Issue 7: To meet the challenges of an uncertain future, we’ll need to build a social innovation workforce

Welcome to the seventh issue of Innovation For Better Lives, our monthly newsletter where we share the tools, books, practices and people that inspire us to do better every day.  

Education is the keystone of building a social innovation workforce, so this month TACSI’s Social Innovation Workforce team put together a list of resources, courses and organisations that are working to build social innovation capability at all levels of society.

• This fantastic article from Warren Nilsson makes the case for organisations to take a collective approach to learning about and developing social innovation. Too often, the task of moving organisations in the right direction is lumped with leadership, but in reality, it takes teamwork and collaboration from a whole organisation to bring about sustainable, impactful change. We loved the framing here of social innovation as “a classroom [where] we are all learning our way into the future.” 
• The Lisbon Social Innovation Declaration is a roadmap that identifies key areas where building social innovation capability could improve the lives of EU citizens, while outlining 10 practical policy ideas to get the ball rolling. It’s a masterclass in communicating the impact of building social innovation into the fabric of governments and organisations, and an example of what you can do when you get together and align.
• This toolkit from ANZOGLO , Monash University and Gov lab explores our opportunity to foster entrepreneurship in government workers. The report argues that governments must train public servants to become ‘public entrepreneurs’ who tackle problems using innovative, data-driven, and participatory methods, and who are comfortable with risk and even initial failure in pursuit of outcomes that improve the lives of citizens.
• Education is at the heart of building a social innovation workforce. This is why we created the TACSI learning hub – a place for anyone to drop by and learn about social innovation and how to apply it at all levels of an organisation. If you’re looking to develop your organisation’s social innovation capability, our webinar What is Social Innovation is a great place to start.
• And if you’re looking for something a little more in-depth, secure your place in TACSI’s 20-week Foundations of Social Innovation course with our CIO Chris Vanstone – it’s kicking off in February 2024.

• Practitioners at Camden regularly share their insights on how to bring innovation, design and imagination to the forefront of place-based organisations. We particularly like this blog: How can local governments unleash collective imagination to tackle complex challenges? It’s all about how building big ideas and future thinking into local government policy can trickle down to create whole communities focused on innovating for change.
• George Monbiot’s piece in The Guardian titled How we can teach children so they survive AI – and cope with whatever comes next does an excellent job of explaining the way of thinking and being necessary for social innovation, and how instilling it early could help us prepare for some of society's greatest challenges.
• And while technology has the potential to disrupt and displace, there are aspects of our increasingly digital world that are making participation in social innovation more accessible than ever. Nesta ’s report Designing the Collective Intelligence Commons examines the impact of open-sourced digital infrastructure and our opportunity to supercharge collaboration towards social change.
• This paper from Sara Diamond explores the imagination gap – the difference between ‘current capability and future possibility’. She also offers a number of unique approaches, research inquiries, and methods to bridge the gap using ‘STEAMM+D and indigenous knowledge’.
• Rona Glynn-McDonald ’s thorough introduction to First Nations Systems Thinking explores how system thinking is woven through First Nations’ ways of thinking, being and knowing, and the critical importance of including the ‘original systems thinkers’ in social innovation work.
• A study by British Council found that while the scale and uptake of social innovation education was encouraging, these courses were struggling to break out of business schools across Asia. The report outlines the importance of building social innovation education into a wider range of courses, and makes some practical recommendations on how to get there.
• Looking for self-guided resources to help build social innovation practices in your organisation? UNICEF’s Social Innovation Curriculum is a comprehensive guide to understanding, developing and facilitating the foundations of social innovation.
• The World Economic Forum ’s resource Social Innovation: A Guide to Achieving Corporate and Societal Value is equally thorough. It offers some great explanations of the organisational benefits of pursuing social innovation. It even includes a detailed framework for implementation and covers identifying aligned opportunities, engaging partners, establishing metrics, creating internal structures to navigate unconventional business approaches, and more.
• The Imagination Declaration was put to the government in 2019 by a group of young people from East Arnhem Land. The students asked the Prime Minister to “set an imagination agenda for our classrooms, remove the limited thinking around our disadvantage [and] stop looking at us as a problem to fix,”. Younger generations have a hunger to drive change and develop new ways of doing things; it’s up to us to give them the tools they need. 

• Common Ground is a First Nations not-for-profit organisation dedicated to centring First Nations people by amplifying their knowledge, cultures, and stories. Through unique and impactful projects, they bring ancient wisdom into digital spaces and provide opportunities for First Nations individuals to be authors on their own terms. By collaborating with communities, creating content, and forming strategic partnerships, Common Ground is building on an 80,000-year journey to honour the storytelling legacy of First Nations people. 
• Ruggedize Your Life is a course and concept developed by Alex Steffen that centres around building resilience and problem-solving skills in the face of deep uncertainty. It’s not for the faint of heart; this course teaches participants how to redesign their whole life to be prepared for dramatic changes in the environmental and economic landscape. 
• Moral Imaginations is an organisation leading imagination-powered activism, driving a movement to prioritise life in the economy, politics, and governance. They aim to create futures rooted in values, and build a strong connection to nature, future generations, and the past – all while fostering a profound moral understanding of what matters most. The Museum of Futures uses art to discuss the social challenges we face, and proposes new and innovative ways of overcoming these challenges. Using art to express innovative ideas is a crucial aspect of integrating social innovation into more aspects of our lives. It sparks conversations and fosters discussions about our aspirations for a different future.

• Organisations like the Young Social Pioneers are encouraging young Australians to utilise their influence, platform, or innovative ideas to make a positive impact through mentorship and funding opportunities. Young people are often the most active and energised social innovators, but rarely are given the resources to harness this potential.  
• The Future Problem Solving focuses on teaching students collaboration, critical thinking, creative thinking, and effective communication to prepare them to be innovators of the future. The program aims to foster ethical leadership skills that equip students with the necessary tools to overcome complex challenges and thrive in an ever-evolving world.
• If you wish you could incorporate social innovation into your studies, The University of Technology Sydney ’s Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation makes social innovation education accessible alongside other degrees. Whether you’re studying nursing or architecture, this is a great model, and an opportunity to build the capacity of our communities.

What are you, your family and the organisations you are part of doing to build social innovation capabilities to navigate our rapidly evolving and uncertain future? Let us know 👇👇