service delivery. Organizing and orchestrating this data is the single most important step that the federal government could take to help the spread of good ideas.

* Investing in social innovation mentors. Building a new network of social innovation mentors with a wide range of innovation skills. These mentors would work with social entrepreneurs when designing and developing new models and support them through the process of organizational growth and scaling.

Find the two articles here: http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org/publicationsarticles

­‐ 1st Safari aimed at social innovation

­‐ 27 European participants with an impressive track record on social
innovation and social entrepreneurship from over 7 different countries

­‐ 5 local partners: the Amsterdam EYE Film Museum, IJburg entrepreneurs,
Weekendschool, Mixacademy and the Center for Youth and Family Care.

­‐ 5 on-the-spot problems, projects & prototyped solutions

­‐ A one-week-pressure-cooker experience

­‐ Final public event to pitch & present solutions and lessons learned

­‐ 27 people / over 7 countries / 5 days / 5 partners / 1 public event

Two hours before the World Cup final match starts on July 11th Dutch think tank
Kennisland welcomes an international group of social innovators at their office in
the center of Amsterdam.

27 people with an impressive track record in social innovation and social
entrepreneurship will invest one full week into making Dutch society smarter. They
work in ngo’s, multinationals, social startups as artists, consultants, movers and
shapers. Participants come from Spain, Norway, UK, Belgium, Russia, Czech
Republic, Germany and the Netherlands.

During the 5 program the participants will design prototypes and solutions for real
life challenges in the field of education, youth care, urban planning, creative
industry and social media.

On Friday 16th July from 17:30 the participants will present the prototypes and
solutions for social innovation during a final public event.

Be inspired and join in from 17:30 at Kennisland (Keizersgracht 174),
Amsterdam

Information / program/ registration closing event:
www.kennisland.nl/nl/safari

Follow the Safari at:
Twitter: @socialsafari

If you’ve heard about Young Foundations pioneering Social Entrepreneur in Residence (SEiR) initiative – but wondered what it is, how it works, and the key ingredients to success…. read on to hear more:

As the UK’s first SEiR, I was employed by Young Foundation in May 2009. As part of a trailblazing and unique partnership, NHS Birmingham East and North, a dynamic public sector organisation, hosts a SEiR to inject new insights, skills and expertise. The NHS I am hosted by is responsible for improving the health and wellbeing of the 440,000 people it serves investing around £600m per annum to meet the needs of a diverse population.

In the first 12 months I have supported two social enterprises to secure contracts worth £240,000. Both enterprises focus on increasing engagement in physical activity. Start Again provides young people at risk or experiencing mental ill health with a tailored football coaching service to increase individuals employment prospects. The second enterprise is Saheli, providing culturally sensitive and personalised gym facilities and adventure pursuits for women, run by women.

Young Foundation have a clear vision to grow the network of SEiR’s and Phil Tulba, has recently taken up residency in NHS Kingston, in partnership with the local authority and third sector support agency. The key deliverables of any SEiR is to scout, support and scale innovative, creative, sustainable and scalable ventures to improve health outcomes.

There are a number of similarities between NHS Birmingham East and North and NHS Kingston:
1. Both PCTs, face challenges in serving large and diverse communities. To tackle health inequalities – the PCTs are leaders in their fields embracing new ways of working seeking audacious, bold and imaginative solutions
2. The PCTs buck public sector trends, by regularly taking a step back to review what works well, what needs to be stopped and what can be done differently

The above factors provide fertile ground for a SEiR to enter. However a key factor to success is senior level buy in, where support, endorsement and a champion at the top of the organisation, i.e. CEO level, communicates a clear message: that innovation and social enterprise is of strategic importance.

However, challenges do arise. Particular sticking points, for me as the SEiR at NHS Birmingham East and North include:
• Grasping the complexities of how the NHS operates
• The tension in fusing the process and practices of a PCT with the flair and pace of social venturing at Young Foundation
• The impending impact of local and national budget cuts and mergers
• Limited access to in-house expertise of contract managers and health economists

However, what I have enjoyed most about the opportunity afford to her as a SEiR, is the freedom and flexibility to shape the approach I take to meet my objectives. Secondly, the last 12 months has been an extremely steep learning curve, but I firmly believe I will continue to learn and hope to share insights as widely as possible.

