Social Innovation Eurovision

On poetry, politics and the future with Birgitta Jónsdóttir

Birgitta Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic poetician, anarchist and activist. She was first elected as an MP representing the Citizens' Movement in the 2009 election. She became involved with WikiLeaks during Julian Assange's visit to Iceland in 2010, and helped to produce the Collateral Murder video. Following her time with WikiLeaks, she created the International Modern Media Institute, of which she became executive director in 2011. She was also involved in two court cases in the United States during her parliamentary term, one of which was the high-profile case Hedges vs Obama. In 2012, close to the end of her term, she co-founded the Icelandic Pirate Party, becoming their first MP. In this episode, Birgitta shares about her unique approach as a poetician working from within the system to change it.

Transforming systems with Gorka Espiau

Gorka Espiau Idoiaga is a social innovation specialist well known for his conflict resolution work in the Basque country. He initiated his professional career in Elkarri, the Movement for Dialogue and Accord in the Basque Country. He was the Head of Social Innovation Programmes at Innovalab, and served as Senior Adviser for Peace Building to the Executive Office of the Basque President. Gorka subsequently held various positions including director of International Affairs at The Young Foundation, Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, Senior Associate to the Centre for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University in New York. In this episode, Gorka talks to us about systems change through social innovation through the lens of conflict resolution. Learn more about conflict resolution: Innovation in Real Places, Deep Listening and Community Data Collection, Platforms that trigger innovation

Crisis response and civic power with Kuba Wygnanski

Jan Jakub (Kuba) Wygnanski is a sociologist by training. He started his public activity as a Solidarity activist in Poland. Kuba started several NGOs including KLON/JAWOR Association and Forum of Nongovernmental Initiatives (FIP) which plays a key role as representative of the Polish Third Sector. He was the initiator and coordinator of a multi-year systemic project of the Polish Model of Social Economy. Currently, Kuba is the President of the Unit for Social Innovation and Research SHIPYARD. Kuba shares the work of the Shipyard Foundation in Poland, an organisation that works on multiple levels from working with civic organisations on the ground to supporting incubators to shifting systems in public participation. He talks about the social innovations happening in Poland currently, in response to the recent crisis in Ukraine.

Sowing the seeds for social innovation in Estonia with Minna Harjo

Minna works as a civil society advisor at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior. Her role includes policy making in the field of social innovation and social economy at a national level and she believes that social innovation plays a key role in finding solutions to very complex and sometimes unpredictable societal problems. In this episode, Minna shares about her work in the Estonian government and the unique socio-historical context of innovation in Estonia – which straddles between both the digital and social, local and national spaces.

How Societies Find the Power to Change with Geoff Mulgan

Geoff Mulgan is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London. Over the years, Geoff has had many roles - as a CEO, social entrepreneur, policy-maker and author, working at different times in civil society, government, technology and academia, always curious about how the world works and how it can be changed for the better. In this episode, Geoff talks to us about why social innovation matters and how the field has developed in the UK context. He shares his lessons about how to institutionalise social innovation, the importance of learning from other places and what gives him hope for the future.