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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
— some notes from Oxford / UK — March 2007vivian HutchinsonSocial Innovation Investment GroupNew Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship
 
THE 2007SKOLL WORLD FORUM
ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP27–29 MARCH 2007
THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS,650 INNOVATORS,FROM OVER 40 COUNTRIES,WORKING TOGETHERTO TIP THE SYSTEM
SPECIAL FOCUS: SOCIAL INNOVATIONThe next Skoll World Forum will major on socialinnovation, asking how we overcome the socialinnovation gap, drive up downward accountability aswe scale initiatives, and how social entrepreneurs canbetter align support for breakthrough models?This year, we also:
Run applied workshops where changemakers canprobe the ways new ideas work in practice and howthey apply to their own ventures
Sustain a growing international debate aboutinnovation in the supply of finance for social change
Advance academic enquiry into the issues that willensure social entrepreneurship is a force for good forthe long termThe Skoll World Forum has rapidly established itselfas the leading event in the social entrepreneurshipcalendar where individuals in the social sector, businessand government can take a passionate and criticalapproach to resolving the planet’s biggest challenges.The Forum sells out early. So book the dates. Contactskollcentre@sbs.ox.ac.uk if we don’t have yourdetails. And watch this space for further news throughthe Autumn.
 
vivian Hutchinson— some notes from the Skoll World Forum 2007 — Page 3 of 39
 
some notes from the Skoll World Forum on Social EntrepreneurshipSaid Business School, Oxford University 26-29 March 2007
vivian HutchinsonExecutive OfficerSocial Innovation Investment GroupNew Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship
 Summary
• This was easily the best conference I have been to in a long while ... it was well run, itattracted a unique diversity of participants, the content had a great deal of depth to it, andthere was robust debate that was engaging and extending.• There were 700 participants from 40 countries including a rich mix of socialentrepreneurs, human rights activists, academics, business leaders, philanthropists andfunders. Many of these people could be counted amongst the most remarkable change-makers of our generation. The Forum provided an unique opportunity for the exchange of legitimacy, insight and creativity between the different communities of these participants.• The conference lived up to its reputation of being the main World Forum in the field of social entrepreneurship. As part of developing our projects with the Social InnovationInvestment Group and the New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship, I have beenresearching and studying who are the key “movers and shakers” in the international sceneof social entrepreneurship. Almost all of them were present at this gathering.• There was so much going on, with up to seven workshops happening at the same timeas well as breakfast sessions and Master Classes at the lunchtime breaks. But it still hungtogether well, particularly around the main plenary sessions which were held in Oxford’shistoric Sheldonian Theatre.• Highlights for me included:— sessions from Geoff Mulgan, Bill Drayton, Charles Handy, Muhammad Yunus andLarry Brilliant— the inevitable sharing of inspiring stories from the many social entrepreneurs, butparticularly Gillian Caldwell and Peter Gabriel, Karen Tse and Taddy Blecher.— the widening of the sense of social entrepreneurship from elite “celebrity” storiestowards recognising the social innovation and entrepreneurship that is also found ingroups and movements.— a sense of the growing literacy about just what makes up the process of socialinnovation, understanding the life cycle of innovations and how to foster innovationmore effectively in many different sectors.— the “open source” example of Ashoka Changemakers, which represents ainnovative model for sharing emergent knowledge and practice.— the practical sessions aimed at Foundations and philanthropy about how to bemore venturesome in giving financial support to new ideas and programmes.• I’ve come away with an immense amount to think about, as well as links, contacts andideas to follow up on. I’ve also had the opportunity to renew some of the internationalcontacts I made at the gathering of “outstanding social entrepreneurs” organised by theSchwab Foundation at Davos last year, and at the Innovation Funders meeting in SanFrancisco.• This report contains my personal diary notes from the Forum. It is a combination of adescription of the sessions I went to, my thoughts at the time, and the links and research Ihave been doing on the people and their projects since the Forum took place.
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