Institute of Design at Stanford

The d.school is a hub for innovators at Stanford. Students and faculty in engineering, medicine, business, law, the humanities, sciences, and education find their way there to take on the world’s messy problems together. Human values are at the heart of our collaborative approach. They focus on creating spectacularly transformative learning experiences. Along the way, the students develop a process for producing creative solutions to even the most complex challenges they tackle. They support “students” of design thinking who range from kindergarteners to senior executives. Their deliberate mash-up of industry, academia and the big world beyond campus is a key to our continuing evolution. For more information, visit dschool.stanford.edu.

UC Berkeley Development Impact Lab

The Development Impact Lab (DIL) is a global consortium of research institutes, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and industry partners committed to advancing international development through science and technology innovations. With the support of U.S. Agency for International Development(USAID) and in collaboration with the U.S. Global Development Lab, DIL is formalizing the application of academic science and engineering disciplines to social and economic development. This approach is embodied in a new field called Development Engineering. This system of inquiry and practice combines engineering and the natural sciences with insights from economics and the social sciences to generate sustainable, technology-based solutions to development challenges. For more information, visit dil.berkeley.edu.

UC Berkeley Blum Center for Developing Economies

The Blum Center for Developing Economies was established in 2006 to serve as UC Berkeley’s interdisciplinary hub for students, researchers, and scholars focusing on global poverty and inequality. The Blum Center operates on the idea that a world-class university must be a force for tackling these problems. Toward this end, it supports student and academic innovators who aim to be agents of change in the struggle against global poverty and inequality. The center’s mission is twofold: Education: To prepare students with skills, theories, and hands-on experiences that will help them to understand the complex web of factors contributing to poverty and inequality; Innovation: To leverage university expertise and international partnerships to design, adapt, and disseminate scalable and sustainable technologies and innovations for the poor in areas such as health, education, energy, water, and food. For more information, visit blumcenter.berkeley.edu.

Innovus

Innovus is the university-industry interaction and innovation company of Stellenbosch University. It is responsible for technology transfer, entrepreneurial support and development, and innovation at the university. Technology Transfer involves the commercialisation of the University’s innovation and intellectual property portfolio through patenting, licensing and the formation of spin-out companies. Innovus’ equity holding in the Innovus group of companies is a valuable asset for the university. Innovus is also responsible for all intellectual property and commercialisation aspects in research agreements. Through its LaunchLab business incubator, it offers various services to and opportunities for entrepreneurs. The University’s Short Courses and Copyright division also falls under Innovus. The company has also been tasked with managing football at Stellenbosch University. For more information visit www.innovus.co.za.

The MIIS Center for Social Impact Learning

The Center for Social Impact Learning (CSIL) at the Monterey Institute of International Studies is a premier action learning and research institution focusing on the social impact of business and financial investment, specifically in the areas of social enterprise and impact investment management and mainstream business perspectives and decisions regarding the long-term impacts of today’s actions. CSIL serves a full spectrum of budding social entrepreneurs offering them valuable and practical learning experiences as well as a launchpad for an impact driven career. For more information, visit www.miis.edu/academics/researchcenters/social-impact.

The International Development Innovation Network

The International Development Innovation Network (IDIN) is a five-year program led by the MIT D-Lab, and implemented by a global consortium of academic, institutional, and innovation center partners. It is also a part of USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network in the U.S. Global Development Lab. IDIN empowers a diverse, global network of innovators to design, develop, and disseminate technologies to improve the lives of people living in poverty. IDIN supports local innovation to create impact in five ways: design summits, network resources, innovation centers, research, and student participation. For more information, visit www.idin.org.

Santa Clara University GSBI

Founded in 2003, the Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) serves social entrepreneurs around the world who are developing innovative solutions that provide a sustainable path out of poverty. We offer in-depth mentoring, proven practical guidance, and connections to impact investors. For-profits, non-profits, and hybrids, in any region of the world are welcome and all of their programs are cost-free to program participants. For more information, visit www.scu-social-entrepreneurship.org.

