We really believe that the experience for our participants is largely shaped by the environment that they are in. In April, we are taking SS48 to Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide and we are incredibly excited at the locations we have found. April’s SS48 weekends will be oozing with startup energy, great ideas and the desire to do great things–the perfect ingredients for social innovation.

SS48 Brisbane @ The Rabbit Hole

The Rabbit Hole is all about co-working, collaboration and coffee. The slick modern cafe blends perfectly with the aged brick walls of the working space and boardroom–the perfect metaphor for the new ideas that will get people thinking about old problems in a different way.

SS48 Perth @ Spacecubed

Spacecubed is the perfect statement of what the modern co-working space should look like. Owned and operated by SiiWA (Social innovation in Western Australia), Spacecubed is strategically positioned to place social innovation thinking at the centre of Perth’s constantly-growing business district.

SS48 Adelaide @ TACSI

The Australian Centre for Social Innovation is one of Australia’s beacons for social innovation, so it is only fitting that the participants of SS48 Adelaide come together in the heart of TACSI headquarters. The high ceilings of this refurbished 1878 cathedral building will invite every mind to wander and dream big about what it can do for our world today.

Click here to apply to Social Startup 48 in your city!

SS48 Brisbane 12-14 April 2013 Applications closed	SS48 Perth 19-21 April 2013 Applications closed	SS48 Adelaide 26-28 April 2013 Applications closed

After a brief hiatus following on from SS48 Melbourne, we’re pulling together our plan for next year and we’re really looking forward to sharing it with you.

Thank you’s

Before we start talking about 2013, I’d just like to start with a HUGE thank you to everybody who has supported us throughout this year.  From those who have followed us on Facebook and Twitter, introduced us to their networks, lent us a helping hand or a place to crash, sponsored and helped promote SS48, through those who spoke, mentored and sat on the judging panels at SS48–we can not say a big enough ‘THANK YOU’! 2012 was an amazing year for us and it wouldn’t have been possible without your help.

Looking to 2013

This year, we’ve had two very successful proof-of-concepts. We proved that SS48 as an idea could be hugely successful through its success in Sydney. We then proved that we could do it remotely, coordinating the Melbourne event from Sydney.

Next year, we’re kicking off events in three new cities: Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, and the timeframe for all three events will be somewhere in April. We will be running another proof-of-concept in these cities: that other people can successfully run SS48 events in their own cities (of course, we will be working closely with them to make it happen).

Interested in running SS48?

If you are interested in running SS48 in Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide, please get in touch with us.  We will have a more detailed specifications up in the coming weeks, and there will be an application process, but for now, feel free to start connecting with us.

Other cities

To those of you in cities all over the world who are waiting for SS48 to come to your door–thanks for your support and patience. We’re on our way. We are taking a measured approach to scaling and want to make sure that we do it in a way that is successful and sustainable. Sydney and Melbourne folks: don’t worry, we’ll be back in 2013.

Interested in joining SS48 HQ in Sydney?

We need help! We are looking for exciting people to join our team based in Sydney to help us grow into a global social enterprise. We need sharp minds and creative thinkers who truly want to support the development of social enterprise. The right candidates will have a desire to do something good–something great–while loving every business aspect of it.

Job specs will be available soon, but to give you an idea of what we are looking for:

• creative/graphic designer
• legal expert
• copywriter
• marketing guru

Again, feel free to get in touch with us early before we formally open up the application.

Apologies for those of you who have been waiting for an update from us, we know we haven’t been so sharp on keeping an active blog but we’ve been very busy lately! Aside from the traveling, moving houses and other big life changes happening in the team, we’ve been hard at work planning the future stages of SS48 and we’re really looking forward to sharing it with you.

This is really just a quick post to let you know what we’ve got lined up in the weeks to follow:

• a full wrap-up of the hugely successful SS48 Melbourne weekend
• announcement of next steps for SS48 (and the next city!)
• interview with former NFL player and founder of Team Gleason, Steve Gleason

Don’t forget to tune in to our Facebook page and like us! You’ll find a few photos from SS48 Melbourne, plus its a great way to stay up to date with all the latest news from us.

It’s finally here! Applications for Social Startup 48 in Melbourne are now open.

In teams, you will spend 48 hours crafting a solution for a social problem in an innovative way. This means doing it in a way that makes business sense. A way that has a sustainable funding model, a great marketing strategy and an exciting operations plan.

During the weekend, you will discuss, debate, challenge, brainstorm, sketch, plan, decide, change, decide again and execute. Mentors from great companies offer guidance while great speakers share their stories. At the end of the event, you will pitch your social startup to a panel of judges.

Anybody can apply, our participants have diverse backgrounds and experiences working/studying in business, technology, arts/design and the social sector. And no matter where they’ve come from, the one thing they all have in common is a desire to do good. In fact, one of the best things about SS48 is simply the amazing mix of people that we jam into one room.

Before applying, be sure to browse of our site to get a better feel for SS48 and whether or not it suits your passions. Read more about how it works and also check out the FAQ. If you think you’re ready to kickstart a social impact venture, then apply now. You’ll be amazed at what you can create in 48 hours.

Social Startup 48 Sydney, May 2012

Side note: You may have heard that SS48 Melbourne will be held on 24-26th August. There was a time when that was true, but not anymore. We hope you’ll still be available on the weekend!

