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May 03, 2008

Spreading Innovative Solutions to Society's Problems

A new project Public Innovators, seeks to build stronger ties between government officials and social entrepreneurs.

The premise is that people from both worlds have a lot to share with each other.

Social entrepreneurs have developed creative new approaches to many of the pressing problems that government officials are trying to solve in areas like education, health care, and poverty. Government, in turn, has the resources that social entrepreneurs need to expand the reach of their programs and create systemic change.

“What social entrepreneurs are really doing is they’re responding to market failures, not unlike a regular entrepreneur responds to market opportunities,” says Andrew Wolk, chief executive of Root Cause, the Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit group behind Public Innovators. “They are trying to do that by creating transformative, innovative solutions that are sustainable.”

Together with the Aspen Institute, a Washington think tank, Root Cause has published a report that discusses how government agencies could use their influence – and grant dollars – to encourage more innovative approaches to solving social problems.

Among the report’s recommendations: Government agencies should give nonprofit groups greater latitude in how they spend government grants to encourage creativity, but at the same time, set performance standards and publish results.

Over the next 18 months, Root Cause and Aspen plan to hold a series of meetings in cities nationwide to discuss how government officials and social entrepreneurs can do a better job of collaborating. Those discussions will be followed by a conference for government officials to come together to share lessons learned about working with social entrepreneurs.

— Nicole Wallace

Saturday May 3, 2008 | Permalink

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