The innovation charity Nesta has, for the last eighteen months, been a part of a European Commission funded programme to develop partnerships around the concept of Digital Social Innovation.

“…how emerging technologies in the digital economy can transform society by the mobilisation of collective action, enable a more collaborative economy, new ways of making, citizen participation, sustainability and social innovation”.

This European initiative, connected by philosophy and concept, itself overcomes distance by the use of new technology. Bringing together organisations and key players on the innovative transformation of society through their use of the internet.

The idea:

This can be in the creation of projects which develop a more collaborative economy, devise new ways of making, delivering a more open and democratic society, as well as using technology to bring forward new funding streams, accelerator and enterprise incubator programmes.

This whole spectrum of activity sits well with our own social finance mission, based upon strong ethical considerations, which deliver social output as a key return of the business plan.

The event:

We think DSI will continue to grow through 2015. Nesta and its partner organisations are holding an event in Brussels on the 17th February, 2015 to enable players in this new sector to engage, discuss and make new connections.

You can find an agenda and booking details for the free event here, with a link to the usual Eventbrite booking page.

The website:

If you wish to explore DSI further, ahead of the event, the DSI Partnership has a web site that is worth exploring.  You can see who the 1500 or so partner organisations are and access news and information on funding and research. You can also download a set of free resources. See more here.

Their succinct definition, of what DSI is, is given below….

“Digital Social Innovation is a type of collaborative innovation in which innovators, users and communities co-create knowledge and solutions for a wide range of social needs exploiting the network effect of the Internet.”

If you are interested in the transformative power of financial innovation, social change and new technology economies of scale, we think this is a movement worth tracking in 2015. The city, region or national movements in our sector will all find something of interest here.

We may even see you in Brussels?