ASIX is starting to take really interesting shape

The Australian Social Innovation Exchange (ASIX) recently launched a new website.  The organisatoin is set to grow in 2011.

I’m thrilled with the new ASIX website and the way it’s looking.  It’s reflective of a new energy and focus in the Exchange I think and a renewed focus on our driving passion…to find better ways to connect changemakers of all varieties, shapes, sizes and locations so they get to be more effective. 

The website itself, if course, is a key part of that task.  It’s already growing into a powerful platform for people to register their interests, share thier skills and find others with whom they can connect and then collaborate. 

Accelerating social changemakers: it’s all about the people

Martin Stewart-Weeks, Chair of the Australian Social Innovation Exchange (ASIX), reflects on the first year and where the organisation is headed next.

For the past couple of months, we’ve been thinking about who we are, what we do and what we want to achieve. Aided by Rachel Botsman and with great input from a number of people in the social innovation community, we’ve been refining the way ASIX should define its identity and purpose.

This blog post sets out the basic story. We’d be keen to hear from anyone with any thoughts and reactions to the way we’ve defined our identity and purpose. And if you haven’t already, sign up at the ASIX website and register as a ‘changemaker’, part of the steadily growing community of people becoming more active and engaged.

The many faces of social innovation

Social innovation is an instinct which shows little respect for distinctions of status or sector.

The debate about social innovation has reached an interesting point. In any ways, it has been a something of a "poor cousin" in many of the big debates about how we should tackle difficult social challenges that impact our life in common.

That’s not to say that people have not recognised and often welcomed the input to these debates from the non-profit sector or from those ventures supported in various forms of charity, corporate philanthropy or the more contemporary corporate social responsibility movement. But while those contributions have been encouraged, they have often remained peripheral to the main game of big public policy decisions and spending. At worst, the real significance of these contributions has been rendered invisible through a mixture of ignorance and misunderstanding.

Connecting Social Innovators

ASIX is creating a network of networks to help Australian social innovators communicate and collaborate.

What do The Big Issue, GAP, Open Universities Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service, and Work Ventures all have in common? They are all examples of social innovation.

Working smarter

With a rich mix of work tools and capabilities, you can be as productive in the office, at home, in hotel rooms and airport lounges all around the world. 

Social Networking: A new ‘point of view’ from Cisco

So, here's a provocative question – if the answer is social networking, what was the question?