This has been an incredible first week of the semester in my Innovation class. I have learned so much in so little time. I have pored over various videos and articles such as Making a change through social entrepreneurship, Ambition, What is Social Innovation, Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship, Rediscovering Social Innovation, and a video about the Ballard Center. First of all, I have learned about the definition of what innovation truly means. Next, I have learned about a couple of examples of innovation. Finally, there is a reason why social innovation is more prevalent today than ever before and I'll get to that point at the end.
Innovation is what happens when people get together and try to make a huge, positive impact in society by addressing issues starting at the roots. It can also mean it is a form of a process, product, or program that can truly provide a transformation in any system such as in a place as small as a family or as large as the planet, or somewhere in between like a city. One example of innovation include Ecoscraps, a program that takes scraps from places such as Walmart and Costco to create rich and nutritious potting soil for plants. Another example would be Tilapiana, a fish farming company that helps create fish farms in places where there are food shortages such as in Ghana.
What intrigued me most from my studies would have to be when I learned what Social Entrepreneurship really means. There are several factors and they are adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value), recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission, engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning, acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand. and exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created. This intrigued me because I honestly did not really think much about entrepreneurship until recently. Entrepreneurs really do constantly pursue new opportunities. I wish I had the motivation and being healthy enough to start certain things such as bringing back a camp program I grew up attending, but it is no longer in operation due to lack of funds, but I really do not know how to restart the program and I have some personal trials I have to overcome first. But you know what, that is okay. Maybe I will eventually come up with some way to bring it back some day, with more friends to help out. I have noticed in this day social innovation is much more prevalent. That reason could possibly be there are more people with a desire to change the world, change today's society, so we can have a brighter future. With today's technology and how we can communicate with each other halfway around the world, I feel that social innovation is made more possible today than even thirty years ago.
