October isn’t my favorite month of the year. It’s usually wet (in Sweden at least), cold and quite dark. However, this year October has flown by with programs being delivered, events to enjoy and the biggest selection process to date!

I need to start with the selection process for our SE Outreach Accelerator Program 2017. Because this year we’ve broken the record with almost 900 applications. From all over the world. Incredible! The past week we’ve been solely focused on these applications and I have to say that it makes me hopeful for the future reading about all the initiatives going on in different parts of the world. The first round is now complete, and successful applicants are busy filling out the extra information needed for round 2. The last step in the process will involve Skype interviews to select the final 8 participants. That’s right, from 900 to 8! We’ll reveal more in next month’s newsletter, so stay tuned.

At the same time as reviewing all these applications, two of our colleagues are conducting training programs in Palestine together with ActionAid and Global Platform Palestine. If this sounds interesting, please check out our Instagram account which is packed with images from our experiences there.

October has also been a month of events, ours and others. It started out with a whole day together with Ashoka Scandinavia and their Impact Journey which showed us some fantastic initiatives that got us all talking.

We took part in the Inclusive Business Forum (hosted by Inclusive Business Sweden) at Sida which generated some real possibilities for collaboration across sectors. The month of events finished off with the annual Social Innovation Summit in Malmö, Sweden. It was a fantastic event with a good mix of stakeholders and a great atmosphere. I moderated an exciting seminar about how Big and open data can drive social innovation within health. Fascinating stuff! For me it was also lovely to see an old friend in Alistair Wilson, CEO at the School for Social Entrepreneurs. To have the privilege to spend a few hours with someone who’s worked in the field of social entrepreneurship for more than most people is a true bless.

From a snowy Stockholm, all the best!

Nick and the SE Forum team

Photographer: Håkan Röjder