Inspired by «A Liter of Light,» a students’ initiative for underprivileged households, a Colombian-Swiss research team studies management and innovation strategies for scaling up social entrepreneurship, for instance in the renewable energy sector and in the water industries.
How can projects like «A Liter of Light» (plastic bottles filled with a solution of water and bleach that provide light for households without access to electricity) or «SODIS» (Solar Water Disinfection) grow in scale, consolidate, and expand regionally, nationally, and internationally? How can clean energy reach more people? What are the best strategies to significantly increase the scale of social initiatives? What (transcultural) measures are necessary to adapt European management models to sustainable projects in Colombia? These are some of the questions our multinational and multidisciplinary research network will address.
The first conference of the research network took place on September 3 to 4, 2012, at the University of St.Gallen, and it brought together scholars and experienced social entrepreneurs who discussed new avenues to scale-up environmentally and socially sustainable development projects. The second conference was hosted by the Universidad de los Andes, and lasted from February 14 to 16, 2013. A volume comprising the conference proceedings and the project's most important findings will be published in due course.