These three problems used to be the problems that preoccupied people throughout history. These problems have not been solved and millions of people are dying from poverty, disease and war. But where are we heading? What social challenges do we need to deal with in the future.
In most countries around the world people are actually more likely to die from overeating than famine. So innovations to combat problems like overeating are needed.
Better solutions and new ways of solving problems are required in all areas of society. Social innovation may attract less attention compared to business and technological innovation, but social innovation is needed to make positive social change happen. Social innovation is important for social progress. But it is also an important factor in economic growth.
Identifying areas where social innovations are needed and designing new ideas and solutions are the first steps. But how to get people to use these new ideas?
What does it take to change the established social norms in a society?The passion and commitment of other people are vital for new ideas to gain attention. Social change depends on the small organisations, individuals and groups. Like bees, they are quick and mobile and can help to cross-pollinate the trees and spread the new ideas. Sometimes the movements of change can be from one person, or a broader movement such as organic food movement.
Successful innovators learn to work across boundaries and they build effective alliances between small organisations and entrepreneurs and big organisations, trees.
How many people are needed for the majority of the people in the population to start using a new behaviour?
The video below provides some insights from an experimental situation. It is suggested that once a group consists of 25 per cent of committed people they could trigger change.
The challenge is to find the best method to engage committed people.
Where would you look? How would you approach them? What if. . .
