The conference is organised by the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Bank of Ideas and seeks to provide though learning conversations, presentations and skill development workshops the opportunity to
attendees to gain insight the community building process.

Date : Tuesday, April 30 – Wednesday, May 1

Ticket : $550 $550 – No single day tickets available

Location : Spring Street Conference Centre, Melbourne

Six workshops will be presented on three occasions on each day of the conference, and attendees can choose which three they wish to attend. Social Innovation in Western Australias own Brodie McCulloch will present on Day 2 about Social Enterprise : A growth Industry. Besides the opportunity to engage in six workshop events, attendees will have the chance to hear from Vicki Buck, the former mayor Christchurch, NZ. Vicki was the Mayor for nine years, which gave her the chance to put her philosophy of community leadership into practice, and is now internationally recognised for leading turn around in Christchurch as both a city and a community.

Power to the People is recommended for all community related managers, directors and councillors, as well as CEOS, stakeholders, consultants, and community groups and members. To register online, visit the Municipal Association of Victoria website under upcoming events.

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The organisation is committed to driving positive change in society the ‘business’ way and aim to be the launchpad for entrepreneurs who will go forth to create significant social impact in both Australia and around the world.

SS48 will hold a 48 hour weekend of development and growth for Perth in Spacecubed that will see a group of 60 people who share similar passions come together to launch social startups. Participants are provided with the network, support, tools and resources they need to take the first steps into social enterprise during the weekend.

The date of the SS48 in Spacecubed is still to be confirmed, but ensure you have reserved your spot for the event.

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Global Service Jam is the largest Service Design event in the world, with over 2000 people in 85 cities in 45 countries participating in the event in 2012. For the first time, the Global Service Jam is coming to Perth in March, 2013, and Perth will participate alongside over 105 cities worldwide.

Global Service Jam Perth

When : Friday, March 1 – Sunday, March 3

Where : Spacecubed

Tickets : Jammer $45

Global Service Jam brings together over 2000 people in 40 countries, to apply Design Thinking to the shared theme of the weekend, which is revealed on Friday night. Around the world, each Jam will see people from all areas of work come together and form teams to develop and prototype completely new services that are inspired by the theme in just 48 hours.

At the end of the weekend, each groups collection of services will be published to their peers all around the world. Some participants will continue with their ideas and turn their prototypes into a real service. Throughout the weekend, the groups will be supported by knowledgeable mentors who help create solutions, discover new ideas and offer any help the group may need.

To join the Global Service Jam in Perth, register now as there are only 60 places available.

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The workshop saw a mix of corporate and government, and not for profit and social entrepreneurs come together in Spacecubed to hear from Christian Bason in November. The day saw Christian introduce Design Thinking and work through case studies that show the Design Thinking process. He also discussed the mega trends and their impact, before breaking the workshop up into small groups to apply the Design Thinking principles to their own problems and organisations.

The talk in the evening was a free session and saw over 100 attendees arrive in Spacecubed to hear Christian talk about Opportunities for Cross Sector Innovation. Following the talk, Christian answered questions from the group, and spoke on how Design Thinking can be applied to Cross Sector Innovation.

Below are the slides from the Design Thinking Workshop that Christian held in Spacecubed.

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The first screening of Design & Thinking in WA will be at Luna Cinemas on Sx in Fremantle, and has been brought to Perth by AGDA (Australian Graphics Design Association), as well as Spacecubed and the Design Institute of Western Australia. Spacecubed members can register to attend under the member ticket section.

The night starts at 6 pm at Luna with champagne and a chance to network, before moving in to the cinema to view the film at 6.30.

Design & Thinking – First WA Screening

When : Thursday, November 1

Where : Luna on Sx, 13 Essex St, Fremantle

Time : 6 for a 6.30pm start

Tickets : $15 for members and Students, $25 for everyone else

The documentary Design & Thinking grabs businessman, designers, social change makers and unlikely individuals to portrait all they have in common when facing this ambiguous 21st century.

