What the heck is “social innovation,” you ask?
“A social innovation is a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than present solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.” – Stanford Social Innovation Review
While the authors of that Stanford Social Innovation Review article define the noun of a social innovation, I’ll be providing tools on the process of innovating solutions to the social and environmental problems of this world, such as poverty, hunger, climate change, education, and health. It’s important work and it seems to me that social innovators need all the help they can get.
Innovation is a process. And it can, of course, be learned. Here are some tools that can help with innovation:
How to Frame Your Design Challenge - In the Define stage, you synthesize the observations about your users. Here are some great tools and strategies for synthesizing what you learned...
Design Thinking + Human-Centered Design Toolkit - If you're thinking about creating a start-up, product, service, or anything really, this process can be a game-changer.
How to Pick the Right Problem - A well-defined problem often contains its own solution within it. The following resources will help you identify which problems to pursue.
Start Here. - Okay, so you're ready to get started. You're excited about the prospect of catalyzing a career of tackling big effing problems like the hero you always knew you were. There's just one issue: where do you start?
Tools for Social Innovators 