GE1218 - Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Global and local grand challenges (e.g., inequality, climate change, inadequate housing, discrimination) and the acceleration of change in the economy and social ecosystem require citizens today to take an active part in driving positive change. This phenomenon becomes known as 'social entrepreneurship', a rapidly growing trend where private individuals and groups mobilize private resources and using market mechanisms to benefit the public. Rather than leaving societal problems to the government or businesses, social entrepreneurs lead as change agents and take up the responsibility to drive for a better world and become valuable partners of the government and non-profits in experimenting with new solutions.

The local and global interest in 'social entrepreneurship', 'social innovation', and 'social enterprise' has grown rapidly in the past two decades. Social entrepreneurship is a type of entrepreneurship that relies on economic activities that aim to create social outcomes. Social innovation refers to the pursuit of innovation where the benefits accrue to the society than a particular individual or organization. Social enterprise is the business entity to implement social entrepreneurship and innovation. Social enterprise is a form of business but, unlike conventional commercial businesses, it focuses on bringing about solutions to social problems in a financially sustainable (and often innovative) manner. Examples include 'work integration social enterprises' (WISEs) that employ stigmatized groups (e.g., ex-criminals, people with disability, homeless, refugees, ethnic minority) and socially innovative ventures (e.g., new types of transitional housing, taxis that cater to the elderly, etc). New developments in this area include Certified B Corporation, platform cooperatives, to the use of blockchain and AI to assist poor farmers; many of whom also employ social enterprise models.

This course aims to educate students as positive agents of development and responsible citizens by equipping them with the theories, concepts, and tools to be social entrepreneurs. The skills learned in this course is equally applicable to conventional (for-profit) entrepreneurship. The course integrates Western and non-Western theories, practices, and cases to social entrepreneurship, and thus offers a unique design in the world. It also incorporates and integrates the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) as part of the learning process on aspects that are relevant to social entrepreneurship. As social entrepreneurship is multidimensional, this course adopts a multi-disciplinary approach by combining humanities, public sector management, business management, design, information and communication technology, and technology management.