Social Innovations

Catalog description

The problems facing today's world - global poverty, disease, climate change - are more complex than ever before, and solutions require interdisciplinary thinking and cross-sector collaboration. Social innovation represents a new paradigm that supports the development, implementation, and sustainability of transformational responses to social needs. Social innovation focuses attention on the ideas and solutions that create social value - as the processes through which they are generated, not just on individuals and organizations. This course introduces students to the strategies and processes of social innovation and social change. Students will gain knowledge of strategies of change that include the innovative activities of social and political entrepreneurs, activists, organizations, and social movements. Students will examine several individuals and groups who have catalyzed important positive social change through different organizational platforms - in the market, in government, within the nonprofit sector, and increasingly in the space between these three sectors. Throughout the course students will examine social innovation through case studies, best practice analyses, and relevant readings.