Recent Blog Entries

Vern's picture

From a Managerial to an Entrepreneurial Society

Submitted by Vern on 25 April 2012 - 11:14am

'From a Managerial to an Entrepreneurial Society', Ken Phillips, Independent Contractors Australia. http://www.contractworld.com.au/

“Simon Bridge is Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Ulster. He’s written for us before about the change from an agricultural to a Fordist to an entrepreneurial society. http://www.contractworld.com.au/discussions/ica-simon-bridge-innovation-history-evolution.php

Vern's picture

SOCIAL INNOVATION, SOCIAL ENTERPRISE, SOCIAL CHANGE. Projects, Innovations, Enterprises in Transforming Australia

Submitted by Vern on 17 April 2012 - 9:44am

SOCIAL INNOVATION, SOCIAL ENTERPRISE, SOCIAL CHANGE
Projects, Innovations, Enterprises in Transforming Australia
National Conference Melbourne 18-19 June 2012
Deadline for expressons of interest in contributing - 30 April 2012.

We are especially interested in the following topics:

Vern's picture

Social Innovation in the Ability World

Submitted by Vern on 2 April 2012 - 3:12pm

Al Etmanski is the founder of PLAN in British Columbia (Personalised Lifestyle Arrangements Network), one of the most innovative family-based organisations in the world in driving change in disability. Al Etmanski has posted this news item:

"The federal government has made PLAN an offer we can't refuse - to take over the running of the Federal Office of Disability Issues. The Board of PLAN has agreed to the takeover - with two conditions:

Vern's picture

Desperate times have not led to transformation of public services

Submitted by Vern on 21 March 2012 - 1:19pm
Desperate times have not led to transformation of public services - Where are the managers and elected leaders thinking great thoughts about changing the way services are delivered?

The age of austerity has not transformed the public sector around the world. It is business as usual. Why is there still a huge chasm between the upsurge in social innovation and entrepreneurship around the world, and the way public services still operate?

Vern's picture

Global Social Tourism - Call for Partners and Participants

Submitted by Vern on 15 March 2012 - 11:25am

Global Social Tourism – Call for Partners and Participants

Global Social Tourism is a global business venture linking the world’s communities, travellers, social enterprises, businesses, and institutions in a unique collaborative development of social tourism. By 'social tourism', we mean social and business activity that:

a. builds on social connections to introduce communities to travellers and travellers to communities with the aim of providing rich social and cultural experiences;

Abdul Kalam Azad's picture

XLRI, Jamshedpur (INDIA) hosts International Workshop on Inclusive Financial Innovation

Submitted by Abdul Kalam Azad on 10 March 2012 - 3:41am

Last month I got an invitation from Professor HK Pradan of XLRI Jamshedpur to attend the three-day International Workshop on Inclusive Financial Innovation: Making Finance and Insurance Markets Work for the Poor, conducted during March 1-3, 2012 XLRI Jamshedpur and it was a great learning experience in deed.

Vern's picture

Charlie Leadbeater on Revisiting Ivan Illich: Deschooling Society, Limits to Medicine, Disabling Professions

Submitted by Vern on 1 March 2012 - 12:45pm
Charlie Leadbeater on Revisiting Ivan Illich: Deschooling Society, Limits to Medicine, Disabling Professions and Tools for Conviviality - Moving beyond industrial era institutions.

"Professionals have an inbuilt tendency, despite the best intentions of many individuals, to become cartels, a kind of priesthood. They are not just gatekeepers of knowledge, resources and status.

Vern's picture

Entrepreneurs and Innovators vs Corporatism

Submitted by Vern on 16 February 2012 - 9:40am

Entrepreneurs and Innovators vs Corporatism - Edmund S. Phelps and Safedean Ammous. "The capitalist system has been corrupted. The managerial state has assumed responsibility for looking after everything from the incomes of the middle class to the profitability of large corporations to industrial advancement. This system, however, is not capitalism, but rather an economic order that harks back to Bismarck in the late nineteenth century and Mussolini in the twentieth : corporatism."

Vern's picture

The 20th century was shaped by the rise of professionals. But now a new breed of amateurs has emerged . . The Pro-Am Revolution

Submitted by Vern on 13 February 2012 - 11:11am
The 20th century was shaped by the rise of professionals. But now a new breed of amateurs has emerged . . The Pro-Am Revolution

The Pro-Am Revolution
Charles Leadbeater Paul Miller
http://www.civilsociety.org.au/proamrevolution.pdf

ASIXadmin's picture

Aussie Rules Innovation, or how radical democracy and digital tools shape our thinking, work and accelerate service improvement

Submitted by ASIXadmin on 12 February 2012 - 3:44am

Richard Wilson argues that now is the time for Australia to seize its role as a global leader in social innovation