Social Innovation can be defined as;
“…innovative activities and services that are motivated by the goal of meeting a social need and that are predominantly developed and diffused through organisations that are primarily social…”
Oxford SAID Business School provides an extensive and elaborate guide to Social Innovation.
An essential aspect about socially motivated endeavours, are also the scalability of the activity and/or service. This page will seek to capture social innovations at its core and realise the effect of the change they can scale to a community.
Social Impact Partnerships - How feasible are they?
Social Impact Partnerships, is the process of raising private investments to fund prevention and early intervention programs that reduce the necessity of expensive crisis responses. You can find out more here. Thus (to a certain extent) mobilizing the private sector … Continue reading
trust may be the underlying demise for social entrepreneurs.
Social Entrepreneurs operating non-monetary social enterprises may find obstacles gaining their clients’ trust. Lokesh Kuma Singh reveals his experience that not everyone is a social entrepreneur. His dairy social enterprise, encounters trust issues between his organisation and clients. He has … Continue reading
dripping wet arid - Drip Irrigation Innovation.
Over the past twenty-years ‘micro’ irrigation systems have reached 10.3 million people. In various arid areas, water scarcity is a major issue for farmers to sustain an agricultural livelihood. Drip Irrigation provides a system that allows users to efficiently and … Continue reading
growing food from urban waste - a mushroom growing kit!
Imagine growing food from urban waste! 2 UC Berkeley students, Alejandro Velez & Nikhil Arora have started a ‘mushroom home growing kit’ for your home! Their organisation, Back to the Roots utilizes used coffee powder from coffee shops to grow oyster mushrooms! … Continue reading
social innovation: make some money by texting.
Now, low income earners can send SMS during their free time and earn some extra bucks! Research by Microsoft revealed a crowd-sourcing model that requires low income earners to translate words and gain mobile credit in return! To good to be … Continue reading
SMS Networks n Symmetric Information
Imagine a world where every person is endowed with relevant information of opportunities and economic benefits! SMS networks between users and organisations allow for the smooth streaming of information. Poverty sticken areas requires information about possible economic opportunities, and as … Continue reading
pay-as-you-go electricity via SMS.
The power of the sun goes beyond our own comprehension! In Halliberu, Karnataka State in India, local farmers are given a solar panel attached to a battery and a meter box to keep track of power usage. Locals would travel ridiculous distances … Continue reading
water for life. water for light.
One of the most simplest social innovation can be found on the streets. See this wonderful video of how a simple man creates light using old bottle with clear distilled water to allow sunlight to enter slum houses without power … Continue reading
using technology to solve problems in developing nations.
This multipronged framework will use information technology as its core driver to enhance lives of those in developing nations. It provides a framework so that those living below the poverty line are able to get access to basic needs, health … Continue reading