Geoff Mulgan, Director of NESTA, at ESADE: “Action is what generates hope”
“The belief that every complex problem has a simple solution is not true. The challenges we face as a society – the aging population, the refugee crisis, terrorism, etc. – require complex solutions. The key is to create the massive capacity to innovate and to be able to move closer to these solutions and empower the population in this sense,” declared Geoff Mulgan, CEO of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), at the 10th Annual Conference of the ESADE Institute for Social Innovation, which focused on the theme of “Designing the Future: How to Solve Complex Social Challenges” and was organised in collaboration with the EY Foundation.
Mr. Mulgan also commented: “Hope does not generate action. It’s the other way around: action is what generates hope.” Ignasi Carreras, Director of the ESADE Institute for Social Innovation, delivered the opening remarks at the conference. “When it comes to solving problems, the most important thing is to want to solve them,” he commented. “A good attitude is the first step in generating the pieces that end up solving problems.” Josep M. Lozano, Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at ESADE, pointed out a risk: “The what and the how of a company can make us forget the why. That why must be linked to the social aspect. Without the why, we will advance, we will make changes – but we will not generate transformation.” He added: “Organisations must create spaces where they can nourish the why of their workers, not only in organisational terms but also social and personal terms.”
Financing social enterprises
Lisa Hehenberger, Lecturer in the Department of Strategy and General Management at ESADE, commented: “Social enterprises need financing and support. No one questions the fact that for-profit companies must invest in infrastructure and personnel in order to improve their bottom line. However, they do question the fact that social enterprises spend money on this, even though it’s obvious that they cannot work if they don’t invest in infrastructure.” Dr. Hehenberger described venture philanthropy and impact investing as important trends that are helping social enterprises obtain financing, but noted that they remain “far outside the mainstream”. She added: “Social enterprises are demonstrating the ability to self-finance, but they need to develop capacities. It is important to eliminate barriers. We must work to normalise social initiatives and eliminate the prejudices that prevent social enterprises from obtaining financing.”
Diversity: the key to fostering innovation
Amira Bliss, Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, listed various tools for introducing social innovation in organisations and fostering the ability to generate sustained innovation over time, including “setting aside specific resources for innovation”. Ideally, she explained, “20% of your total budget should be allocated for innovation and 10% for radical innovation”. Ms. Bliss stressed the need to build “teams that are diverse not only in terms of gender but also race, age and abilities”. Mr. Carreras echoed this point, noting: “People tend to hire people who look like them. You will not innovate if you don’t hire a diverse group of people.”
Big data for the common good
Genís Roca, Co-founder and Chairman of RocaSalvatella, pointed out an conceptual error in the term big data: “Companies have always had a lot of data. What’s important is not the amount of information you can handle but how long it takes you to get a piece of data, process it and act on it.” Therefore, Mr. Roca argued, a more accurate term would be fast data. “Collecting data without people’s permission is dangerous,” he added. “I don’t think that’s the future. I think an honest relationship between companies and users will necessarily prevail.”
Pedro A. de Alarcón presented the project he leads at Telefónica, which is called Big Data for Social Good. “At present, part of our commitment is to transform the data that we have and give them back to society,” he explained. His department collaborates with institutions such as UNICEF and the Inter-American Development Bank. “With UNICEF, for example, we have launched an earthquake prevention programme in Colombia”, he explained. He wrapped up his remarks by urging members of the audience to propose new forms of collaboration.
