In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Catherine A. Odora Hoppers. Rethinking Social Innovations in Practice- the Case of the DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Development Education
Since its inception, higher education in sub-Saharan Africa has made significant strides, but also faced major challenges in particular in knowledge production paradigms, and developing methodologies to rethink thinking itself. To some, the solution to the crisis lies in Africanisation as part of a radical visioning of the university. To others, the solution is in reform of existing institutions. The Chair combines both theories and takes it further. It sees beyond the regulatory rules, to the social, legal and ethical innovative reforms of the constitutive rules governing the university as offering the best way out of the current crisis. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Juan-Luis Klein. For a perspective of social innovation focused on transformation: towards knowledge that changes the world
Pondering on social transformation through social innovation means thinking about how experiments, which take place in civil society, in agencies, sometimes marginally, result in the transformation of society. It is a reflection on the practices of citizens and organizations working for the wellbeing of communities by experimenting with solutions to problems, which have not been resolved by the existing institutional structure, and, in some cases, caused by the existing institutional structure. Are these practices confined only to the provision of a timely solution to the problems experienced by the communities or do they fall within broader, more comprehensive processes that transform society. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Michel Venne. Social Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities for Higher Education – Lessons from a Québécois Spring
Universities will not be able to survive the pressures of the demands from society if they do not adapt their educational services and their relationship with the communities they serve. In the spring of 2012, Québec was shaken by a social crisis triggered by the students’ protest movement about tuition fees.
From the disorder created by the nightly events and the monster rallies in downtown Montréal arose a much broader reflection.
Young and old spoke on the subject at the Summit on Higher Education, convened in the following months by the new government. Beyond the exchanges on university funding and management, emerged a vision of the betrothed university. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Norzaini Azman and Fauziah binti Haji Abu Hasan. Driving Social Innovation in Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT)
To maximise the impacts of research, universities must develop institutional capacity to support the transfer of knowledge to individuals and organisations outside of the academy. This transfer of knowledge is seen in a wider context at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). It involves the process of transferring knowledge from research and scholarly work to relevant stakeholders. Specifically the transfer of knowledge in UMT is defined from the perspective of how knowledge is translated into “innovative products, processes and tools” and how they are made useful for the society. These “innovative products, processes and tools” can further be differentiated into three different forms: knowledge innovation; technological innovation and Social Innovation. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Roberto Esca. Science, technology and innovation. Universities and the social appropriation of science – the example of Mexico
The echo of citizens’ participation goes beyond politics and its actors. It is not only interested in choosing candidates, to define the items to be taken up in the legislative agenda or to give an opinion about the urban priorities. There are other things in which citizens are interested.
Despite the fact that on many occasions they are never consulted, citizens are also interested in science and technology. Despite the fact that public universities and the Mexican Academy of Science share scientific research outcomes with the public, on specific topics related to Research, Development and Innovation, this results in low impact on the public. The Mexican national poll on public perception of science 2009, showed a bias related to what participants understand by science. It said: “It helps to live artificially and in an inhuman way”. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Budd L Hall. Social Innovation, Power and Transformation: A Disquieting Conversation
The fog bank of social innovation has been moving inalterably from the oceans of social thought towards the shores of community organisations, local governments, and now to institutions of higher education. My concern is that both the discourse and the practice of social innovation seem to have found a breeze that carries them into our organisational lives in a largely unexamined and uncritical manner. I mean it all sounds so wonderful. The Stanford Center for Social Innovation defines social innovation as “a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than present solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.” (csi.gsb.stanford.edu). Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Francesc Xavier Grau and Maria Marques. Social Innovation and University Curricula
Social Innovation is a concept that is still in search of a consolidated definition. The European Union uses the definition given by Murray, Caulier-Grice and Mulgan in the Open Book of Social Innovation (March, 2010): “Social innovations are new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs (more effectively than alternatives) and create new social relationships or collaborations”. Recently, on the blog he developed in the context of his UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, Budd Hall questioned the definition used by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation: “a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable or just, than present solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.” In fact, the worries Budd Hall expresses show that there is a risk in only using a new name for an old concept whereas we embrace and consolidate the status quo, and lose an opportunity to make a difference, of effectively acting for a more just and sustainable society. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By E. Nigel Harris. Regional University’s journey from Social Engagement to Social InnovationIn framing its 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, the University of the West Indies (UWI) amended its Mission statement to spell out more specifically the areas of societal development – social, economic, political, cultural, environmental— which as an institution, it would address. The statement reads:
To advance education and create knowledge through excellence in teaching, research, innovation, public service, intellectual leadership and outreach in order to support the inclusive (social, economic, political, cultural, environmental) development of the Caribbean region and beyond.
This statement and the accompanying Strategic Plan emphasised the university’s intention to pursue a more proactive and interventionist approach in societal development. It is true that the essential features of the statement may not differ from that of many other universities – a commitment to teaching, research and service – but specifying areas of engagement enables better documentation of the university’s contribution to the transformation of the countries it serves. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Guy Breton. Innovation in higher education: A Modality Or An End?
No matter that everything is well, as long as we ensure that everything is better than it was before us. Condorcet
In 2010, the OECD released its Strategy for Innovation, the result of a process initiated in 2007, which mobilized about fifteen committees of experts, responsible for proposing guidelines to address a range of political, economic, demographic and social issues with a global dimension, and which consequently called for answers on a worldwide scale. The five priority axes around which this strategy is built affect universities in each of their three fundamental missions: research, education and social function.
These priorities of action are set out as follows:

• Endow individuals with the ability to innovate;
• Foster innovation in companies;
• Create knowledge and put it into practice;
• Rely on innovation to meet global and social challenges;
• Improve governance policies in favour of innovation. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.