This evening, while researching material to contribute to The Social Software Weblog over at Weblogs, Inc., I stumbled upon a Forbes article - on 'Social Entrepreneurship' at the World Economic Forum. The theme of this year's forum (which is ending tomorrow, January 24, 2004, in Davos, Switzerland) is 'Partnering for Security and Prosperity.'
In the Forbes article Michael Freedman writes:
"A buzzword at this year's World Economic Forum is "social entrepreneurialism," a fuzzy term that has had some concrete benefits. The idea, says William Drayton, a graduate of Yale Law School and a former McKinsey consultant, is to seek out entrepreneurial individuals and encourage them to use their skills to help others, particularly the extremely poor and isolated. Indeed, as the group explains on its website: "Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or to teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."
In a recent post - social (software) entrepreneurs?... - I posed the question, "Who are the 'Social Entrepreneurs' of the 'Social Software' movement?"
Dina Mehta offered Rajesh Jain of E M E R G I C; Valdis Krebs nominated June Holley of ACEnet; J.C. Winnie offers Joi Ito of Neoteny; and Flemming Funch, on his Ming the Mechanic weblog, offers himself.
The World Economic Forum chose 30 Tech Pioneers for 2004 and is celebrating their "Social Entrepreneurialism" at the event being held in Davos, Switzerland.
This left me pondering: Do we have an innovative 'Social Software' solution that would 'qualify' for the 'Selection Process' set out by the World Economic Forum for next year's 'Tech Pioneers' category? Who is the 'Social Software' pioneer who can take us there?
K-Collector Topics: Flemming Funch Joi ito Rajesh Jain categories Economics Events Ideas innovation Security Social Software Themes Weblogs