GCU London hosts leaders of European social innovation

More than 50 of the leading researchers and practitioners in social innovation in Europe have visited GCU London for a major summit.

The event attracted experts from 13 different countries representing universities, civil society organisations and governmental bodies.

Social innovation has been defined as the search for new products, services or business models which meet pressing social needs, from microcredit to low carbon initiatives.

It is closely aligned to the kind of work espoused by GCU’s new Chancellor, Professor Muhammad Yunus.

The participants at the event were invited to develop effective project ideas directly addressing the funding opportunities emerging from Europe’s FP7 Research Funding Programme.

Discussions centred around a range of issues including social innovation incubation, training and capacity building, economic underpinnings of social innovation, social entrepreneurship, the impact of the third sector, and social innovation for health promotion.

Mark Anderson, Head of EU Programmes at GCU and organiser of the event, said: “GCU is very well placed to put itself at the forefront of this exciting new direction in European funding.

“As a direct result of today’s discussions we are already preparing a number of proposals in partnership with premiere organisations who have come along looking for new partnerships.”