About

The Center for Social Innovation helps leaders in business, government, and civil society navigate the challenges of initiating and implementing social innovation

About

The Center for Social Innovation helps leaders in business, government, and civil society navigate the challenges of initiating and implementing social innovation

Social innovation creates new solutions (products, services, markets, models, processes) for a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous society by addressing social and environmental needs more efficiently and effectively than current policies and businesses.

The Center for Social Innovation develops and shares research, learning content, and educational programs that help leaders in business, government, and civil society navigate the challenges of initiating and implementing social innovation. Through these core activities, we convene entrepreneurs, executives, investors, philanthropists, researchers, and other change agents to accelerate the speed, scale, and effectiveness of social innovations across the spectrum of capital that address the key social and environmental challenges of our time.

Our focus is on impact management: how asset owners (investors, banks, entrepreneurs, corporates, or family offices) articulate their impact objectives, what problems they want to solve, who they want to reach, where they want to invest, and what risks they want to take.

At the Center for Social Innovation we:

Reflect on the purpose of business and act as a catalyst for social innovation.

Design pedagogy to inspire mindset change.

Develop leadership capabilities to create social innovation.

Forge connections between corporations, academics, investors, and change makers.

Achieving social impact and innovation calls for inclusive leadership. Our partnership leverages IMD’s deep leadership development expertise and the elea Foundation‘s philanthropic impact investment focus as well as its community of social entrepreneurs.

Peter Wuffli Chair of the elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization and former Chair of the IMD Foundation
Our team

Our programs

Driving Innovation Finance for Impact

The Driving Innovative Finance for Humanitarian Impact program builds organizational capability to lead innovative finance initiatives in the humanitarian and development space. Participants identify an advanced high-impact humanitarian and/or development challenge and gain all the necessary tools and skills to further their project successfully and co-create an innovative finance solution to serve those most in need.

With sincere thanks to the elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization

elea aspires to be a role model organization with charisma in the field of entrepreneurial philanthropy. As a professional and active investment manager, elea creates measurable, lasting impact.

elea exists to fight absolute poverty with entrepreneurial means, capitalizing on the benefits and opportunities of globalization.

elea strives to be the partner of choice for social entrepreneurs and philanthropic investors, and to provide an attractive platform for ambitious, talented professionals.