Amongst all of the interest in platform models it’s worth looking at the potential they might have for social innovation. Can we create an ecosystem to help enable better linkage between social needs and means, one which allows the development of innovations across it?
There’s a lot of talk about ‘getting back to normal’ after the pandemic. And whilst that’s something we fervently wish for there may also be elements of ‘Covid-life’ that we might want to hold on to. Things like the crowdsourcing of ideas and efforts around solving important problems, the spirit of co-operation and shared focus, and the sense of communities caring for each other. Platforms like LetsLocalise - a social venture helping to build communities around schools - point the way to models for helping us do so.
(You can find the transcript of this podcast here)