The film is inspired by design thinking and aims to bring forward the process and ambiguity of how designers and creative people think and do things. Change-making organisations like Code for America are put next to local bike shops and Coca-Cola to provide real world inspirations of Design Thinking. The documentary also shows Design Thinking thought leaders share their beliefs as skeptics progress the movie in a thought-provoking fashion. All the leaders believe asking the right questions is more important than providing form answers.

Visit the Design & Thinking Facebook and Twitter page for more information on the documentary.

If you are interested in Design Thinking and would like to learn more, purchase a ticket to the Design Thinking Workshop and Big Opportunities talk, led by Christian Bason of MindLab, to be held in Spacecubed on November 7, 2012.

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As part of this program, Christian will be presenting a workshop on Design Thinking in Spacecubed, followed by a talk on Cross Sector Innovation on November 7.

Workshopping Complex “Wicked Problems” using Design Thinking

Date : Wednesday, November 7
Time : 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Tickets :  From $99

The Big Opportunities – Opportunities for Cross Sector Innovation

Date : Wednesday, November 7
Time : 5:30 – 7:00pm
Tickets : Free

Workshopping Complex “Wicked Problems” using Design Thinking

The workshop, to be held in the afternoon, is designed to be interactive and will allow attendees to take away new ways of thinking and working and then implement them into their organisations. Christian will explore Design Thinking and get start to use some of the tools and frameworks on problems.

The workshop will cover an introduction into Design Thinking, the process and application of Design Thinking and case studies. Attendees will also look at mega trends and their impacts on businesses, before breaking in to groups to problem solve. Christian will also be on hand for a Q&A session at the end of the workshop.

To read more about the Workshopping Complex ‘Wicked Problems’ using Design Thinking workshop, or to purchase tickets, follow to the Eventbrite page.

The Big Opportunities – Opportunities for Cross Sector Innovation

The evening talk will see Christian Bason talk to the group on the big opportunities facing us for Cross Sector Innovation and the benefits of this. He will also cover the frameworks of this innovation and how Design Thinking can help and be applied.

Read more and sign up to come to the talk now, as spaces are limited.

About Christian Bason

Director of Innovation - MindLab Denmark

The Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA), is pleased to present a series of events with Christian Bason as part of its Visiting Specialist Program from 5-8 November 2012 in Perth, WA.

Christian is the Director of MindLab, a cross-ministerial innovation lab in Copenhagen, Denmark. He holds an M.Sc in political science and is currently working on a PhD thesis on public managers as designers. Prior to joining MindLab, Christian led the public organisation and management practice of Ramboll, a consultancy.

Christian is passionate about transforming the public sector’s ability to better meet the needs of citizens and society. Christian is also a university lecturer, and has presented to and advised governments around the world. He is a regular columnist and blogger and the author of four books on leadership, innovation and change in the public sector, most recently Leading Public Sector Innovation: Co-creating for a Better Society. (Policy Press, 2010). You can also find Christian on LinkedIn.

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Tom Tolchard is Social innovation in Western Australia’s Project Director and has been working on a range of Social Enterprise capacity building projects. Below he describes some of the work he has been doing with a range of different organisations in Western Australia.

We’ve known the Social Traders team for a few years now and always really respected the work they do in finding a voice for the social enterprise sector in Australia. We were naturally delighted when earlier in the year SiiWA secured a partnership arrangement with our mates over east to help Social Traders deliver the West Australian component of their national Social Enterprise Capacity Building support program (sponsored by DEEWR).

The brief to SiiWA was refreshingly open and went along the lines of “identify West Australian social enterprise concepts and invest time in supporting and mentoring their founders to achieve sustainable, successful and employment generating businesses”, Awesome!

After some initial background checking and the necessary due diligence work SiiWA offered support to three organisations.

Dismantle http://www.dismantle.org.au

Dismantle creates opportunities that empower people to adopt cycling as part of their everyday lives, for the betterment of the individual, the community and the planet. We believe that bicycles can be used as a medium to tackle serious social issues in a positive and engaging way. The Dismantle concept centres around the notion that bikes enable people to be healthier, happier, more environmentally friendly and connected to their community. So quite simply getting more people onto bikes will act as a catalyst for positive social change. Our major point of difference to other organisations that implement bicycle empowerment programs is that we are developing a scalable one-for-one social enterprise model that directly links corporate office workers with disadvantaged young people.