People who are bright and passionate. People who dream of a introducing the world to new ideas that make our communities a better place for their members. As you may have seen Social Startup 48 is one way in which this can happen. Another way this can happen is by bringing CEOs, founders, social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, political leaders and celebrities in the same room.

An amazing group of people recently gathered at the Social Innovation Summit (SIS) held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and SS48 was lucky enough to be a part of this special event.

SIS 2012 saw the likes of Alicia Keys (Co-founder for Keep a Child Alive), Jonathan Greenblatt (Director at the Office of Social Innovation, White House), Jeff Swartz (former CEO and President of Timberland) and Craig Venter (J. Craig Venter Institute) candidly discuss the directions in which we — as societies, governments, private institutions and as social entrepreneurs — need to head in order to drive the future of social innovation.

Everybody had something great to discuss, whether it was about their existing projects or a new social initiative. For example, UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon kicked off the event with a discussion about how information and communication technologies will be a — if not, the – critical change agent for driving social innovation. However, it was not the discussions, big names and fancy titles that made SIS such an incredible event. It was the stories of inspiration that reached into the core of our passions and pulled out a sign that read “this is why we do what we do”.

Bill Gross, Chairman and CEO of Idealab told us about his latest project, WorldHaus, where Bill and his team embarked on an incredible journey to provide housing to the poorest communities in the world for an affordable cost. Bill and his team tested 20 different prototypes, and with a great deal of engineering brilliance they have been successful in conceiving an eco-friendly design that provides a remarkably high standard of living — all for $2000.

Worldhaus now have a great product, and with the creativity and simplicity in their modular homes, they have set themselves the goal of providing housing to one million families by the end of the decade. If you are looking for inspiration to overcome your design challenges, then be sure to check out Bill’s presentation.

Bill reminded us that we were all capable of pushing the boundaries, but for those looking for something a little more heart wrenching, there is no doubt that the greatest inspiration of the day came from former NFL star Steve Gleason. In early 2011, Steve was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as motor neurone disease (MND), a degenerative disease well known for its effects on physicist Stephen Hawking.

At SIS, the audience was drawn to Steve’s powerful story and presence. Despite the disease, Steve has embarked on a relentless journey by founding Team Gleason, a social enterprise which raises awareness of ALS/MND and pushes for the technological changes that will improve the lives of those affected. It was clear that he struggled to be on stage, but that did not stop him from sharing his passion. And as he continued, not a single person in the audience could help but shed a tear as his best mate, Scott Fujita, wiped the sweat from his forehead and fed him a straw to keep him hydrated.

Bill and Steve both provided inspiring tales of the innovation, passion and hardship. It is the stories like theirs that we should turn to when we face challenges in trying to create our own piece of social change, and when we need to remind ourselves of why we do what we do.

A few people we met…

We were fortunate enough to interview and chat with a few of the speakers at SIS, including Steve Gleason, Dr Maura O’Neill, Chief Innovation Officer at the US Agency for International Development, and Robert Torres, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over the coming weeks, we’ll delve into each one of those individuals in more detail, looking into the work they’re doing in social innovation, and hear a few key pieces of advice that they have for budding social entrepreneurs.

Wrap up of Social Innovation Summit 2012

You may have noticed that we decided not to do ‘wrap up’ post, summarising the conference and exactly who said what. We felt that this had been done enough, and we could simply share a few of those articles with you. Check out:

• Huffington Post: Social Innovation Summit Brings Advocators Together

• Forbes: Chief Digital Officer for Starbucks on Technology, Change and Community

• Next Billion: A Formula for Social Innovation?: Reflections from the UN Social Innovation Summit, 2012

• Witness: Ideas, Buzz Words and Connections at the Social Innovation Summit 2012

• Triple Pundit: Jeffrey Hollender Chats with CSR Execs from Intel, Coca Cola and Verizon

• NonProfit Times: Technology Leads The Way In Social Innovation

We hear you also love to do a lot of good.

Social Startup 48 is an event where incredible people come together to build startup organisations that create social impact.

In 48 hours.

(It’s really exciting.)

And after an amazingly successful pilot in Sydney, it’s coming to Melbourne on August 31st – September 2nd, 2012.

Join our mailing list, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and stay tuned to our website to make sure you don’t miss out on your opportunity to shake things up in Melbourne (we think you can do better than the ‘worst earthquake in decades’).

Applications will be opening soon.

It’s Day 3, the final day of Social Startup 48 weekend.

Energy levels are high and the urgency is building as the 6:30 pitch deadline looms–only 7 hours away now!

Tom Dawkins from Start Some Good gave an immensely useful talk last night on Crowdfunding–or should we say, Peerfunding.  Check out his words here:

A few teams kicked on late last night at Vibewire working space.  With a bit more pizza for breakfast this morning as fuel for the day, we’re excited to see what tonight will bring!

Feel free to come by tonight at 6:30pm to 10-14 Kensington St, Chippendale to watch the final pitches!

Creel Price’s keynote speech was definitely a highlight of the evening.  You can check out his entire talk here on the SS48 Youtube channel, as well as videos from the night of the initial pitches and a few words from the SS48 organisers:

Paul Telling, one of the talented SS48 Sydney participants, has been drawing visual roadmaps of speaker talks.  Check out his own inspired version of Creel Price’s speech below:

Today’s schedule involves the teams fleshing out their ideas, working on their business plans, getting social media campaigns up and running, cementing business names, and working on crowdsourcing funding.  There’s a ton to do and the clock is ticking!

Some shots from today so far: