Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The aim of this course is to provide students with a new orientation and way of thinking to organise and lead sustainable development, namely through social innovation and entrepreneurship. Sustainability encompasses many dimensions, including the long-term maintenance of responsibility, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions. This course focuses upon the ways in which social innovation and entrepreneurship are driving the delivery of social (including environmental) value in communities, and the way in which this (accelerating economic) relationship drives social changes, both globally and locally. The focus is thus upon the trends and drivers re-shaping the dynamics of social impact.

The course reviews the key changes that have occurred within each of these sectors: the changing role of government from direct provider to enabler; the emergence of corporate responsibility within the business sector; the emergence of social enterprises and socially responsible businesses within the third sector and the emergence of new forms of philanthropy and social investment. The course will thereby help the students to develop an awareness and critical understanding of the accelerating economic relationship between the government, business and the third (not-for-profit) sectors, in areas of social innovation and entrepreneurship.