We believe in the transformative power of people working together. Through exchange of knowledge, expertise, innovation and inspiration, we connect, empower and drive social change.
Work with us
Everyone benefits when knowledge and practice are shared, so our two interconnected strands of activity work together to expand the collective intelligence of the global social innovation community and help organisations prepare for the challenges ahead.
Field building
A programme of activities mobilising our expansive network of social innovation practitioners to connect, share, support and create shared visions for a better future.
Innovation Services
Expertise and knowledge of global innovative thinking and practice leveraged to build capacity, knowledge and skills within organisations to tackle complex challenges effectively, at speed.
Why and how of social innovation?
In the face of some of the world’s biggest challenges, fresh approaches and new ways of doing things are needed more than ever. As a result, the concept of social innovation has gained momentum. But it isn’t a new concept – people have always sought new and better ways of tackling social challenges.
Using innovation to address our biggest challenges is not a job for social sector organisations alone. Sometimes civil society provides the impetus for local, bottom-up, grassroots solutions. Governments can also take the lead, by including citizens in policy making, or working across departments to redesign processes and remove red tape. In other cases, finance and private enterprise lead the change.
At SIX, social innovation means taking a pluralist approach to solving society’s most complex challenges, using the best every sector has to offer. It often happens in between places and sectors. It involves people working together, bringing diverse experiences and perspectives.
What matters most, whether the innovation is coming from the public, private or third sector, or from a formal or informal institution, is that social innovation delivers new power relationships, disrupts the status quo, and delivers solutions that make a genuine and positive difference to people’s lives. We must empower people and equip them with the capabilities to play more active roles in their own lives, and in the decisions that affect them.
Our global reach
We worked worked with dozens of partners from governments, companies, foundations and NGOs, across 6 continents over the last 15 years. We’ve hosted hundreds of events, fed into policy agendas and developed programmes to advance new agendas. Learn about some of our work on the map below.
North America
South America
Australia
Europe
Africa
Turkey & MENA
Asia
More of our recent work
SIX in 2022 – intersectionality, pluralism and going beyond a Western centric world view
The world is beginning to open up for many of us and whilst there are increasing opportunities to get together, we are still working in an isolated and siloed way – we are running faster, but in our own lanes. Here are some key questions we are working on at SIX where we’d like to build collaboration.
A decade of social innovation impact – Seoul as a people powered city
Since 2011, Seoul has exemplified a new breed of city that is hungry to learn from and share with others. For more than a decade, SIX has worked with organisations across Seoul to accelerate this global learning, and helping to embed social innovation in civil society and public institutions across the city.
New report: How philanthropy can support Business for Good
Philanthropy can play a key role, as a catalyst for systemic change and as a trusted bridge and convenor between sectors. Our new report offers three areas where philanthropy could advance the business for good movement in the South East Asia.
Philanthropy can advance business for good around climate ambitions and beyond
Businesses have an important role to play in transitioning our planet to a sustainable and green future, but the idea that businesses should care about the climate, even from a materiality perspective, let alone a moral or existential one, is still relatively new.
Get in touch to work with us