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Geoff Mulgan – Social Innovation: Meeting Unmet Needs
About Geoff Mulgan
Geoff Mulgan – Program in Adelaide

Social Innovation in SA

The state of South Australia has a striking record of social innovation. What makes this history so intriguing is that on the face of it, South Australia would seem an unlikely location for such experimentation. A paper, A Collaborative History of Social Innovation in South Australia, has been prepared for the History and Future of Social Innovation Conference. This paper has been prepared following public consultation in South Australia, and is a key output from Geoff Mulgan’s residency. The paper analyses the key factors as to why, at times, South Australia appears to have ‘punched above its weight’ as a leader in social innovation. Click here for the full paper.

Geoff’s final report will be used to prompt further debate about the conditions that have made the state innovative in the past - and what the key conditions are for keeping it innovative in the future.

Geoff Mulgan – Social Innovation: Meeting Unmet Needs

Social Innovation refers to new stragegies, concepts, ideas and organisations that meet social needs of all kinds – from working conditions and education to community development and health.

Dr Geoff Mulgan is one of the world's leading experts on social and organisational innovation.

Geoff will draw attention to the growing importance of social innovation – what it is, why it matters and how it can be applied in South Australia to generate new ideas that work.

Geoff Mulgan will live and work in South Australia as an Adelaide Thinker in Residence in several stages:

Tuesday 10th April to Monday 21st May 2007
Monday 27 August 2007 to Friday 30 August 2007
Monday 18 February to Saturday 28 February 2008
Wednesday 18 June to Saturday 21 2008

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About Geoff Mulgan

Geoff comes to the State with a wealth of experience in innovation and policy development. He is the former Head of Policy for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and established and directed the Blair Government’s Strategy Unit.

Geoff founded and directed DEMOS, known as the UK’s most influential think tank. He was previously a consultant and lecturer in telecommunications; and an investment executive; a reporter for BBC TV and radio and a columnist for national newspapers. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Australia and New Zealand School Of Government.

Geoff is a World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow, and was ranked in 2004 as one of the UK’s 100 leading public intellectuals.

He now works as the Director of the Young Foundation, well known to many South Australian leaders for its ground-breaking work in social innovation. The Foundation’s undertakes research to identify and understand unmet social needs and then develops practical initiatives and institutions to address them - in fields as diverse as health and education, housing and cities.

For further information on Geoff Mulgan and the Young Foundation, click here

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Geoff Mulgan – Program in Adelaide

Geoff Mulgan will provide guidance on models and processes for government and social innovations and future research directions for the State which incorporate South Australia’s goals, targets and existing strengths.

There will be a focus on changing the way the public sector operates.

The objectives of the residency are:

Public value, public sector, & public policy
Develop a philosophical and operational framework for innovation, continuous improvement and community engagement in the SA public sector

Provide guidance and strategic advice on models of innovation and future research directions in public policy in the State

Collaborative mechanisms
Strengthen decision-making processes and service delivery by identifying collaborative mechanisms across tiers of government (i.e. federal-state, state-local), government agencies, universities, non-government, business and local communities

Sustainable, innovative, and socially inclusive community
Develop effective and measurable strategies to achieve sustainable, innovative, and socially inclusive communities using processes which enable community engagement

Identify opportunities for social innovation and policy development.

Partners in Geoff’s residency are:

Department of the Premier and Cabinet
Department of Education and Children’s Services
Flinders University
Planning SA (PIRSA)
University of Adelaide
City of Playford
Government Reform Commission
University of South Australia

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