April 26, 2010 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Denver
“Social innovation” is not about dreaming up new concepts but is rather about taking existing ideas and putting together a network to make a new venture successful, Andrew Hargadon, a professor of entrepreneurship at University of California at Davis, said at a session here today.
He urged foundations to look to create networks, much like venture capitalists in Silicon Valley do, so that when the right social entrepreneur comes along, the grant maker will be able to put together a team to help the individual bring the idea to fruition.
“Are you creating the Rolodex so that when the right program comes along, you can make the connections?” Mr. Hargadon asked.
Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, another speaker, said new innovations in financing should make it easier to get funds in the hands of successful charities. The new approaches can emphasize financial return, or social return, or an equal mix of both, she said.
“For-profit investors can work with philanthropy to provide capital to solve environmental and social challenges, and they can do so at huge scale,” Ms. Rodin said.
Ms. Rodin spent much of her time talking about process innovations—or new ways to find ideas that solve problems. Rockefeller is experimenting with a handful of “crowdsourcing” projects, including collaborating with Global Giving, an online marketplace that connects donors with charitable projects in foreign countries, and Innocentive, a company that taps its large Web-based community of scientists, engineers, and others to help solve problems.
The project will provide cash rewards of up to $40,000 for people who solve challenges related to water, such as designing an easy-to-use purification system from the water in Lake Victoria. The lake’s water contains bacteria and viruses that cause disease and death for very young children on the Ugandan island of Lingira.
“We think the scientists and engineers on the Innocentive Web site can help offer solutions,” Ms. Rodin said.
