Throughout these events, we heard that social entrepreneurs are critical for finding innovative solutions to community needs, but that many NZ social entrepreneurs struggle to get the professional and personal support they need. Participants learnt about the School for Social Entrepreneurs, a stand-out UK model which brings together cohorts of social entrepreneurs for a year-long programme of action learning, peer support, coaching and mentoring, and expressed real excitement about the potential to build a School for Social Entrepreneurs in New Zealand. For a more detailed summary, including write-ups, video footage and presentations, please click here.

The SA Government-funded Australian Centre for Social Innovation launches with a Social Innovation Challenge, a focus on design-thinking and an emphasis on collaboration to find creative solutions to tough social problems.

Check out the website.

• Innovation as a means to “get more of what we want” – the quadruple bottom line of productivity, service, results and democracy;
• Focus on citizens and users as the starting point for service transformation
• Outcome-focused collaboration – across agencies and sectors – as critical

Christian discussed MindLab’s work on the Nine to Noon programme and there was interesting coverage in the Dominion Post.

For a more detailed summary, including presentation downloads, click here.

• The Prime Minister’s recently-announced Advisory Group on the Reform of Australian Govt Administration looking to address the new challenges facing Australia in the 21st century, with public, private and academic leaders tasked with delivering a blueprint for reform by early 2010, led by the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet
• The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research leading a cross-government project to investigate how to advance innovation within and by the public sector
• The Productivity Commission’s recent report on the contribution of the not-for-profit sector with a chapter focusing on accelerating social innovation
• The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI), funded by a $6m commitment from the SA Government, is commencing operations with a stand-out Board and CEO.

The Canadian Policy Research Network report is here.

Two of our UK counterpart’s Launchpad investees have recently won national awards. Rajeeb Dey of Enternships (a matchmaker between interns and statrt-ups) was named Young Entrepreneur of the year at the o2 X awards. And Working Rite (which facilitates rites of passage for young apprentices) won a Centre for Social Justice award, as well as winning commitment from the Conservative Party to create 100,000 places based on its model if they win the next election.

Do elections have to mean short-term, lolly-scramble approaches to the big issues concerning voters who are, after all, in it for the long haul? In the UK’s conference season, the Young Foundation gathers each party’s politicians, leading thinkers and citizens to look ahead, not just to the next election but to their manifestoes for 2015. Is this an approach NZ could benefit from? Check the events out at: www.youngfoundation.org.uk/events

Our CEO Justine Munro, Christian Bason of MindLab, and Gael Surgenor of the Ministry for Social Development share experience and insights in the latest issue of Public Sector.

“In the private sector if you don’t innovate you’re out of business, innovation is essential to survive,” says Bason. “Public organisations, however, can survive and sometimes even thrive without being innovative.”

Read the full article

We’re delighted to be hosting Christian Bason in New Zealand in early December – stay tuned for event details.