Going forward both SEiR’s are scouting for new ideas, entrepreneurs and ventures to pilot ideas in the areas of Birmingham and/ or Kingston UK – contact the Phil or I, if you would like to discuss your idea further! Likewise the SEiR programme can work in any organisation - if you would like to explore the opportunity of hosting the next SEiR contact any member of the Health Launchpad Team at Young Foundation.

Please find more information at: http://www.youngfoundation.org/, http://www.saheli.co.uk/ and http://www.start-again.co.uk/.

Its been a really exciting few months for social innovation at a European level and SIX is delighted to be a part of this discussion. 2010's first landmark in the social innovation story came form SIX Chair, Diogo, and the business panel he led, as part of the preparation do a new European Innovation Policy. Diogo has been a champion for the cause of social innovation for many years, and his input to the European debate has been instrumental in the shift towards an integrating innovation strategy. which recognises the contribution all innovation in all sectors, including social innovation, can make to solve some of the world’s most urgent societal challenges. 

The Business panel on the future of EU innovation policy, called for, among other things, the broadening of the concept of innovation to include business and social innovation. The final report, Reinventing Europe through Innovation: From a knowledge society to an innovation society, can be downloaded here.

Then, in January 2010, SIX was commissioned by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors ( BEPA) at the European Commission to conduct a study on Social Innovation in Europe – this available to read now here. As the report demonstrates, there is no shortage of social innovations in Europe involving many actors and agencies, and spanning diverse fields, from the co design of public service to new kinds of finance to support entrepreneurs.

Despite this, the field of social innovation has yet to mature enough to be up to the multitude of presenting social challenges. In April this year, SIX built on this work by hosting a TelePresence discussion with representatives from all sectors in London, Madrid, Brussels, Paris and Berlin. We agreed that in order to move from its current state of fragmented good ideas, to a place where social innovations are making a more consistent, more efficient impact across all areas of need, successful social innovations must be more visible in Europe.

As a result, SIX is proud to be working with The European Commission and Euclid network to launch ‘This is European Social Innovation - a call for inspiring stories.

Geoff Mulgan on highlighting 10 Social Innovation initiatives from SIX on Vimeo.

This is European Social Innovation will showcase 10 of the most promising social innovation projects across Europe. We want to highlight 10 large scale successful examples of socially innovative initiatives, with the aim of raising the profile of social innovation across Europe and creating an impact beyond the established social innovation community. The chose initiatives will be featured in a publication from the European Commission later in the year. For more information and details of how to submit your project, please see here

Tell us your story now!

Geoff Mulgan on highlighting 10 Social Innovation initiatives from SIX on Vimeo.

On 7 June, SIX hosted a discussion between London, Mumbai, Beijing, Seoul and Sydney exploring how how young people can use digital technologies as tools for taking the lead and driving social innovation. Hiran Adhia, one of the young people involved in the Youth LEadership team at the Young Foundation attended the event can be found introducing the session below, but also giving some of his relfections on the discussion.

A report with details of our discussion can be found here and the next publication from the Youth of Today team in the UK will be published shortly.

Have a look at the video and some of the examples of excitign projects and tell us what is happening in your country...

If you haven't already applied for the Kennisland Social Innovation Safari, the deadline is on the 15th of June 2010. Kennisland Social Innovation Safari provides a pressure-cooker-inspiration experience where selected participants spend five days in and around social innovation issues. During its ten years of existence, Kennisland has discovered a strategy to strengthen the knowledge society by creating interventions that spur social innovation. During the Safari Week you will work together with other pioneers and the Kennisland team to develop and prototype interventions that reinforce the knowledge society. In small teams you will be working on real innovation questions provided by real clients. These clients come from the domains in which Kennisland operates: the fields of education, government, heritage, and social media. You will share and receive input provided by the Kennisland team and other experts in our network. You will spend 24 hours prototyping your ideas and will be pitching them at a public event. The most innovative results have a chance of being incubated or promoted beyond the Safari Week.

