It is an integrative part of SIA’s strategy to deepen our impact inter- and transnationally. Deepening refers to strengthening the network of licensees among themselves and with SIA International through community practices and effective governance structures.

Nothing has been more relevant for SIA’s success in the past than its strong community spirit and its collaborative attitude towards driving change. SIA – that is not an organization or a loose network. It is the incredibly dedicated SIA Hosts (i.e. licensees) with its 100+ SIA team members. It is the hundreds of partner organizations from academia, philanthropy, corporates, the public sector, media, and civic society organizations. It is the 8,000+ annual participants of SIA’s program and the 730+ alumni ventures. It is hundreds of local mentors, coaches, experts, volunteers, facilitators, and jury members that dedicate a substantial amount of their valuable time to contribute to our community. SIA is a community of dedicated people from a broad range of backgrounds committed to turning the talent and potential of the younger generation into a tangible and lasting impact. The collaborative effort by all of them in creating this strategy is yet another testament to SIA’s strong community.

Hence, it does not come as a surprise that it is a crucial element of our strategy to keep our focus on deepening the collaboration within our growing community. This will be achieved by continuously developing the services of SIA International further, whether it concerns the development of the curriculum, the organization of international gatherings, our impact assessment, communications and marketing efforts, or our IT infrastructure. These services shall support our licensees in focusing on the implementation of SIA’s activities on a local level.

Moreover, we meet the strong desire of our community to increase the regional collaboration between SIA’s licensees – both in terms of developing joined funding partnerships as well as through joined activities around SIA’s four impact fields. SIA International as a lean, yet strong backbone organization of the community will support its licensees in achieving a stronger collaboration. It will focus on servicing its licensees and remain a non-profit organization itself. The license model has proven to be the most effective and impactful governance model for the SIA community as it combines economies of scale with high adaptability to local realities. 

In the next blogpost of our series “Rebooting Social Innovation”, we will talk about SIA’s strategy to grow and scale its activities to meet the growing demand for capacity-building in social entrepreneurship in a post-pandemic world.