Social innovation and social enterprise : evidence from Australia

‘Social innovation’ is a construct increasingly used to explain the practices, processes and actors through which sustained positive transformation occurs in the network society (Mulgan, G., Tucker, S., Ali, R., Sander, B. (2007). Social innovation: What it is, why it matters and how can it be accelerated. Oxford:Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship; Phills, J. A., Deiglmeier, K., & Miller, D. T. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 6(4):34–43, 2008.). Social innovation has been defined as a “novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions, and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.” (Phills,J. A., Deiglmeier, K., & Miller, D. T. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 6 (4):34–43, 2008: 34.) Emergent ideas of social innovation challenge some traditional understandings of the nature and role of the Third Sector, as well as shining a light on those enterprises within the social economy that configure resources in novel ways. In this context, social enterprises – which provide a social or community benefit and trade to fulfil their mission – have attracted considerable policy attention as one source of social innovation within a wider field of action (see Leadbeater, C. (2007). ‘Social enterprise and social innovation: Strategies for the next 10 years’, Cabinet office,Office of the third sector http://www.charlesleadbeater.net/cms xstandard/social_enterprise_innovation.pdf. Last accessed 19/5/2011.). And yet, while social enterprise seems to have gained some symbolic traction in society, there is to date relatively limited evidence of its real world impacts.(Dart, R. Not for Profit Management and Leadership, 14(4):411–424, 2004.) In other words, we do not know much about the social innovation capabilities and effects of social enterprise. In this chapter, we consider the social innovation practices of social enterprise, drawing on Mulgan, G., Tucker, S., Ali, R., Sander, B. (2007). Social innovation: What it is, why it matters and how can it be accelerated. Oxford: Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship: 5) three dimensions of social innovation: new combinations or hybrids of existing elements; cutting across organisational, sectoral and disciplinary boundaries; and leaving behind compelling new relationships. Based on a detailed survey of 365 Australian social enterprises, we examine their self-reported business and mission-related innovations, the ways in which they configure and access resources and the practices through which they diffuse innovation in support of their mission. We then consider how these findings inform our understanding of the social innovation capabilities and effects of social enterprise,and their implications for public policy development.

An integrated educational model for continuing nurse education

Aim This paper reports on the development and evaluation of an integrated clinical learning model to inform ongoing education for surgical nurses. The research aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a Respiratory Skills Update (ReSKU) education program, in the context of organisational utility, on improving surgical nurses' practice in the area of respiratory assessment. Background Continuous development and integration of technological innovations and research in the healthcare environment mandate the need for continuing education for nurses. Despite an increased worldwide emphasis on this, there is scant empirical evidence of program effectiveness. Methods A quasi experimental pre test, post test non–equivalent control group design evaluated the impact of the ReSKU program on surgical nurses' clinical practice. The 2008 study was conducted in a 400 bed regional referral public hospital and was consistent with contemporary educational approaches using multi-modal, interactive teaching strategies. Findings The study demonstrated statistically significant differences between groups regarding reported use of respiratory skills, three months after ReSKU program attendance. Between group data analysis indicated that the intervention group's reported beliefs and attitudes pertaining to subscale descriptors showed statistically significant differences in three of the six subscales. Conclusion The construct of critical thinking in the clinical context, combined with clinical reasoning and purposeful reflection, was a powerful educational strategy to enhance competency and capability in clinicians.

Mediating identity narratives : a case study in queer digital storytelling as everyday activism

Digital Stories are short autobiographical documentaries, often illustrated with personal photographs and narrated in the first person, and typically produced in group workshops. As a media form they offer ‘ordinary people’ the opportunity to represent themselves to audiences of their choosing; and this amplification of hitherto unheard voices has significant repercussions for their social participation. Many of the storytellers involved in the ‘Rainbow Family Tree’ case study that is the subject of this paper can be characterised as ‘everyday’ activists for their common desire to use their personal stories to increase social acceptance of marginalised identity categories. However, in conflict with their willingness to share their personal stories, many fear the risks and ramifications of distributing them in public spaces (especially online) to audiences both intimate and unknown. Additionally, while technologies for production and distribution of rich media products have become more accessible and user-friendly, many obstacles remain. For many people there are difficulties with technological access and aptitude, personal agency, cultural capital, and social isolation, not to mention availability of the time and energy requisite to Digital Storytelling. Additionally, workshop context, facilitation and distribution processes all influence the content of stories. This paper explores the many factors that make ‘authentic’ self-representation far from straight forward. I use qualitative data drawn from interviews, Digital Story texts and ethnographic observation of GLBTQIS participants in a Digital Storytelling initiative that combined face-to-face and online modes of participation. I consider mediating influences in practice and theory and draw on strategies put forth in cultural anthropology and narrative therapy to propose some practical tools for nuanced and sensitive facilitation of Digital Storytelling workshops and webspaces. Finally, I consider the implications of these facilitation strategies for voice, identity and social participation.

Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre - a new model for inter-disciplinary wound research

Wound research is a complex multidimensional activity most effectively conducted by inter-disciplinary teams that connect studies in basic wound biology, devices and biomaterials with clinical practice. These complexities have been recognised in a new initiative through the establishment of an inter-disciplinary wound research centre in Australia; the Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre (WMI CRC). The centre is funded by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centre Program and a consortium of 22 participants and has a resource of US$108 million over 8 years...

Teaching new product development to design led innovation

Recently many international tertiary educational programs have capitalised on the value design and business can have upon their interception (Martin, 2009; Brown, 2008; Bruce and Bessant, 2002; Manzini, 2009). This paper discusses the role that two teaching units – New Product Development and Design Led Innovation – play in forming an understanding of commercialisation needed in today’s Industrial Design education. These units are taught consecutively in the later years of the Bachelor of Industrial Design program at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. In this paper, each teaching unit is discussed in detail and then as a conglomerate, in order to form a basis of knowledge students need in order to fully capitalise on the value design has in business, and to produce a more capable Industrial Design graduate of the future.

Influencing innovation in SME’s : from designer to transitional engineer

The following paper presents insights found during an ongoing industry engagement with a family-owned manufacturing SME in Australia. The study seeks to unpack cultural, strategic, product opportunities and challenges available to the firm engaging in a design led approach to innovation. Design led innovation finds new market opportunities to innovate through a holistic perspective of both the internal business operations, focusing on the customer experience and external stakeholders. The action research based methodology consisted of 25 semi-structured interviews, a reflective journal and focus group, all of which were analysed thematically. This paper focuses on the resultant themes of the focus group data constituting a discussion around the best strategies to try and integrate design thinking as a fundamental skill across the company. The main thematic results included the participant’s limited views of themselves (in current roles) as being to create ‘buy-in’ to change initiatives, a preference to act as a group to gain traction in the firm, importance of better defining the problem before reaching a design solution and lastly the time required to implement versus the need for change. These findings are valuable in assisting other family owned firms in managing core growth activities with design and innovation initiatives, particularly in the area of new product development.

Brokering innovation to better leverage R&D investment

What is the contribution of innovation brokers in leveraging research and development (R&D) investment to enhance industry-wide capabilities? The case of the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (CRC CI) is considered in the context of motivating supply chain firms to improve their organizational capabilities in order to acquire, assimilate, transfer and exploit R&D outcomes to their advantage, and to create broader industry and national benefits. A previous audit and analysis has shown an increase in business R&D investment since 2001. The role of the CRC CI in contributing to growth in the absorptive capacity of the Australian construction industry as a whole is illustrated through two programmes: digital modelling building information modelling (BIM) and construction site safety. Numerous positive outcomes in productivity, quality, improved safety and competitiveness were achieved between 2001 and 2009.

Classification—Content Regulation and Convergent Media

On 24 March 2011, Attorney-General Robert McClelland referred the National Classification Scheme to the ALRC and asked it to conduct widespread public consultation across the community and industry. The review considered issues including: existing Commonwealth, State and Territory classification laws the current classification categories contained in the Classification Act, Code and Guidelines the rapid pace of technological change the need to improve classification information available to the community the effect of media on children and the desirability of a strong content and distribution industry in Australia. During the inquiry, the ALRC conducted face-to-face consultations with stakeholders, hosted two online discussion forums, and commissioned pilot community and reference group forums into community attitudes to higher level media content. The ALRC published two consultation documents—an Issues Paper and a Discussion Paper—and invited submissions from the public. The Final Report was tabled in Parliament on 1 March 2012. Recommendations: The report makes 57 recommendations for reform. The net effect of the recommendations would be the establishment of a new National Classification Scheme that: applies consistent rules to content that are sufficiently flexible to be adaptive to technological change; places a regulatory focus on restricting access to adult content, helping to promote cyber-safety and protect children from inappropriate content across media platforms; retains the Classification Board as an independent classification decision maker with an essential role in setting benchmarks; promotes industry co-regulation, encouraging greater industry content classification, with government regulation more directly focused on content of higher community concern; provides for pragmatic regulatory oversight, to meet community expectations and safeguard community standards; reduces the overall regulatory burden on media content industries while ensuring that content obligations are focused on what Australians most expect to be classified; and harmonises classification laws across Australia, for the benefit of consumers and content providers.

Policy measures for creating an integrated and brand-focused innovation system for film industries in shadow nations : an application to Australia's national film industry

Shadow nations face particular problems in constructing competitive film industries. Shadow nations refer to nations whose relative competitiveness suffers from easy product substitutability by products initiated, produced and distributed by powerful actors, such as media conglomerates located in Hollywood. The dominant literature has so far neglected the developing policy recommendations for dealing explicitly with the challenges of shadow nations. This paper aims to develop and apply a normative model for the development of film industries in shadow nations. The model integrates insights from innovation system studies and place branding. The developed model is applied to the Australian film industry as Australia represents a typical shadow nation within the film industry.

Destination know-where : a road map of a PhD journey in theatre for young people

Within contemporary performance arenas young people are fast becoming part of the vanguard of contemporary performance. Performativity, convergence and openness of form are key animating concepts in the landscape of Theatre for Young People (TYP). To ignore what is taking place in the making of performance for and by young people is to ignore the new possibilities in meaning-making and theatrical form. This thesis investigates the contemporary practice within the field of Theatre for Young People. Pivotal to the study are three hallmarks of contemporary performance – shifting notions of performativity; convergence articulated in the use of technology and theatrical genres; and Umberto Eco’s realisation of openness in form and authorship. The thesis draws from theatre and performance studies, globalisation theory and youth studies. Using interviews of Theatre for Young People practitioners and observation of thirty-nine performances, this thesis argues that young people and Theatre for Young People companies are among the leaders of a paradigm shift in developing and delivering performance works. In this period of rapid technological change young people are embracing and manipulating technology (sound, image, music) to represent whom they are and what they want to say. Positioned as ‘cultural catalysts’ (McRobbie, 1999), ‘the new pioneers’ (Mackay, 1993) and ‘first navigators’ (Rushkoff, 1996) young people are using mediatised culture and digital technologies with ease, placing them at the forefront of a shift in cultural production. The processes of deterritorialisation allows for the synthesis of new cultural and performance genres by fragmenting and hybridising traditional cultural categories and forms including the use of new media technologies. Almost half of all TYP performances now incorporate the technologies of reproduction. The relationship between live and mediatised forms, the visceral and the virtual is allowing young people to navigate and make meaning of cultural codes and cultural forms as well as to engage in an open dialogue with their audiences. This thesis examines the way young people are using elements of deterritorialisation to become producers of new performance genres. The thesis considers the contemporary situation in relation to issues of performance making and performance delivery within a global, networked and technology-driven society.

A methodological approach to modelling design led innovation across secondary education : an Australian case study

Incorporating design thinking as a generic capability at a school level is needed to ensure future generations are empowered for business innovation and active citizenship. This paper describes the methodology of an investigation into modelling design led innovation approaches from the business sector to secondary education, as part of a larger study. It builds on a previously discussed research agenda by outlining the scope, significance and limitations of currently available research in this area, examining an action research methodology utilising an Australian design immersion program case study, and discussing implications and future work. It employs a triangulated approach encompassing thematic analysis of qualitative data collection from student focus groups, semi-structured convergent interviews with teachers and facilitators, and student journals. Eventual outcomes will be reviewed and analysed within the framework of a proposed innovation matrix model for educational growth, synthesising principles responding to 21st century student outcomes. It is anticipated this research will inform a successful design led secondary education innovation model, facilitating new engagement frameworks between tertiary and secondary education sectors, as well as providing new insight into the suitability of action research in prototyping social innovation in Australia.

Hidden Innovation : Policy, Industry and the Creative Sector

The latest book in the internationally acclaimed Creative Economy series. The term ‘two cultures’ was coined more than 50 years ago by scientist and novelist C.P. Snow to describe the divergence in the world views and methods of scientists and the creative sector. This divergence has meant that innovation systems and policies have focussed for decades on science, engineering, technology and medicine and the industries that depend on them. The humanities, arts and social sciences have been bitt players at best; their contributions hidden from research agendas, policy and program initiatives, and the public mind. But structural changes to advanced economies and societies have brought services industries and the creative sector to greater prominence as key contributors to innovation. Hidden Innovation peels back the veil, tracing the way innovation occurs through new forms of screen production enabled by social media platforms as well as in public broadcasting. It shows that creative workers are contributing fresh ideas across the economy, and how creative cities debates need reframing. It traces how policies globally are beginning to catch up with the changing social and economic realities. In his new book, Cunningham argues that the innovation framework offers the best opportunity in decades to reassess and refresh the case for the public role of the humanities, particularly the media, cultural and communication studies disciplines.

Digital Copyright Exchange Feasibility Study : Response to the Hooper Consultation from the Big Innovation Centre

In this submission, we provide evidence for our view that copyright policy in the UK must encourage new digital business models which meet the changing needs of consumers and foster innovation in the UK both within, and beyond, the creative industries. We illustrate our arguments using evidence from the music industry. However, we believe that our key points on the relationship between the copyright system and innovative digital business models apply across the UK creative industries.