Better World By Design, a look at the 2015 conference

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Social Enterprise Greenhouse is proud to have been a sponsor of this year’s Better World by Design conference. This event is in its seventh year and is organized and run by Brown and RISD students. We were really impressed with this year’s event. The mission of the event is to empower attendees with tools to actively fulfill their visions of a sustainable and socially just future.

For us, Better World By Design (BWxD) is a social enterprise conference for designers. We know how important designers are to creating a better world, and we are very invested BWxD’s mission. We hope to take many pointers from BWxD to make our 2016 Seed Summit more successful this Spring.

Leading up to BWxD, we hosted an event with Rhode Island Design Week at our space on Tuesday night. BWxD co-chairs Paulina and Andres presented with some of our social ventures in design, including Healthy Roots, Increment, and Greycork.

CPjrcFXUAAACNKPFrom left to right: Kim Anderson (board member), Yelitsa Jean-Charles (Healthy Roots), Paulina Tarrant (BWxD), Andres Chang (BWxD), Maeve Jopson (Increment), Cynthia Poon (Increment).

Annie Wu of the social impact consulting group Greater Good Studio opened up the event with a strong keynote address. As a RISD alum, she was able to speak to the importance of designers interacting with people who need their help. Here’s some of what she said:


 

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Over three days, we were blown away with the speakers and the inspiring message at BWxD. We met new people, pondered new ideas, and challenged our concept of social impact.


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We often find that at events like this, much of the magic happens in the in-between space – and the parties! Bumping into people and having casual conversations can lead to unexpected and amazing synergies. The social events at BWxD were thoughtful and well-designed. Friday’s happened at The Steel Yard, and Saturday’s happened at the The Arcade downtown. Both were beautiful and engaging spaces to have deep discussions about how to make the world a better place.

CP4bBNLUcAENgmiThe BWxD party at The Arcade downtown Saturday night.

We can’t wait for next year.


Cayla Mackey
University Initiative Director

As the Social Enterprise Greenhouse University Initiative Director, Cayla helps college and university students get involved in social enterprise. The University Initiative is a program funded by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation Innovation Grant to retain students and recent graduates in Rhode Island through enabling them to work on and in social enterprises. Learn more about Cayla here or email cmackey@segreenhouse.org.