To boost social entrepreneurship in Asia, we need a culture of social innovation. As the social issues in urban areas of Asia are quite similar, it is worthwhile to collaboratively think about innovative ideas that can tackle or address social issues and share our common experience with hopes to bring social entrepreneurship into a whole new level.
To generate a sustainable development of a culture of social innovation in the region, we must encourage the generally public to “think social”. The Asia Social Innovation Award is one of the pioneers that allows literally anyone to participate in this idea-generation process.
Your simple idea will be a first step to change the society and the world!About the Award Calling for Applications »
We believe that the urban social challenges in many Asian cities are quite alike, these pressing problems need to be solved immediately, and whenever the traditional model does not satisfy the needs of the society, innovations are demanded.
"Social Enterprise" has become a hot topic in recent years. However people tend to focus their discussion on the entity itself, instead of the more powerful concept behind that leads to ultimate social change - "Social Innovation", which is also relatively weak in Asia, creating a big barrier for social entrepreneurship to groom in the region.
However, from a worldwide perspective, social enterprises have undeniably brought great positive impact worldwide. For instance, social enterprise accounts for 1% of the GDP in UK. In fact, social enterprises contribute tremendously in creating a culture of social innovation among communities.
In order to promote the culture of social innovation and enrich people’s knowledge on social issues, and to build a platform to encourage the sharing of ideas and experience among Asian cities, the Asia Social Innovation Award has been born since 2008, hoping to pathway for a sustainable development of social innovation culture in the region.
The Award will be the first innovative social enterprise event in Asia to apply a simple and easy mechanism to engage the general public to participate in the discussion, and to deliver positive and concrete innovative solutions to tackle these problems.
We hope that this simple idea-generating competition calling for level-zero social innovation ideas will be able to attract the general public to take part.
So, it's now time for us to brainstorm some creative ideas, and you too can bring about a social revolution. Make use of your imagination, and change might be initiated by you in the society!
Please pick one of the following social agenda, and propose an innovative social enterprise concept using 200-500 words. You may also submit your idea in a video format.
The aging population in Asia continues to increase. In Hong Kong, the population aged 65 or above is expected to surge from about 900,000 at present to 2.1 million by 2030, which will account for a quarter of our population. The impact of an aging population in Asia is pervasive, profound and enduring. It is a global phenomenon affecting every aspect of our lives, such as economic, social and political arenas. The rapidly aging population brings tremendous challenges but also opportunities to supporting infrastructure in our society as a whole.
What innovative ideas can you think of to raise the public awareness and create sustainable solutions?
Urban poverty is getting more and more acute in our world. Statistics from the United Nations shows that more than 2.8 billion people are living with less than US$2/day or equivalent. In Hong Kong, there are more than 2.3 million low-income household and the median monthly income of a 3-person family is less than US$1,500. Most of the poor in many countries are single mothers with children. The major problem for the poor is that they cannot afford necessities like medicine or proper education. Cross-generation poverty further complicates the issue and may create social unrest in long run.
How can we make a difference for these underprivileged families and empower them to cope with the life challenges?
Parenting has become a hot topic in our society, creating social pressure to parents. Many parents are being called as either “Monster Parents” or “Unconcerned Parents”. “Monster parents”, in general, are aggressive and over-protective of their children. As a result, children are spoiled and these “Spoiled Children” create further social problems. They may have temper tantrums and are self-centered, whilst their parents do not know how set the right boundaries and to deal with such behavioral issues. On the other hand, there are also “Unconcerned Parents” whose children are being unattended and uncared for by their parents. Those parents are imperceptibly making their children isolate themselves from the world.
How could you help these parents and the society to build up and maintain a healthy relationship between children and their parents?
Criteria include originality, viability and sustainability of idea. Apart from imaginative and innovative ideas or concept, existing ideas are also welcomed.
We will open up the submission system in mid-August. Stay tuned for the details.
Asian Pacific Region:
On or before 6 th October, 2013 (Sunday) at 23:59pm (Hong Kong time)
Hong Kong Region:
On or before 13 th October, 2013 (Sunday) at 23:59pm (Hong Kong time)
1 List of qualified Asian countries/cities, subjected to the addition or removal of countries at the sole discretion of SVhk:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.
The winning ideas from other Asian countries will be posted in early-November, and the winners will be notified individually.
The Award Presentation Ceremony for "Hong Kong" and "Asian" winners will be held in November.
With the support of corporate partners and other SE-related organizations, Social Ventures Hong Kong would like to further expand the event, by inviting ASIA2012’s finalists and winners to join the House of Social Innovators.
Formed under the collaboration of various SE-competitions, together with alumnus of these competitions, HoSI is a platform that will provide on-going support to passionate social entrepreneurs to transform social innovative ideas to sustainable social enterprise and to nurture investment-ready social enterprises and bring it to the marketplace.
For each application, you only need to suggest an idea that addresses one of the social issues. You can at most submit 3 separate applications, each of them tackling one of the given problems.
Applicants are only allowed to type out their idea or upload their video to YouTube and submit their application online. Please email us if you experience any difficulties submitting your idea online.
The judging panel will only judge those ideas that are in English or Chinese. If you unable to fulfill this requirement, please consult the organization you belong to, and see if they will be able to translate the main theme of your idea into the appropriate language.
We have received a record-breaking number of 480+ submissions last year from all across Asia and below are the winners of the 2012 Award:
Aging PopulationEnglish Name: Natthaporn Kittiwithayakul
Country of Residence: Thailand
Idea: Knowledge Sharing Platform - Elderly people are valued for their life experience and expertise,which will be gone once the person passes away. The aim of this ideawould be to extract this knowledge and specialization in order to create an online and mobile application pay-per-view system.The campaign would allow the aging population to gain pride in their specializations by providing it to those among general public who want to learn more about it.
Here, the public would be participating in a socially-responsible mission to help the elderly by providing small amounts of capital and helping to carry on their stories and valuable treasures.
Recent Status: "For the past months, I lived an active and busy life by interning at a business consulting firm, competing in case competitions as well as finishing my last semester because, in May, I will be graduating as a finance student with a marketing minor from the BBA Program, Thammasat University. After receiving the awards, I always extend stories about SVhk and its valuable projects to my colleagues and friends aiming to increase idea participations to this year's award together with the awareness to social enterprise in as a whole. My near plan would be to join the House of Social Innovation, to look for job (hopefully business consulting firms) and last but not least, to initiate my project this summer!"
PovertyEnglish Name: Rachit Kumar Sharma
Country of Residence: India
Idea: Know Your Country - The pressure to migrate to urban areas to earn a daily wage is one of the biggest problems for the poor across Asia. In turn, it leaves their families back in villages redundant of any economic activity and dependent on the daily urban wages. “Know your country” project aims at solving this problem by employing rural tourism to empower the rural economy, creating sustainable indigenous micro centers in villages and serving the greater cause of reducing urban poor migration and slums. All this while preserving and promoting the national heritage of the country and sharing it with the next generation.
Recent Status: "I have just completed my MBA and work towards my own social enterprise. I am involved with various non-government organizations in India and have passion about working in the areas of education and healthcare. I have also worked with the government of India recently on public policy and remains committed to the cause of social ventures for societal development."
Social InclusionEnglish Name: Chan Lok Yee Kittie
Country of Residence: Cambodia
Idea: Exotasty - Do you look for exotic and tasty food or an unforgettable experience when traveling? Exotasty is the right place for you!
Exotasty satisfies the tourists’ desire for local food in its original flavors by utilizing the skills of local Asian people. The cooks are local ladies who are proud of their cooking skills, while the waiters are young people who aspire for success in the hospitality industry. Exotasty is also a place for international volunteers to explore Asian cultures and share their hospitality experience with the local staff.
Exotasty is not simply a restaurant, but a stage for people to showcase their talents and revive their hope.
Recent Status: "I came back to Hong Kong from Cambodia to finish my last semester at school after the 4-month volunteering in January. I have decided to start my career in the banking industry after graduation to enrich myself with more concrete business knowledge and experience while keeping my passion in social innovation. At the moment, I am working on activities, such as visits and seminars, with my friends to promote social entrepreneurship in Hong Kong."
Aging PopulationEnglish Name: Chan Wing Yee
Chinese Name: 陳穎儀
Idea: A Time Journey in Hong Kong - The living experience of elderly is a valuable asset in the tourism industry. Our enterprise will hire the elderly as the assistant tour guide to provide local and unique information about Hong Kong, such as urban legends.
By re-entering the labor market, elderly may rebuild their confidence and earn a better living. These may bring about a better psychological development. In terms of tourism development, the double tour guide system can have a check and balance function on the quality of local tour guides.
Recent Status: "I have participated in several debating competitions. Through these competitions, I learn to analysis social problems from different angles and think of relative solutions to tackle these problems. These experiences are great to me!"
PovertyEnglish Name: Li Cho Yin
Chinese Name: 李祖賢
Idea: KID not little is a reality television series suggesting that even small fry can accomplish big tasks. In each episode, an adult will share a day at work with a child from a poor family. By experiencing their dream occupations, the children will be able to broaden their horizons, to revive and believe in their dreams. By inviting celebrity to participate, we wish to gain sponsors, donations from audience to our children and to raise awareness of child poverty in Hong Kong.
Recent Status: "I am currently doing a two year master degree in Social Entrepreneurship and Management at Roskilde University in Denmark. Besides, I join business conferences or seminars to enrich my student life. I am doing a research concerning investors and social enterprises in my first semester project. I wish to transfer knowledge or new insights I've gained to the HK's social business development."
Social InclusionEnglish Name: Li Ying Yiu, Kimmy
Chinese Name: 李影瑤
Idea: Good Days - With the idea of “buying good things on good days”, Good Days is a website serving as a promotion platform for marketing social enterprises, targeted at marginal communities that are in the food/beverage and gift retail sectors during festivals and corporate/personal celebrations (e.g. birthday, wedding and anniversary).
The website is divided into 3 parts: (a) the restaurant guide; (b) the catering service guide; and (c) the gift guide, each containing detailed introduction and promotion materials (including employees’ stories and customers’ feedback). Orders for catering services and gifts could be placed through Good Days.
Recent Award: "Although ‘Good Days’ has not been turned into a website this year, I have tried to implement the idea partially through another way. I have taken up the post of member affair officer of a youth organization and would be responsible for organizing activities for members in my leisure time this year. I am planning to engage the services of social enterprises when organizing such functions whenever appropriate, like handicraft workshops, catering services, local tours…etc. This is to promote ‘ethical consumption’ while strengthening the members’ connections at the same time."
English Name: Cheung Tsz Tung, Leung Yan Yee, To Mun
Being one of the social entrepreneurship intermediates in Hong Kong, Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk), has dedicated itself in promoting this concept through practicing venture philanthropy in supporting social innovation projects. At the same time, SVHK will promote social entrepreneurship by providing training, consultancy and organize promotion events in various sectors.
The Good Lab, L1, The Sparkle
500 Tung Chau Street
West Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
T. + (852) 3996 1946
F. + (852) 3013 8637
E. enquiry @ socialinnovationaward.asia