Engaging the Culture ofSocial InnovationNor Atiah Ismail

Stanford Graduate School of Business (2008)expresses a meaning of Social Innovations as:

The department has also gone through a challengingmoment in the effort of establishing official LandscapeAlumni Club by the name of Kelab Alumni SenibinaLandskap (KASEL), which was materialized in February2013. Registered under the Registrar of Society ofMalaysia, KASEL'sobjective is to be one of our intelligentpartners in elevating the standard and quality of ourgraduates. Programs that have been conducted byKASEL include; series of Alumni Talk Show, BLA Dinner2013, Majlis Berbuka Puasa Alumni UPM and numbersof students consultation and career development. Ourstudents make headway with mobility program to BogorAgricultural University, IOWA States University and inreturn, the department received inbound students fromBogor Agricultural University. Landscape architecturestudents had gone for their internship program in Japan,Brunei, Shanghai, Indonesia and Singapore. Our studentsreceived an Honour Award for Students Competition

Engaging the Culture ofSocial InnovationNor Atiah Ismail

People perceive innovation in many ways. Innovationcan be one of the 'heavy-duty' terms with differentinterpretation or innovation can also be an exclusiveplan for corporate development. In the Departmentof Landscape Architecture, we define innovation assimple as "ideas that works for the life of our society".The department has gone through a very challengingyear of 2013 especially by incorporating the ideaof innovation in landscape teaching and learning.Innovation; the term that gradually gains premium tous since 2011, has been one of the main importantfactors outlined in our FRSB Transformation Vision2011-2014 (Ibrahim, R. 2011). Innovation is a globalchallenge; and implementing it in our department isindeed, a real challenge in UPM. We drive this missionin our curriculum reviews, teaching and learningprograms, research and services. The departmentcontinues its tradition to elevate the landscapearchitecture program of UPM into an exceptionallevel. We focus to develop our team-the academia,administrative officers and students-to engage in theCulture of Social Innovation. In brief, Social InnovationEurope (2013) defines social innovation as:

..."new solutions (products, services, models,markets, processes etc) that simultaneouslymeet a social need (more efficiently andeffectively than existing solutions) and lead tonew or improved capabilities, assets and/orrelationships. In other words, social innovationsare both good for society and enhancesociety's capacity to act".

"Any novel and useful solution to a socialneed and or problem, that is better thanexisting approaches (i.e., more effective,efficient, sustainable or just) and for which thevalue created (benefits) accrues primarilyto society as a whole rather than primitiveindividuals"

Thinking = Social Innovation. Mulgan (2006) explainsdivergent thinking encapsulates creative, qualitative,possibilities and conceptual ideas. Design solutionsare developed through random, intuitive, synthesizing,subjective and holistic. On the other hand, convergentthinking refers to analytic, quantitative, constraintsand specifics. Works by the students in either studiosor researches by the lecturers and staffs required us tohave sequential, rational, analytical, objective anddetail oriented. The department believes in empoweringboth divergent and convergent thinking into landscapedesign solutions and proud to present our works in thispublication.

We believe that social innovation throughlandscape design projects have taken place inthe department for quite sometimes but it wasnot really been seen as "A Product of SocialInnovation" or maybe, it is still in its infant levelwhich may require further systemic innovation.Similarly a research by the author investigatingmeaning and values of altered landscapein urban residential area reveals the voice ofcommunity who look forward for social andcultural innovation (Ismail, 2013). With thisunderstanding, the department looks forwardto strive more on social innovation as tangibleand intangible products for the society. It aimsto be the champion in this area among localuniversities in Malaysia, and, eventually, atinternational level.

Works that are presented this year showscollaborative efforts to create designs thatconstitute of a formula: Divergent + Convergent

Category organized by Malaysia landscape ArchitectureAward (MLAA) organized by the Institute of LandscapeArchitects Malaysia (ILAM) and participated in theInternational Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA),FLORIAPutrajaya and various other students competition.Finally, the department of Landscape Architecture lookforward to the year of 2014 with passion to embarkpowerful motion towards SOCIAL INNOVATION.

ReferencesIbrahim, R. (2011). FRSB'sTransformation Vision 2011-2014.Working paper to University Management Committee 28September.

Ismail, N.A, Egoz, S. Cushman, G., Aziz, N.A (2013) "I BegYour Pardon, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden"An Interpretation of Meaning and Aesthetic in UrbanResidential Landscape, Scottish Journal of Arts, SocialSciences and Scientific Studies, Volume 13, Issue Il,pg.142-173.

JA Phills, K Deiglmeier, DT Miller (2008), Stanford SocialInnovation. Sdgrantmakers.org

Micheal, D. Mumford (2002), Social Innovation: Ten Casesfrom Benjamin Franklin, Creativity Research Journal,Volume 14, Issue 2, 2002, pg. 253-266. Available online2010.

Mulgan, G. (2006), The process of Social Innovation. MITPress Journal-Innovations: Technology, Governance,Globalization. Vol. 1, No.2. Pg. 145-162.