Post on 14-Dec-2015
Fuelling Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education
The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation
The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation engages Canadians in building a more innovative, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient society. The Foundation’s purpose is to enhance Canada’s ability to address complex social, environmental and economic challenges.
Est.
A Radical View of Social Innovation?
Changing the system dynamics at the roots of social and ecological
problems
A social innovation is any initiative, product, process, program or design that challenges and, over time, changes, the defining routines, resource and authority flows or beliefs of the broader social system in which it is introduced. Successful social innovations have durability, scale and transformative impact. (Westley, 2010)
3
RE
Source: Westley and Antadze, 2010. After Westall, A. (2007) How can innovation in social enterprise be understood, encouraged and enabled? A social enterprise think piece for the Office of the Third Sector. Cabinet Office, Office of The Third Sector, UK, November.
http://www.eura.org/pdf/westall_news.pdf
4
What is the purpose of RECODE?
- To offer college and university students the opportunity to
participate in social innovation and entrepreneurship, and in doing so
help their institutions become catalysts for social change, at the
local and national levels.
The Social Eight
Social Innovation
Social Labs
Social Finance
Social Technology
Social Entrepreneurship
Social Education
Social Purpose Media
Social Space
AGENCY
What power do individuals and groups have to catalyze systemic change?
Exploring New Possibilities
• Introduce disturbances to precipitate a release phase.
• question the broad strategic context) in order to understand reason for decisions,
• frame these for front line where innovation continues to occur,
• recognize innovations of interest to policy makers and
• sell these up to the decision makers
• Sensemaking activities such as branding mapping, surveying, sharing narratives and vision building
• Invoking new knowledge values & paradigms
• Identity and relational change• Non-directed/emergent convening
activities: open door town hall meetings, new connections between previously separate groups.
• Directed/designed convening activities: future search, scenario planning, whole systems engagement
Deliberate and strategic marshalling of connections and resources to support a winning idea set.• Building broad commitment
through storytelling & marketing • Leveraging polictical support for
policy change
• Entrepreneurial proposal of novel paradigms, solutions and ideas
• Brokering partnerships• Building umbrella strategies to link
competing knowledge and solutions
• Deal making between parties to achieve consensus or link novel ideas
• Finding capital for new ideas• Shedding ideas “without legs” Questioning/Disrupting
the Context
Convening/Framing/Sensemaking
Identifying/Brokering
Selling
Roles of a Systems Entrepreneur through Phases of Change
10
(Westley, 2013)
Network or group levelA change in conversation A change in routine A change in resource commitment or influence
Institutional level
A change in culture A change in laws A change in resource distribution/availability
Organizational level
A change in strategies A change in procedures A change in resource distribution/availability
Individual level
A change of heart A change of habits A change of ambition
11
Systemic Impact = Institutional Change
1) Formal governance: regulations and laws2) Informal governance and stakeholder rules3) Knowledge, practices and routines4) Cultural norms and discourse5) Distribution of power, authority 6) Distribution and control of resources
At what scale? Towards what values and paradigms?What’s the relationship between different dimensions?Where to engage?
A Collaborative Approach
For RECODE, working collaboratively is the process AND the solution to
addressing our complex, interconnected, and multi-
dimensional challenges
www.re-code.ca
@LetsRECODE #LetsRECODE