Methods and approaches to social change
How we strengthen our capacity for social innovation
There is no single way to change society. But together, we can expand our possibilities.
At the Academy, we work with annual themes as a way of viewing the world. The themes reflect where we are as a society and at the same time help to sharpen our skills for change.
Through these themes, we open up new perspectives and invite various actors into the Academy's work – both those we know and those who rarely have a voice in the change processes.
The changing themes are launched at our big annual meeting, Open Academy.
The Art of Change
As a society, organisations leaders, we have knowledge, resources, and decision-making power. But the necessary changes require us to act differently. That is why we need new perspectives and methods to understand, rethink, and challenge the status quo.
With this year's theme, "The Art of Change," we explore whether and how artistic methods and forms of expression can help expand our scope of action as organisations change leaders.
Democratization
At the Academy, we work on the basic assumption that the answer to society's greatest challenges lies with all of us. Because everyone becomes smarter when we pool our knowledge, and the solutions require everyone to take responsibility.
When the goal is to get more people involved in the necessary change processes, democratization becomes a crucial starting point. Stronger, broader, and deeper democracy. Democratization of conversations, organisations, working life, knowledge, and power.
Long time
How do we take responsibility for those who are not here yet? The climate crisis has raised a fundamental question: How can we allow ourselves to make decisions that extend far into the future without taking into account the people who will be here at that time? And how can we take responsibility for the people who will inhabit our planet not just in 2050, but in 2150?
Imagination
If we—as individuals and as a community—are to solve the major challenges we face, we must retrain a skill we were once really good at using: our imagination.