By: Anisha Hassan
As we witness the increase of social and environmental issues around the world, we also get to see the rise of a new generation of social innovators attempting to find solutions to problems that constantly surface.
Ideas are the roots that initiate the work of young minds but sometimes, ideas need a little motivation,, refinement,, and most importantly, some professional guidance. Cases, projects and professional advice allow ideas to grow, branch out in the right directions, create links, and find sources of funding all while helping them dodge problems they might face along the way.
Below is a list of online resources for the social innovator in the making.
This website is basically what its name suggests, a hub of opportunities for the youth. While it contains a ton of information and links to competitions, scholarships and exchange programs, it also provides links to conferences, events, workshops, and internships that future innovators can take part in. The website lists links from all around the world, including a handful in the Asia Pacific which is great news for the social innovators residing in this region. Simply select your own region in the home page and go on to browse the lot of events you could be participating in.
The Economist has one of the most widespread magazines in the world, but that is not all it offers. When visiting their sites one can come across their event page which has links to hundreds of events and summits taking place globally. The website shows an overview of the event itself, the agenda and speakers, a list of incentives as to why one should attend event, and what they could get out of it. One downside however, is that almost every event requires a registration fee which makes it hard for young innovators to attend, but anyone already in the workforce looking to get into social innovation should without a doubt check them out.
DESIAP is an online platform that allows people from various professions and interests to network and share thoughts and information about social issues and problems that need to be addressed all in one place. This online stage makes it possible for everyone to have access to different projects, events and resources specifically in the Asia Pacific which they could use for their own idea generations.
Projects like “Design For…” which inspire to create designs for the betterment of the society, and the “Mae Fah Luang Foundation” that seek to improve the lives of the poor, and many more are up on the site and open for all to discover. Occasionally, DESIAP organizes conferences and seminars which can also be found under its “Events” section.
One of the best part about this website are the resources that are accessible to everyone. These contain research papers, video links, and even links to other websites on innovation.
Eventbrite is your number one hub for all things events. Any country, any time, and any category—they have it all. It includes events related to innovation that you could browse through to find the right fit for you. Select your country, place and time and the sort of events you want to participate in and find yourself scrolling through several results before you finally register.
This Japanese company has an entire website dedicated to social innovation and all things related to it. Through this broad and informative website, Hitachi aims to create a better tomorrow by pooling great ideas and getting the most out of them.
One segment of the website is allotted to case studies on various topics like water, energy and urban development. The website provides a ton of reading materials and projects which can help evolving innovators get insights on the world’s pressing needs and exposes them to lots of statistics which they might find useful in their own practice.
The Events section showcases past and upcoming events by Hitachi, namely the Hitachi Social Innovation Forum which takes place in numerous Asian countries, along with other summits and exhibitions that might interest visitors. Simply by clicking on the “Activities” in your country one can come across every event hosted by Hitachi in that very country.
InnovationManagement.se features articles on innovation and management. Some of the top ones include “Priorities for Building an Innovation Culture”, “Innovation Management: The Value of Seeing What You Have”, and “The 5 Best Management Apps for the Innovative Workplace”, and they all concentrate on how to uncover your innovation skills and enhance them through the proper management of work and allocation of duties. These articles will help one acknowledge the importance of time and work management and how critical it can be in coming up with innovative solutions.
Stanford SOCIAL INNOVATION Review is one of the must-bookmark pages for anyone who has a passion for social innovation, or who is simply curious about how things work in this area. One of the biggest dilemmas of a person looking to bring about a social change is that they do not know where to begin. Reading about social innovation and its techniques is a great way to kick-start your journey, and this website provides you just that.
The website breaks down information into subsections like Social Issues which highlight articles related to food, education, human rights, and health and all the causes, solutions and projects associated with them. These, along with the Sectors and Solutions section complete the website and make it the perfect place to begin your idea generation, or at least give you a few points for future ideas.
Great innovators are not born in a day. Their brilliant outcomes are the result of constant learning, perseverance, and experimenting. These reading materials will prove to be essential resources to you, while attending events highly contribute to shaping your thoughts. Together these can help steer your ideas or even generate new ones which might just bring about a change we have all been waiting for.
Let your learnings begin!
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