NASSCOM Foundation Launches Social Innovation Honours
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To recognize excellence and encourage innovation in social development initiatives, NASSCOM Foundation is pioneering the Social Innovation Honours. The annual Honours aim to showcase projects that demonstrate best practices through exemplary use of ICT in areas of social transformation. This Honour is a celebration of innovations that bring about social change and development through the application of cutting-edge technology.
The grand jury comprises Mr. Narayana Murthy, Mr. Jaithirth Rao and Mr. Kiran Karnik. The winners of the Honours will be announced at NASSCOM’s India Leadership Forum in February 2009.
Despite giant leaps that mankind has made in the last century, human society continues to face unprecedented social, economic, environmental, and cultural challenges. Social innovation has the ability to be the vehicle of transformation in the face of such challenges. The Stanford Social Innovation Review defines social innovation as “A novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just (fair) existing solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.”
In creating the platform for Social Innovation Honours, NF aims to identify projects where innovation could be in the form of both a process and a result. In looking at the process, NF aims to understand systems based on transfer and sharing of knowledge across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. For NF, a social innovation can be a product, a process, or a technology, as well as “a principle, an idea, a piece of legislation, a social movement, an intervention, or some combination of them.”
Terms such as social enterprise and social innovation were coined in the non-profit sector and hence continue to be associated only with this sector. However, there are many path-breaking projects that have been initiated by the government as well as corporates which deserve to be recognised and feted.
Hence the achievement of social development through the use of ICT innovations could be in terms of: increased education, better health and hygiene, employment / entrepreneurship opportunities and environment. There are three categories for nomination:
- Non-profit organization: ICT innovation for the community (non-profit) An innovation which helped achieve social development, or aided a community, which is not part of a business plan.
- Profit organization: ICT led business model innovation (for profit) An innovation which helped achieve social development, or aided a community, which is part of a business plan. ICT innovation for the community (non-profit) An innovation which helped achieve social development, or aided a community, which is not part of a business plan.
- Government: ICT led business model innovation: An innovation which helped achieve social development, or aided a community.
Last date of submitting the application form is 20 Oct 2008.
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