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TOOLS for Social Innovation Incubation
The Transition Scaling Centers present you a selection of the tools to support social innovation incubation.
The tools have been developed within the SIJ framework.
Tool #1: The Spark Sessions
transition
TRANSNATIONAL NETWORK
FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION
INCUBATION
There are several different tools and activities
that incubators can use at the Who stages of
the Journey. One activity that the Transition
Scaling Centres have been piloting and which
have proven to be a useful tool is the Spark
Session workshops. The purpose of the spark
sessions is two fold. Firstly, Spark Sessions act
as the initial dissemination vehicle for getting
in touch with social innovators and would besocial innovators in the catchment areas. This
is how the Transition Scaling Centres have
been able to attract promising ideas to their
incubators.
Secondly, Spark Sessions act as the first stage
of scaling support, on a mass-scale, with the
desired outcome of identifying a smaller
number of social innovations that can be
taken into a more intensive incubator support
programme.
Spark sessions can be organised in a range of
different ways to achieve the
above-mentioned aims, but will all have some
common elements. The workshops include a
panel of expert speakers, designed to
stimulate a discussion around social
innovation and to present a short overview of
the offer of support. Guest speakers are
invited to share their model of social
innovation and participants are encouraged to
present their own ideas to each other. In this
way the Spark Sessions not only promote the
support available, but also acts as a forum for
policy discussion, network building and even
pitching for support from investors in
attendance.