The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute addresses these issues in primarily four ways: seminars, global young-leader fellowships, policy programs, and public conferences and events. The Aspen Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners. For more information, visit aspeninstitute.org

World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (WSIE)

The World Summit offers an experience of hybridity and hyper-connectivity. Filled with an intricate intermingling of people, designs and solutions. A composition of the chaos and business poetry shaping tomorrow’s Creativity, Mobility and Livability (CML). Their innovation fusion concept is not an ethical deed to bind the imaginative and the functional, it is what they do. A way of combining, colliding and fusing solutions from distinct and distant fronts. To produce something potently different that is translated into business benefits and societal advances for people everywhere. For more information, visit http://www.thewsie.org.

Edison Awards

The Edison Awards, often dubbed "The Oscars of Innovation," is a leader in globally recognizing, honoring, and fostering innovation and innovators to create a positive impact in the world. The Awards are named after Thomas Alva Edison, whose extraordinary new product and market development methods garnered him 1,093 U.S. patents and made him a household name across the world. The Edison Awards symbolize the persistence and excellence personified by Thomas Edison, while also strengthening the human drive for innovation, creativity and ingenuity. Since 1987, the Edison Awards have recognized and honored some of the most innovative new products, services and business leaders in America. For more information, visit www.edisonawards.com.

Mashable

Mashable is a leading source for news, information and resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's record 42 million unique visitors worldwide and 21 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.mashable.com.

Churchill Club

The Churchill Group is committed to the idea of an independent forum that facilitates the open and timely exchange of ideas, opinions and viewpoints among business leaders and innovators. At the Churchill Club, collaborators and competitors meet on stage to share and discuss their newest thinking. Having hosted industry and government leaders and luminaries, the Churchill Group commits to having unscripted conversations that go beyond the hype. Attendees have the opportunity to ask questions directly of speakers, uncensored by the moderator. Their 30-40 events per year offer opportunities to network and develop critical business relationships with influential individual and corporate members representing a diverse range of industries, companies and expertise. For more information, visit www.churchillclub.org..

The Commonwealth Club of California

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. The Club brings over 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy to more than 20,000 members. The forum is open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. The Club's weekly radio broadcast — the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 — is carried across the nation on more than 230 public and commercial radio stations. For more information, visit www.commonwealthclub.org.

Fast Company

Fast Company is a leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design. Written for, by, and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company and FastCompany.com inspire readers and users to think beyond traditional boundaries, lead conversations, and create the future of business. Launched in November 1995 by Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, two former Harvard Business Review editors, Fast Company magazine was founded on a single premise: A global revolution was changing business, and business was changing the world. For more information, visit www.fastcompany.com.

CrunchBase

CrunchBase is the world’s most comprehensive data set of startup activity and it’s accessible to everyone. Founded in 2007 by Mike Arrington, CrunchBase began as a simple crowdsourced database to track startups covered on TechCrunch. Today you’ll find about 650K profiles of people and companies that are maintained by tens of thousands of contributors. For more information, visit www.crunchbase.com.

Ventureburn

Ventureburn is focused on telling the world’s startup news and tech entrepreneurs’ stories from the emerging market sector, covering everything from innovative new businesses and developments in ecommerce to helpful tips for starter entrepreneurs. Ventureburn is a part of Burn Media, a multimedia digital publishing house which focuses on the intersection of technology and media, entrepreneurship, cars and gadgets. For more information, visit http://ventureburn.com.

Disrupt Africa

Disrupt Africa is a one-stop shop for all news, information and commentary pertaining to the continent’s tech startup and investment ecosystem. With journalists roaming the continent to find, meet, and interview the most innovative and disruptive tech startups, Disrupt Africa is a true showcase of Africa’s most promising businesses and business ideas. For the startup, entrepreneur, and investor friends alike, Disrupt Africa’s mission is to provide practical information and advice from across Africa’s varied vibrant markets, and to promote engaged and thought-provoking discussion about this evolving ecosystem. For more information, visit http://disrupt-africa.com

Netline

NetLine Corp. is the world leader in business content syndication aimed at driving buyer engagement, customer lead acquisition and sales pipeline performance. Its Precision Targeting Engine™ and global multi-channel network of more than 15,000 website properties enable BtoB marketers to reach a diverse audience of more than 75 million business professionals across 350-plus industry sectors. NetLine’s multi-channel content delivery model allows for brand customization, content adaptation and flexible market access through publisher websites, expert blogs, email, search engines, social media networks, e-newsletters and mobile. Founded in 1994, NetLine is privately held and headquartered in LosGatos, California, with operations across the globe. For more information, visit http://www.netline.com

Toniic is the action community for global impact investing. Toniic increases the velocity of capital and services into impact investing to address Global challenges. The Toniic community consists of individual and institutional investors, both industry leaders and newcomers, committed to investing with impact. Toniic offers global products and local services to ease the due diligence, execution, best practice setting and discovery of impact investing. For more information, visit www.toniic.com.

