User:Dianelebson/social silicon valley

Background
A Social Silicon Valley is a place that incubates solutions to address social needs, based on innovation and networks of collective intelligence. Generally speaking, the aims of a Social Silicon Valley are to improve the human and social conditions of a geographic area through social and philanthropic ventures. More specifically, a Social Silicon Valley decreases poverty and social exclusion, improves a community's quality of life, and increases civic and democratic participation. Organizations comprising a Social Silicon Valley are both for-profit and not-for-profit legal entities.

Origins of term
The term Social Silicon Valley is intended to draw positive parallels from its original source, Silicon Valley, that geographic space in Northern California that launched countless Internet and technology firms in the 1990s. Just as California's Silicon Valley served as a launching pad for countless technology and Internet firms, a Social Silicon Valley spawns social and charitable ventures whose aims are to improve human conditions.

Examples
Efforts in any given Social Silicon Valley are usually geared towards engaging public, private, and third sectors, as well as the universities and citizens, for a joint effort to improve human conditions in any particular area. One of the most prolific Social Silicon Valleys described on the Internet is one in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Much has been documented about Villa Madelena, a drug-invested neighborhood was transformed into an artist colony.

Efforts to brand a Social Silicon Valley are also underway in the Greater Washington Region in the United States. Phil Auerswald, the Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy at George Mason University, has the led efforts since September, 2008, to identify the factors in the Greater Washington Region and beyond that contribute to a Social Silicon Valley. Such factors include the presence of academic incubators, the influx of young people who come to the Greater Washington Region specifically to change the world, and access to policy makers who can encourage socially innovative activities. This effort has been accelerated by the social cahnge agent Ashoka who recently selected four universities to participate in a Changemaker Campus project to strengthe social entrepreneurship teaching.