Social Innovators Gather Worldwide to Connect an Emerging Global Sector this November

Sept. 21, 2010 - PRLog -- Brussels, Belgium --  Interchangeably called social entrepreneurs, changemakers, or social innovators, more and more people around the world are starting creative new ventures with the intention of tackling some of the planet’s most complex challenges. During the first week in November this year, Connecting Social Innovation 2010 (cosi10) is calling social innovators together at events in a dozen cities around the world, with the aim of strengthening and moving the sector forward.

Co-created by a global group of collaborating social innovation networks, cosi10 offers a platform for new and experienced social innovators to connect locally, regionally and globally. The near-simultaneous events will combine dynamic peer learning approaches and interactive technologies to identify, address and share information about some of the common challenges faced by social innovators worldwide.  

Innovators who attend will also pitch their social venture ideas, for the opportunity to receive venture-specific advice and financial support to be raised by through cosi10 online.

“I think with cosi10, the whole social innovation space is becoming equal. It is allowing people across the development spectrum to speak on the same platform from their own perspectives and channelize global wisdom,” says Pallavi Keshri of eyaas.com, who will host the event in New Delhi, India.  

On the other side of the planet, Matt Nathan of the w1sd0m Network, who will host the event in Denver (USA), hopes that “Participants will  build real working relationships locally and globally that will carry forward in mutual support toward shared goals.”

The first weekend in November will see 2-3 day cosi10 events happening in cities across Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, followed by a 5 week publicity and fundraising campaign for selected social ventures who participate. The funds raised will be awarded by the cosi10 global community of participants in an online voting process in December.

For more information about Connecting Social Innovation 2010, including how to register at the event nearest you, visit www.cosi10.com.

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Evolutionize It, ASBL is a Belgian based non-profit making social enterprise that facilitates collaboration in the emerging local and global social change sector.

We study the practical challenges faced by early- and growth-stage social entrepreneurs, and help co-create systems, live events and virtual contexts that can make meaningful, viable cooperation among players in the social change space happen.

Among the core collaborative models under development at Evolutionize It is Connecting Social Innovation 2010 (www.cosi10.com): a global series of webbed events, designed to facilitate viral collaborative strategy-building between socially innovative entrepreneurs worldwide.