The Centre for Social Impact Officially Launched

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard was among the guest speakers at the recent launch of the Centre for Social Impact at the University of NSW.

The event, before an audience of 500, was hosted by chief executive of the new Centre, Professor Peter Shergold who introduced a number of leading social innovation thinkers and practitioners.

The Deputy Prime Minister congratulated Professor Shergold on his new projects saying that after such a long period at the top of public administration in Australia, Peter should be applauded for choosing to pursue this project of creating a centre which can bring together research, teaching and cross-sector partnerships to create positive social impact at the intersections between government, business and community life.

Professor Shergold told the audience the goal of the CSI is to become Australia‘s leading academic centre in support of Not for Profit organisations.

He said through a dynamic program of teaching, learning opportunities, research and consultancy services, the CSI will contribute significantly to the managerial capacity, leadership capacity and social innovation of Australia’s third sector.

And he said while the CSI will aspire to academic excellence, it will also endeavour to facilitate effective dialogue between corporate, Not for Profit and social entrepreneurship in creating public benefit.

The Centre for Social Impact, is hosted by the Australian School of Business at UNSW, is a partnership between leading Australian universities, including the University of Melbourne.