You know you need a social innovation software. A tool that is going to help you stay connected with your team and keep on track with your breakthrough project. You know that ideas can happen anytime and anywhere and that everyone on your team deserves an equal voice. So now that you’re ready to find the right tool, what features should you be looking for in an open innovation software? Our team has run open innovation contests, utilised design thinking for social change, and run projects and campaigns to boost social innovation. So what do we find most useful in a social innovation tool? ##5 Things to Look for in a Social Innovation Software:

1. Flexibility

Every project is different. Whether you have a team of 10 based in a few different cities or a team of hundreds based all...

Charities and non-profit organisations are not often synonymous with the word ‘innovation’. With limited resources, these organisations want to stick with ideas that they know work, rather than investing time and money into developing new tactics. However, the charities that are using innovation and design thinking to drive projects and fundraising are coming out ahead in the non-profit world.

Here is a list of charitable organisations that prove investing in innovation helps non-profits raise money and operate more effectively:

RLNI - H2Only - This UK based campaign asks participants to drink only water (no caffeine!) for 10 days to save lives at sea. As we saw from campaigns like the ice bucket challenge, mass participation campaigns can make a huge impact for charities. RNLI, the charity that runs this campaign, employs a marketing and innovation officer to come...

This post was originally published on crisscrossed.net

It is great to see that our publication is now available as an eBook. For this project, I worked together with the GIZ, namely Jan Schwaab, and Christian Gmelin, to create 10 exciting chapters, which enlighten the abstract concept of innovation. The various chapters provide an overview and practical advice on how to pursue an open innovation approach. Thanks to all the authors. Following are some introductions to the chapters.

1. Creating Space for Change##

Geraldine de Bastion

Africa’s Technology Innovation Hubs

Social Media have by now spread to all corners of the world, including the remotest areas in Africa. They have changed our personal and professional communication, our news and consumption habits and the way we share information. New markets and industries are...

Should governments be involved in social innovation? Are they effective in engaging citizens and inspiring change? What role does citizen participation play in government social innovation? We believe that governments of all sizes should reach out to their citizens to solve challenges that are facing their communities. Here are our favourite research papers, projects, and guides for deepening the conversation around social innovation and citizen participation!

Let us know if you have any more to add in the comments!

Research:

Civic Engagement: One Simple Solution to Youth Disconnection - Researchers discuss the role that civic participation can have on the biggest challenges facing youth today.

Open Source, Social Innovation, and a New Economy of Engagement - This paper looks of the role of technology and social innovation in creating civic discourse.

Social Innovation and Civic Engagement -...

Are you ready to tackle a social problem in your community? We love helping business leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators create an impact with social innovation. Today we wanted to share 11 quick tips with you to help you take your social innovation process from good to great. 

1. Tackle challenges that you understand - If you’ve been personally affected by the problem you want to solve, you’ll start out ahead of the competition. You’ll already understand all facets of the problem better than someone who is coming into the process with no prior knowledge. 

2. Focus on people, not problems - An important part of any social innovation project is to talk to the people you want to help. The better you understand how this challenge is affecting the people you want to help, the better able you are to...

As we talked about in our last post, design thinking is a holistic approach to business that, unlike the rigid structure of business, utilizes both logic and creativity. In order to effectively combine and focus these two forces, design thinking is carefully guided by three principles: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. With the help of these three principles, design thinking encourages you to recognize communities with complex problems that you can fix and fuels innovation so you can do just that.

##How design thinking fuels innovation:

1. Encouraging creativity. Unlike the traditional structure of business that analyzes the probability of failure before a project is started, design thinking allows you to explore an idea fully so you can see if the solution is effective. Design thinking encourages you to cast the fear of failure aside and let your creativity...

Design thinking, a term coined by IDEO’s David Kelley, refers to a set of three principles that can create a successful path to innovation and solve complex problems. These three principles are inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Rather than following the rigid, traditional structure of business that can negatively impact innovation by promoting rationality over creativity, design thinking is a holistic approach to business that integrates both logic and creativity together. Sadly, design thinking is still not a mainstream practice and companies can be reluctant to adopt design thinking in their ventures. So why would companies be reluctant to adopt such a promising technique for innovation? Because they believe some of these common misconceptions of design thinking:

1. One common misconception of design thinking is that it is an abandonment of good business thinking, ignoring rationality and...

As a social innovator, you strive to find efficient, sustainable, and creative solutions that impact society’s most pressing challenges. However, it can be incredibly difficult to develop these solutions on your own. That is where social innovation blogs come in. Social innovation blogs provide aid in many ways. Some blogs discuss how modern social innovators have reached success in resolving world issues, describing techniques that you may be able to utilize towards your own goal. However, other blogs also work towards aiding you in developing your own personal solutions for world issues. Others provide you with the latest information in the world of social innovation. Social innovation blogs are a valuable resource that a social innovator can take advantage of so, without further ado…

Here are 11 social innovation blogs that every social innovator should be reading:

1. Weiter lesen...

“The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing – building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help.” – David Kelley, Founder of IDEO

When you’re leading a team of Design Thinkers, making sure that everyone’s ideas are heard and recorded is a big part of design thinking philosophy. Design thinking is about creating products and services based on empathy, and listening to the problems from your community. But you need the right design thinking tools to make sure that all these ideas can be recorded, expanded on, and tested. You don’t want to spend your time worrying about the logistics of your project instead of leading your team to create something exceptional. We recommend using the following design thinking tools to keep your team, and your...

Social innovation competitions and social innovation courses are some of the best ways to refine your skills and bring your socially good projects to life! You can meet other likeminded people, learn new concepts, and get a kick start on your venture idea. We’ve curated a list of our favourite social innovation competitions and social innovation courses. Let us know in the comments if you have any to add!

Social Innovation Competitions

European Social Innovation Competition - A €150,000 challenge prize by the European Commission for the three best ideas to support the reception and integration of refugees and migrants in Europe.

Dell Social Innovation Challenge - Entrepreneurship competitions in partnership with socially conscious communities.

Global Social Venture Competition - The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) empowers the next generation of social entrepreneurs by providing them...