The Robertson Building

This past December amidst all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI, Suite 120 + 400) co-hosted the first ever Social Entrepreneurship Summit. The summit was organized in partnership with MaRS, the Boston Consulting Group, and the Toronto City Summit Alliance, and brought together some of Canada’s most innovative entrepreneurs.    

The concept was to create a space where innovators who utilize the market towork towards social return, are able to create connections and share ideas. The first event of the summit, the Social Enterprise Think-In was held at CSI and gathered close to 250 participants for Speed Geek and Speed Brainstorm sessions. SpeedGeek, (“like speed dating without the awkward silences”) allowed people in smaller groups to cycle through ten innovative models of Toronto’s social enterprise landscape. They got an idea of how these groups were blending sectors and creating new ways of moving forward in a setting where they could ask the vital questions that will hehelp them expand their own practices.   

This was followed by a Speed Brainstorm session that addressed the question: how can we create an enabling environment to foster social enterprise in Toronto? The summit continued with lectures and panel discussions held at the MaRS Centre.   

For a great overview of the summit, you can read CSI Executive Director Tonya Surman’s post at: www.socialinnovation.ca/blog/social-entrepreneurship-summit-was-great-success

Photo captions: Delegates from the Social Entrepreneurship Summit gather in the Centre for Social Innovation for the Social Enterprise Think-In. Photo: Yvonne Bambrick
Social entrepreneurs participate in a speed geek session atthe Social Etnreprise Think-In. Photo: Yvonne Bambrick