Skoll centre for social entrepreneurship

In November 2003, the Skoll Foundation donated £4.4m to the Saïd Business School for the creation of The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in order to promote the advancement of social entrepreneurship worldwide. In addition to delivering an innovative teaching programme, the Skoll Centre has developed a portfolio of research which employs theory but that is also valuable to practitioners in the field. The Centre acts as a network hub for social entrepreneurship, linking together key actors in the sector and contributing towards creating new and effective partnerships for sustainable social change. It engages in social innovation and aims to have a decisive influence on policy.

Research and Education at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship

The Skoll Centre’s research ranges across three main topic areas identified by practitioners as of key importance: governance; resources; impact. In each area, a variety of scholarly work is being undertaken. This is disseminated in both applied working paper formats and in peer-reviewed academic books and journals.

"Research Colloquium" The Social Entrepreneurship Colloquium was structured to allow participants amplescope to talk about their current work with people who care and will respond in knowledgeable and constructive ways. As such the event did not resemble a traditional conference. The number of attendees was kept small to allow maximum interaction and was by invitation only. Furthermore, the event was structured around a limited number of significant intellectual contributions, rather than a plethora ofcompeting sessions. These were largely keynote lectures with selected respondents briefed in advanced and with plenty of time for subsequent discussion. In this regard, the Colloquium had favoured depth over breadth.

"International Forum on Social Entrepreneurship"

In the last week of May 2007, the Skoll Centre, based at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, and the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship at Zhejiang University in China, jointly organised an International Forum on Social Entrepreneurship [http://www.hrsd.zju.edu.cn/social/] . The International Forum on Social Entrepreneurship represents a first step in building ongoing links between Asian and western social entrepreneurship. "This Forum provided a venue for leading academics, policy-makers, and social entrepreneurs in China and other Asian countries to report on their work, share knowledge about best practices, and focus a research agenda,". "This Forum provided a venue for leading academics, policymakers, and social entrepreneurs in China and other Asian countries to report on their work, share knowledge about best practices, and focus a research agenda." Dr Alex Nicholls.

"International Conference on Social Entrepreneurship in India"

The conference was oranised by UnLtd India in conjunction with the Skoll Centre, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Dasra. The main objective of the conference was to promote and accelerate the development of social entrepreneurship in India. They achieved this by:- Celebrating social entrepreneurship as a tool for social change- Highlighting the developments in the field of social entrepreneurship in Indiaand globally- Providing practical skills and knowledge that can be employed in the field- Creating links between social entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in Indiaand internationally.Over the course of three days the conference was attended by 85 organisations from India and Europe.

External links

* [http://www.skollfoundation.org Skoll Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Website]
* [http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/skoll/ Said Business School Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship]