The Hub: Where People Create Change

As I mentioned in Monday's post, social entrepreneurs can look forward to the Bay Area launch of The Hub, an ambitious global community of inspiring changemakers that already spans four continents and 12 cities--from Toronto to Tel Aviv, Bombay to Brussels. This year, we can look forward to the launch in Berkeley's LEED-Platinum certified David Brower building as well as a space in San Francisco's Mission district.

The Hub was launched in January 2005 in London with the aim of creating an inspiring space for social innovators to meet, work, learn and connect. Like a mobile phone plan, users pay for the amount of time they spend at The Hub. In addition to shared space, members can attend a variety of events that go beyond the normal lectures and workshops to include performances, exhibitions and film screenings.

I think what is truly ground-breaking about The Hub is its focus on creating a collaborative ecosystem of individuals who, despite working across a range of disciplines, are able to learn from each other and participate in a wider, broader conversation on global change. More importantly, it is the type of environment that inspires action--a place to get things done. The culture that results is one that focuses not on creating wins through competitive advantage, but collaborative advantage.

And it is definitely needed: so many social entrepreneurs that I've met are often heads-down in their work, trying to focus on getting their product/program launched, tested, distributed and often lack the time to do proper networking and sharing of ideas. Wouldn't it be great if we could take the energy and great ideas spawned from a conference like GSVC or The Skoll World Forum and make it an every day experience? It looks like The Hub is achieving just that.