Recently I found myself in the strange position of defending social innovation to a committed community development worker. It was a strange position because I come from a community development background and his position was much the same as the one I held myself before I started this job only 6 months ago.
Social innovation with lashings of maple syrup. CEO Brenton Caffin gets up close and personal with social innovation and public policy in Canada... and discovers we've got a lot to share and a lot to learn.
On the first weekend in March, a diverse and creative bunch of social change agents, techies and other interested people descended onto the City campus of UNSW to participate in Australia's first ever Social Innovation Camp, organised by the Australian Social Innovation Exchange (ASIX).
On Thursday I attended the Not for Profit Community Service Sector Forum in Adelaide.
Hosted by partners Anglicare and Flinders University, the forum brought together leaders from the not for profit (NFP) and government sector to talk about the future of the NFP sector.
On Monday, I attended the first ever Victorian Public Service (VPS) Innovation Week, organised by the indefatigable Maria Katsonis and her team in the Victorian Premier’s Department. The week consists of 14 events designed to get the Victorian Public Service as well as its partners in the not-for-profit sector talking and thinking about innovation in and around the public sector.
Social innovation competitions are hitting the big time around the globe as more and more companies and organisations recognise the need for new approaches to social problems and the impact open- and crowd-sourced solutions can have.
The national Social Inclusion Board (whose Deputy Chair is our own board member Monsignor David Cappo) recently convened a national conference on social inclusion in Melbourne.
On being invited to Vienna to attend the CSI's event "The most needed social innovations of the 21st century", I thought it best to use the opportunity to take a look at what's happening in social innovation in Europe as we prepare to formally launch The Australian Centre for Social Innovation in 2010.
Website design by JM: Freelance web design Adelaide