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.
In common with may countries around the world, in Australia we’re starting to get serious about social innovation. I’m part of a group that is working to set up the Australian Social Innovation eXchange, or ASIX. It will be a "network of networks" linking people and organisations who are actively interested and engaged with social innovation in Australia. ASIX is itself a part of the proliferating global network of social innovators which is being connected by the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), a program of UK-based The Young Foundation. This is a venture led by Geoff Mulgan, The Foundation’s Director and a global leader in social innovation thinking and practice.
Our ambition is to create a platform that makes it easier for innovators to connect, communicate and collaborate. ASIX will also challenge people to find better ways to make social innovation organisationally and financially sustainable.
Social innovators are already helping Australia meet our complex and unmet social needs. Unfortunately the term "social innovation" is largely unheard of or misunderstood; and even amongst those who are familiar with the concept, few people realise just how powerful this approach can be in quickly turning fresh, smart thinking into viable solutions.
Through collaborating on ASIX those social innovators already putting in the hard yards can band together and raise their profile at the same time.
In the longer term, we want to embed successful innovation practices into the culture, practice and methodologies of policy people and government decision-makers and, more broadly, into the way people and organisations, across all sectors, think about and respond to major social challenges.
ASIX will develop and test practical ways in which we can scale social innovation, so that small ideas with big implications can quickly reach a critical mass to match the scale of the problems we’re trying to solve. Not all social innovation either can or should scale; but making a great idea work on a larger canvass – in other regions or other sectors with similar challenges – will remain a critical challenge, especially as the ideas of social innovation infect the broader public policy process.
ASIX is not another traditional non-profit organisation. It’s not going to duplicate the work of other organisations active in the social innovation and investment space. Quite the opposite. Its whole mandate is make them more visible and successful. The way it will fulfill that ambition is to connect them on a simple, but effect platform or shared, trusted space that links them more effectively into a wider network of innovators and investors.
A key focus is going to be the links between social innovation and the public policy process and structures in Australia, at all levels of government. We think social innovation is already starting to play a greater role in the way governments approach the big challenges they face. We want to accelerate that trend and make it easier for social innovators and government to combine their respective skills and capabilities.
ASIX is an idea-in-progress. After some initial development work with a small group of great pioneers, we’re ready to issue a much wider invitation to join this conversation as we create something new that explores new ideas and new thinking for sustainable social change.
Tell us your views and experiences, send us your ideas and share your own experiences. And keep an eye on more from ASIX as it continues to develop.
If you want to know more, contact Steve Lawrence (steve.r.lawrence@bigpond.com) or Martin Stewart-Weeks (msweeks@cisco.com).
In his consulting work over the past 18 years, Martin Stewart-Weeks has specialised in strategy, policy analysis, facilitation and market and social research. At Cisco, as Director for IBSG’s public sector practice in Asia-Pacific, he works at the senior executive and political level to help shape Internet business solutions and online strategies at both an agency and whole-of-government level. Martin has been a key member of the global team developing a new e-government framework, the ‘connected republic, for Cisco’s public sector work. Martin Chairs the Australian Social Innovation Exchange (ASIX)
