Spark: A space for social innovators to combine ideas with networks

SPARK WORKSHOP

Open Collaborative Social Innovation: Helping Good People Do More Good for More People

Facilitated By George Kyriakopoulos

Tuesday, March 27, 2018
6-8 p.m.
Refreshments included with RSVP

Uris Hall, Room 140
3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027

OVERVIEW
Large corporations are leveraging the best collaborative innovation technologies to generate billions of dollars in new business. By bringing together thousands of minds from around the world to engage on tactical, strategic, and operational problems, they’re able to identify solutions that would otherwise never see the light of day.

What if these same technologies could be leveraged for problem solving for social impact? What if nonprofits of any size, anywhere around the world, could tap into the expertise and resources of those same minds?

Endeavour Innovation is a single, central, open impact innovation platform available to nonprofits at no cost. They are creating the capacity to engage with anyone, anywhere around the world, and at any time for social impact. 
 

AREAS FOR DISCUSSION

• What are the fundamental benefits to having a single platform for global open collaboration?
• What are universities’ or corporations’ willingness to pay?
• What would motivate individuals or teams to commit time to global innovation challenges?

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
George Kyriakopoulos is currently a Senior Innovation Consultant at Brightidea working primarily with Fortune 500 corporations globally. He builds continuous programmatic innovation into organizations by helping to create an environment where the risky practice of innovation can survive and flourish through appropriate exposure and expansion in time. 

Spark provides Social Innovators with an opportunity to explore resources, connections and potential solutions to help their social ventures. These workshops tap into the collective knowledge within Columbia University and the larger entrepreneurial and social impact community.

Spark is a platform for ventures to make valuable connections, as the audience is a self-selected group interested in the topic area. Ventures are also able to gather ideas through group brainstorming to help them address specific questions or problems within the business organization. 

These workshops are free and open to all who are willing to bring their ideas, experience, and connections to help solve social and environmental challenges that social innovators aim to address.

If you are unable to attend the above event but would like more information on Spark, please register for our mailing list.

For more information, or if you would like to suggest a future Spark workshop, please contact socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

This workshop is supported by the Lang Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School.