Social Innovation Lab
The purpose of this interdisciplinary course is to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the need for, and impact of, social and sustainable innovation.
Social innovation is defined as the development of effective responses to complex, systemic social and environmental problems. Social innovation acts not only on the consequences of a problem, but also on its root causes. For example, addressing plastic pollution by changing our consumption habits, rather than by collecting garbage in the ocean.
This experiential learning lab, which combines classroom learning with hands-on learning, is a chance for students to develop creativity, design thinking, systems thinking, and analytical skills.
Teams of 4-5 students will work with successful foreign social enterprises, and will assess the feasibility of replicating their innovations in Switzerland.
- What social and/or environmental problem are the social enterprises addressing?
- How are the solutions they developed innovative? How are they achieving systemic change?
- To what extent and how could these innovations be scaled to Switzerland?
Course size: 60 students, with 15 slots reserved per faculty. Open to all MSc students in FGSE, FBM, HEC, and SSP