Testing Social Innovation

The hunt is on for Aussie changemakers to take part in beta testing for a new national social innovation platform.

In collaboration with The Australian Centre for Social Innovation, ASIX will be relaunched as SIX-AUS later this year.

It will become the Australian branch of the global Social Innovation Exchange.

‘‘The needs of the community have changed. We’ve shifted from talking to doing. We want to embed intentionality and rigour into the platform,” Christian-Paul Stenta, overseeing the development of SIX-AUS said.

He said SIX-AUS would weave together previously distinct communities of changemakers.

“There is an opportunity to link what happens locally to national and then global scales,” Stenta said.

“Considering social innovation as a concept, there is a lot more noise associated with working in this space now. We hope to drown out that noise and amplify the good work that is happening.”

The move follows the death last year of ASIX founder Steve Lawrence, described as the ‘grandfather’ of social enterprise in Australia.

“ASIX played a critical role in establishing the social innovation sector in Australia, It took the concept of changemaking from fringe to mainstream,” Stenta said. 

The move was not about replacing ASIX, he said, but building upon its foundations.

ASIX’s existing membership will be key in helping mould the new model. 

As the beta site is developed, members of the existing community will be consulted and invited to participate.

The process was a way of “testing and prototyping at a small scale to develop things that are going to be useful to people,” Stenta said.

The new platform will be officially launched at the Changemakers Festival in November this year.

Previously confined to Sydney, the festival will be expanded to other States and will become SIX-AUS’s flagship event, Stenta said.

The new platform will be based on a subscription model which will eventually require users to pay a membership fee.

Christian-Paul Stenta said the fee model would bring a greater level of accountability to provide targeted and useful services for members.

SIX-AUS is looking for corporate partnerships with organisations interested in investing in social innovation. Click here to find out more.

Click here to register to take part in beta testing.