The scale and urgency of the climate threat means every sector in society must pivot quickly and learn to work together much faster and more effectively. No one sector can solve the climate challenge alone – we need the best minds from across sectors to work together. In addition, the complexity of tackling climate change means it cannot be approached in isolation from other issues – climate issues are inexstricvably linked to social inequity, unemployment, racial justice and so on. And to add to these challenges, we won’t get to where we need to be if people and citizens are not involved in the solutions.
There is a key role for social innovation here – top down solutions or bottom up activity alone won’t be enough alone to meet the scale of this challenge. We need to mobilise society, foster more investment in social R&D, encourage experimentation and create favourable conditions for sustainable transitions.
Key Questions
- How can philanthropy and industry work better together on this topic? There is a lot of philanthropic activity in this space, but it is mainly between philanthropic foundations and rarely connected into forums with governments and the private sector.
- What’s the role of young people in contributing to these challenges ? How can they be better mobilised, beyond protesting. We must embrace the imagination of young people, and create the conditions for more youth-led initiatives and innovations.
Our contribution
This is a new area of work for SIX and we are looking for partners and collaborators to work together on this. Please get in touch if you are interested in the questions we are interested in.
Featured work
What’s the role of young people in social innovation?
The power of young people, activism and the role of government have been the focus of our team discussions at SIX over the last month. This month, the team have been to Cape Town and Bangkok for our work challenging universities to experiment and co-create social innovation, Canada and Australia for our work encouraging the ... What’s the role of young people in social innovation?
Technology will not save us from climate change – but imagining new forms of society will
This article was originally posted on The Conversation. Citizen action on climate change has reached a new intensity: school children by the thousands regularly skip school to protest and Extinction Rebellion’s civil disobedience recently caused widespread disruption in cities around the world. Challenge and disruption is important in prompting change. But it’s also key that ... Technology will not save us from climate change – but imagining new forms of society will
Digital Social Innovation – Future directions
This article was written by Geoff Mulgan (CEO, Nesta) and is part of our SIX Global Council series on Ideas for the Future. Over the last 50 years vast sums of public money have been spent supporting digital innovation in the military and business. These fuelled transformative new phenomena – from drones to mass surveillance, Amazon ... Digital Social Innovation – Future directions
From our friends and partners
What’s the role of young people in social innovation?
The power of young people, activism and the role of government have been the focus of our team discussions at SIX over the last month. This month, the team have been to Cape Town and Bangkok for our work challenging universities to experiment and co-create social innovation, Canada and Australia for our work encouraging the ... What’s the role of young people in social innovation?
Technology will not save us from climate change – but imagining new forms of society will
This article was originally posted on The Conversation. Citizen action on climate change has reached a new intensity: school children by the thousands regularly skip school to protest and Extinction Rebellion’s civil disobedience recently caused widespread disruption in cities around the world. Challenge and disruption is important in prompting change. But it’s also key that ... Technology will not save us from climate change – but imagining new forms of society will
Digital Social Innovation – Future directions
This article was written by Geoff Mulgan (CEO, Nesta) and is part of our SIX Global Council series on Ideas for the Future. Over the last 50 years vast sums of public money have been spent supporting digital innovation in the military and business. These fuelled transformative new phenomena – from drones to mass surveillance, Amazon ... Digital Social Innovation – Future directions