Silicon Cape Initiative

The Silicon Cape Initiative is a community of tech entrepreneurs, developers, creative, angel investors, and VC's who are passionate about entrepreneurship and the roles they play in the future of South Africa. The Silicon Cape Initiative is a non-profit, community-owned and driven movement. The mission is to improve the environment in the Western Cape of South Africa in order to create more and better startups as well as increase access to capital. For more information, visit www.siliconcape.com.

LaunchLab

The LaunchLab is the hub of entrepreneurial activity on the Stellenbosh University (SU) campus. It serves as a business hub for a community of entrepreneurs. Besides being home to a number of SU spin-out companies, it also houses student start-up companies and external companies who are either service provider companies or companies that benefit from a close association with SU. The aim of the LaunchLab is to boost entrepreneurship at SU, in Stellenbosch and other Western Cape universities by providing networking opportunities, mentoring and coaching as well as affordable rental rates in an entrepreneur-friendly environment. For more information, visit launchlab.co.za.

SABLE Accelerator

The SABLE Accelerator is a trusted knowledge network of global South Africans providing mentoring and consulting services to South African companies, entrepreneurs, and institutions seeking to fund or commercialize innovation, as well as enter, grow, and partner in worldwide markets. For more information, visit www.sablenetwork.com.

Mpule Institute for Endogenous Development

The MPULE Institute for Endogenous Development is a New York City-based advocacy and public policy think tank that champions agriculture-led development, inclusive green growth, gender equality, women’s and youth empowerment, and sustainable development pathways in Africa. The MPULE Institute has over a decade experience in convening and partnering with multi-stakeholders to empower women and youth to create multisectoral approaches to pressing social issues. For more information, visit www.mpule.com.

African Nurses Entrepreneurship Network (ANEN)

African Nurses Entrepreneurship Network is a forum to bring all nurse entrepreneurs in African and or of African origin together, to share their ideas and groom new entrepreneurs in African nursing. This group will have online meeting, trainings, workshops and seminars and fairs in their quest to improve nurse entrepreneurship sector. For more information, visit the ANEN LinkedIn group.

thrdPlace

thrdPlace is on a mission to help people re-shape the communities we all share outside of our homes (first places) and places of work (second places). To do it, they have created a platform upon which citizens collaborate with civic agencies, corporate business and non profit organizations. Together on www.thrdPlace.com, you can promote shared causes, manage local resources (funds, supplies and volunteers) and receive reporting on how your civic projects and events impact our community. Learn more about how you can identify and solve a challenge for your community at http://vimeo.com/90273076

Founders Space

Founders Space is a progressive acceleration and incubator platform connecting early-stage start-up founders with top advisors, growth hackers, lawyers, angels & marketing pros in a comprehensive mentorship program. Located in a 10,000 square-foot space in the heart of San Francisco’s SOMA startup district, Founders Space allows a passionate community of founders and entrepreneurs help one another in a co-working during the program. Founders Space is different from traditional accelerators because it allows entrepreneurs pitch to investors within weeks with their esteemed 1-month all-inclusive program. The mentors at Founders Space pride themselves on helping exceptionally talented entrepreneurs reach their full potential and bring their unique visions to life. For more information, visit www.foundersspace.com.

Founders Space

RIIS (The Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability) is a specialist Open Innovation firm focused on safely facilitating the transfer and acquisitions of technologies between companies. With over twenty years’ of innovation management experience and a diverse client base, RIIS has delivered local, regional and international engagements, and facilitated numerous innovative solutions in both the public and private sector. The Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS) is currently pioneering open innovation in South Africa and Africa. RIIS is located in the heart of Tshwane at the Innovation Hub, and is always finding new ways to make innovation and open innovation a part of South Africa and now also Africa’s entrepreneurial culture.