1) We operate a community bicycle recycling workshop in central Fremantle.

2) We run a program that uses the process of recycling bicycles as an empowering experience for disadvantaged youth. The program encourages participants to engage positively in the community, teaches that self respect is earned (not given) and promotes positive lifestyle choices.

3) We have developed a corporate bicycle wellness program that engages corporates in our charitable work.

Working with Lachy Ritchie, the brainchild and founder of the Dismantle concept, has been a great experience. Lachy is a typical social entrepreneur, bursting with ideas and constantly spotting new avenues for Dismantle to explore. The support SiiWA offered to Dismantle has been based around the crawl, walk, run philosophy of getting a start up organisation into great shape before diversifying what it does. The deliverables so far have consisted of developing a 5 year financial road map, the identification of the Dismantle core business units and developing a statewide stakeholder map in order to position Dismantle front of mind to individuals and organisations who stand to benefit from it’s existence. SiiWA has also worked with Dismantle to ensure that governance, structural and legal requirements are all in place in order to limit the risk within the business.

“Working with SiiWA has been a great experience, these guys understand what the pressures of starting a social enterprise are because they’ve been through it. They tell it like it is and deliver support in a down to earth and supportive way. Working with SiiWA has enabled me to concentrate on firstly staying in business before I take on the world…They have helped Dismantle to create the financial accountability mechanism needed to help us achieve our goals.” Lachy Ritchie, CEO Dismantle

Watch a video of Lachy Ritchie, talking about Dismantle.

Pollinators Inc is a growing community of social entrepreneurs comprising more than 115 members. Pollinators Inc is a non-profit, incorporated association that operates as a social enterprise – aiming to generate more than 50% of its income through trading activity.

Pollinators Inc priorities include supporting member ventures and projects, and delivering social impact directly through operation of different ‘cells’:
•    CityHive http://www.cityhive.org innovation and coworking space,
•    Events including Swarm (see flyer attached), Lunchtime Learning, Tech Talks, and ‘Fika’,
•    Programs such as the upcoming 3-month Innovative Leaders program (as outlined in attached overview),
•    Membership connecting, profiling and supporting regional social entrepreneurs.Pollinators has demonstrated our capacity to analyse, plan and deliver to meet local community needs in a way that no-one else can:
•    Conducting unique research and reports on Workspace needs, regional leadership programs, and entrepreneurs learning needs,
•    Operating the CityHive coworking space, meeting a demonstrated need for entrepreneurs, community groups and others to acccess a professional space to work, collaborate with and be inspired by each other,
•    Attracting more than 115 members and 240 subscribers to our newsletter from across the Mid West in the first 12 months,
•    Creating Geraldton’s premier weekly networking event ‘Friday Fika’, and biweekly ‘Lunchtime Learning’ program.

St Bartholomew’s House http://www.stbarts.org/

“A dose of bad luck, an error of judgement, mental illness or family crisis – any of these things could befall any one of us. And who will be there to help reconnect the person with their community, their friends and their family?”

Who are we?

St Bartholomew’s House Inc (St Bart’s), established in 1963, has its origins in the Anglican Church. Starting out with a few mattresses on the floor of a church hall, St Bart’s now goes beyond providing a roof, a bed and food. We provide stability, support, care and life changing opportunities for homeless people. In this way we build trust, resilience, confidence and self esteem to help them reconnect with the wider community.

