Michael Norton was giving a public lecture in China Global Philanthropy Institute (CGPI). (Provided to Newsgd.com)

When a man white in hair walked alone into the lecture hall in Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub, I can hardly believe that this hale and hearty man who was thought to be the “Father of European Social Innovation” is in his seventies.

当一位头发花白的老人独自走进前海深港青年梦工厂的演讲厅，我几乎不能把眼前这个精神矍铄的老人与“欧洲社会创新之父”联系在一起。

Yes, it seems to be widely accepted that innovation is a business of young people, and Michael Norton with over 50 years of experiences in social innovation, is thought to be the counter-example with his devotion to promoting social innovation worldwide.

是的。一提到创新，几乎所有人都觉得这是年轻人的事儿。但迈克尔·诺顿，用自己半个世纪的社会创新经历推翻这个刻板印象。

Social innovations are new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet the social needs of different elements which can be from working conditions and education to community development and health—they extend and strengthen civil society. Social innovation includes the social processes of innovation, such as open source methods and techniques and also the innovations which have social purpose—like online volunteering, microcredit, or distance learning. In a word, social entrepreneurs like Norton are using innovative ideas to help the less advantaged people in society.

社会创新，顾名思义，就是个人或组织创造性地运用新的策略、概念、想法和技术让社会福利惠及各个阶层，包括在线志愿活动、小额贷款、在线教育等方式。

Norton started his career on social innovation as early as in 1966 when he set up UK’s first language teaching program for non-English speaking immigrants in London. Before that he was in merchant banking, where he invented the split capital investment trust and publishing. During the past 50 years, he has established YouthBank, VICA and many other organizations, and published books such as Directory of Social Change, and 360 Ways to Change the World, which all have produced great influences on UK and even on the world. He received an OBE in 1998 for his hard work in this aspect.

早在1966年诺顿就开始了他的社会创新之旅。当时他在伦敦开办了全英第一家针对非英语母语移民的英语教育项目。在这之前他在商业银行工作，也曾涉足出版行业。在过去50多年里，诺顿先后建立了青年银行、英国志愿行动创新中心等机构，出版了包括《社会创新指南》、《改变社会的360个方法》等书，在英国乃至全社会产生了非常重要的影响。也正是因为诺顿在推动社会创新中孜孜不倦的努力，1998年英女王授予他大英帝国勋章。

As an old friend of Shenzhen, Michael Norton this time came to Shenzhen to give a public lecture in China Global Philanthropy Institute (CGPI). CGPI is the first of its kind in China to have been jointly started by Chinese and American philanthropists including Bill Gates, and Norton is among the Adjunct Professors.

作为深圳的老朋友，诺顿这次访华的主要行程之一是在深圳国际公益学院进行公开讲座。深圳国际公益学院由比尔•盖茨、瑞•达理欧、牛根生、何巧女、叶庆均等五位中美慈善家联合倡议成立，旨在建设培养榜样型慈善家和高级公益慈善管理人才的教育系统。诺顿是该学院的客座教授。

Also one of the main purposes for his 5-day trip in Shenzhen is to participate in the 2nd annual Asian Environmental Innovation Forum (AEIF), in which he acts as the founder and initiator. AEIF 2016 brings together worldwide experts and leading practitioners in environmental innovation, supporting innovators and encouraging public understanding and participation in addressing some of the big environmental challenges that the planet faces.

除此之外，诺顿还会参加第二届亚洲环保创新论坛。在诺顿的倡议和发起下，亚洲环保创新论坛于2015年在深圳首次召开，聚合环境创新者、投资者、政府、商业机构和民间组织及个人，为各方分享创新理念和寻找合作机会创造条件。同时诺顿也希望借此平台整合亚洲创新资源，推进环境保护方面的创新。

Michael Norton(middle) was interviewd by local media including Newsgd.com. (Provided to Newsgd.com)

Let the less advantaged people a chance to become entrepreneurs

让弱势群体有机会创业

Newsgd.com: How do you define a successful social innovation movement?

