Antenna for social innovation: The top 10 inspiring and acclaimed social innovations from around the world

As a research group dedicated to the investigation and development of the wide range of issues related to social innovation, ESADE's Institute for Social Innovation is ideally placed to provide a platform for knowledge sharing. Our aim is to provide an antenna, receptive to the newest and strongest signals coming from those at the forefront of social innovation. The antenna exposes the innovative thinking and activities of 10 inspiring social innovations promoted by the hottest global centres of social innovation and entrepreneurship around the world. The notion of social innovation is not new but its spread throughout the world at different levels of society has brought it to the forefront of all aspects of society, government, business and civil society and their NGO representatives. We develop our understanding of social innovation based on the discussion of a number of influential academic articles and practitioners' guides and report on the key issues and debates related to the subject. Among the 10 projects we have selected are seven 2010/2011 award or fellowship winners recognized by teams of experts at organisations such as Ashoka, the Skoll Foundation and NESTA for their entrepreneurial work in developing viable solutions to social problems. Two projects have received high profile support from key social innovation centres, the Young Foundation and the Stanford Center for Social Innovation. We also include one further high profile innovation worthy of recognition for its scale and ambition. Insights into these inspiring and forward thinking initiatives provide examples of what can be done, how this is being achieved, and who is involved. Thus by using practical examples of real and achievable innovations the Antenna for Social Innovation maps the social innovation landscape and highlights and diffuses the most recent global changes and trends in this fast changing arena.