 More than a mere shelter, St Bart’s is about the development of people. We engage the homeless, and those at risk of homelessness, in their own recovery. We go on the journey with people, walking alongside, giving support and helping to find solutions that lead to a better life. St Bart’s treats people with compassion, respect, dignity and understanding. We have a facility in East Perth and units scattered through the suburbs of Perth where 350 homeless people have a safe place to sleep every night, but many we know we can help, we have to turn away
Having conducted Social Return on Investment analysis for St Bart’s it came as
no surprise when Lynne Evan’s (St Bart’s CEO) approached me to see if I could assist her in “hatching a couple of plans”. St Bartholomew’s have a real drive to enter the social enterprise sector but rightly so want to ensure that in doing so their new enterprise complements the current business model, provides meaningful employment for their homeless residents and presents sufficient financial returns in order to make the project low risk.It is also of particular interest given that they will shortly move to own and manage the largest supported housing unit in the whole of Western Australia.

It’s great to be supporting the NFP sector in WA in this type of conversation. As much as we all want to see social enterprise projects getting off the ground, it is essential that we see the right projects get started, well-researched, rigorously costed, risk managed and furnished by strong governance.

In supporting St Bartholomew’s House SiiWA has developed a range of potential partnership based business plans. After some hard discussions and some in-depth number crunching SiiWA and St Bart’s continue to explore the WA market for opportunities to launch the right models which support their current business, not
detract from it.

“Working with Tom Tolchard and the broader SiiWA business has be a great experience for St Bartholomew’s House. SiiWA has such a lot to offer the community sector in helping develop business models, which provide hope and engagement for NFP clients of all circumstances and abilities.” Lynne Evans CEO of St Bartholomew’s House.

 

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We believe that this space will be the catalyst for collaboration and innovation in Perth and regional WA with a unique structure to that consists of 1/3rd Social and Environmental Startups, 1/3rd Technology and Creative Entrepreneurs and 1/3rd Government and Corporate projects. This mix is where we see the real innovation coming from as we will have people who are running international NGO’s sitting next to app developers sitting next to Government Departments.

Full information on the space and events leading up to the opening can be found at www.spacecubed.org.

We will keep you up to date on this site as it is our first big partnership driven project but we look forward to seeing you at Spacecubed in early 2012.

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One of the key issues many of the Social Entrepreneurs we meet in WA are having is obtaining a clear understanding of what makes them investment ready and the needs of Philanthropists when investing in Social Enterprises, Social Ventures and Social Projects. Access to this early stage advice and feedback on your social enterprise can mean saving you time, effort and resources.

Philanthropist Office Hours provide both traditional Philanthropists and Venture Philanthropists the opportunity to provide this early stage feedback and advice to Social Entrepreneurs and Change Makers. It also introduces them to a range of startup social enterprises in Western Australia that are geared for high social impact.

For Social Entrepreneurs it provides insight and feedback on their project and allows them to bounce ideas off experienced people who have been investing in Social Projects, Ventures and Enterprises. This feedback will provide a solid platform for the Entrepreneur to move their project forward.

The format of Philanthropist Office Hours is -

• 10 minutes for the Entrepreneur to ask questions and test assumptions
• 10 minutes for the Philanthropist to provide feedback and ask questions of their own
• 10 minutes to discuss options, potential and future directions

Some of Western Australia’s leading Philanthropists have registered (as well as many who do not promote their giving publicly) and are willing to provide their time, expertise and knowledge to providing that crucial guidance and feedback to Social Entrepreneurs. We will be conducting the office hours out of the Hub Perth once completed in November but will start the program in early October.

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The event was designed to start conversations around what Perth needs and building a community of people who want to be part of the space. Discussions took place around the purpose, sense of place, networks, design, facilities and services. All of this information was gathered and is being uploaded and discussed on www.hubperth.org and on our ideas platform.

The goal is to have the space in working order by October – November 2011 and we can start having our first tenants, events and access to meeting rooms. The project has now been split (although the community can still contribute) into three parts which all need to happen in parallel: Community – Design – Governance

Community – Off the co-creation event how do we keep building a community that will generate value? Can we start some events now? do we need a space to get started?

Design – We are finalising a design partnership now, but the community will have a big say on how this roll out happens over the next 3 – 24 months. What design features / facilities do we need?

Governance – This is the stuff that needs to happen…insurance, legal structure, administration, contracts etc. We are working on this in the background but if there is anything specific we need feedback on we will be sure to share.

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