The entire Safari Week will take place at the beautiful Kennisland offices in the historical Jordaan area of Amsterdam on Keizersgracht 174. The program will be free of charge for those selected, and lodging will kindly be offered by Kennisland’s staff and wider network. In order to pay for expenses such as food, materials and other treats a contribution of 250 euro per selected person will be asked. The event will be held in English and Dutch.

Send in your application to Kennisland through video, text, music or whatever your favorite medium is. Tell them which social dream you would like to realise during the Amsterdam Kennisland Social Innovation Safari Week. What is your answer to making Holland / the world a smarter place? The most interesting and inspiring will be admitted.

See Kennnisland Safari website for more information: http://www.kennisland.nl/nl/safari

Together with the Kellogg Foundation ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) has since 2004 held annual Latin American and Caribbean Social Innovation Fairs. This is a contest for social innovation projects with proven excellent results, cost-efficient and replicable. It is relevant that this information reach people and/or organisations that can put it to good use in order to improve the quality of life of people in Latin America and the Caribbean. This year 2010 is dedicated to the dissemination and promotion of creative replica of the 72 initiatives selected as finalists in the competition. Find more information about these initiatives as well as more social innovation news on ECLAC's website: http://www.cepal.org/dds/innovacionsocial/portada_i.htm

By completing thousands of innovation and design challenges, IDEO has learned a few rules for creating an environment to facilitate innovation. In order to share this knowledge IDEO, together with IDE, Heifer International, and ICRW, have created the Human Centred Design Toolkit. The Toolkit has been designed to help organisations better connect with the people they serve, to transform data into actionable ideas, help organisations to see new opportunities and help to increase the speed and effectiveness of creating new solutions. The toolkit is based on the idea that it is the people themselves who are the experts and who knows best what the right solutions for their problems are. The Toolkit does not give solutions, but technics, methods, tips, and worksheets to guide you through a process that gives voice to communities and allows their desires to guide the creation and implementation of solutions.

Access the Toolkit here: http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/work/case-studies/pdfs/IDEO_HCD_ToolK...

The first Dbattle – Design Battle conference is going to take place in Lisbon this September.
The name Design Battle comes from the idea that we all need a space to exchange ideas, experiences and views about design, whilst also thinking about our desires, the needs of the community and the requirements of the market. Dbattle will offer a creative space where a cross disciplinary panel will have a constructive and friendly battle between designers, social innovators,entrepreneurs, students and everyone interested in participating in this challenge. If you want to know more about Dbattle check out the website @ www.dbattle.com or join the Facebook fan page.
The confirmed speakers include people as Deborah Szebeko founder of Thinkpublic; David Barrie, founder of David Barrie & Associates and Tiago Forjaz, Founder of Star Tracker.
We hope to see you there...

Social Innovation eXchange at the Young Foundation was commissioned by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors at the European Commission to undertake a study of social innovation in Europe, and to suggest some priorities for action.

The background for the research is that Europe is in the midst of profound transformation; it has suffered the worst financial and economic crisis in decades with unemployment set to rise to double digit figures by 2010. Government responses to the crisis have involved major fiscal stimulus packages but will also bring in their wake major budgetary constraints. The article argues that the current financial and economic crisis makes social innovation more important than ever, both as a component of economic strategies to build Europe’s relative position in growing fields such as healthcare and environmental services, and as a vital contribution to achieving greater value for money in public services. The paper sets out the current position, policies, programmes and future options for promoting social innovation in Europe.

Access the article here: http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org/node/4959

After a visit to the Young Foundation and Social Innovation Camp, 3 young Sweish Social Entrepreneurs have created thsi intense business idea competition for young people who during 48 hours, have the opportunity to develop society shaping business ideas! To find out more, see here or watch the video below!

SIX is currently in Malmo, Sweden, discussing a new, sustainable and people- driven regional development at the Rework the World 2010 conference. Watch the gathering of 2000 entrepreneurs and decision makers from around the world live. You can see all the sessions and debates here: http://webbtv.compodium.se/yes2010/live/

Can you imagine another kind of regional development - more sustainable, more driven by the populations? I'm currently sat with a group of designers, policy experts, city planners and social innovators from all over the world in a innovation lab in Malmo, Southern Sweden sharing our experiences and examples of good design thinking. You can watch the presentations and follow the discussions live at http://medea.mah.se/ - Media Live