南方英文网：作为一个社会创新家，你曾组织了许多成功的社会创新活动，那么你如何界定一个成功的社会创新行动？

Norton: The success is in several ways. Firstly, does the project work? So we looked at the project at the beginning, at the end and maybe two years later. We cannot make things too complicated, so we try to measure two things. The first was how much money they have been able to raise or earn. The second was how many staff or volunteers they are able to use. We are also happy if they did that project in stopped, because they have learned skills on how to operate a project. And maybe later on they come on to another project. So we worked with University of London to set a framework for evaluating the success.

诺顿：我们有几个方面来评估一个社会创新活动是否成功。首先是看它是否奏效。我们会在项目一开始，项目结束后，甚至项目结束后两年对整个项目等不同阶段进行评估。我们只评估两方面，一方面看项目运营方筹到了或挣到了多少钱，第二个是他们能够发动多少员工或者志愿者。即使最终这个项目中途终止了也没关系，这意味着他们从中可以吸取经验教训，之后他们可以利用这些经验教训来做其他项目。目前我们现在正在跟伦敦大学合作来打造一套机制框架来评估社会创新项目成功与否。

The other measure we have was what sort of people are we supporting for, because we just don’t want to support just rich, educated people. So we have social goals to let the poor people and less advantaged people a chance to become entrepreneurs.

另一个评判方法就是看我们支持的是什么人群。我们不希望只有富人或者受过良好教育的人参与社会创新。所以我们现在的社会目标是希望社会上的弱势群体也能有机会来创业。

Norton hosted the 2nd Asian Environmental Innovation Forum. (file photo)

I started with the feeling that Shenzhen is a city of innovation

我一开始就觉得深圳是个创新之都

Newsgd.com: One of your schedules in Shenzhen this time is to attend the 2016 Asian Environmental Innovation Forum which you act as the founder. Can it be treated as your latest social innovative movement in Guangdong province?

南方英文网：你此行的目的之一是参加有你发起的亚洲环保创新论坛。是否可以认为这是您目前在广东进行的一项社会创新活动？

Norton: There is no point just organizing a conference to have people spend a day sitting and talking. So we would like to have one or two things to come from the conference. I’m looking to try two things. One is to persuade CGPI to develop a partnership with Cambridge University to develop environmental leadership. They have already signed an MOU, but challenges get them to do something. And we have another project coming accord to sustainers from Denmark, which is a directory of environmental innovation. They’d like to develop partnerships in China. So we hope that these two things this year could be started.

诺顿：我觉得，作为一项社会创新活动，仅仅是召开一天的会议让各方人士坐下来讨论交流是不够的。我们希望会议之后都能产生几项成果。今年我们主要推动两件事，首先是帮助深圳国际公益学院与英国剑桥大学在建立环保创新力上达成合作伙伴关系。尽管双方此前已经签订了合作备忘录，但仍面临很多挑战。此外是我们将于丹麦方面的可持续发展专家进行合作，来形成一套环保创新的标准指导目录。他们也希望与中国这边合作。我们正在努力希望这两件事能在年内开始启动。

But what we really like is to develop partnership with the government of Shenzhen and develop it as a big event in the city. Because what we have found is that innovators from all around the world would love to come to China to share their skills. And I think Shenzhen should become the world center for environmental innovation.

不过我们更希望能与深圳市政府合作，使亚洲环保创新论坛能成为城中的一项大活动。我们意识到全世界的创新者都希望能来中国分享他们的经验，我觉得深圳也应该要引领全球环保创新发展。

Newsgd.com: Why did you choose Shenzhen as the place to hold the forum?

南方英文网：为什么你会选择深圳来举办这个论坛？

Norton: Because I like it! Shenzhen is a very interesting city. I started with the feeling that Shenzhen is a city of innovation, and it should be the world leader in this aspect. Besides, Shenzhen is very near Hong Kong and Macao, a very good location.

诺顿：因为我喜欢这里！深圳是个很有意思的城市，我一开始就觉得深圳是个创新之都，它应该要引领全球社会创新。此外深圳毗邻香港和澳门，这是它的地缘优势。

It’s not that I give my experiences, but learning from each other

不是我介绍经验，而是大家互相学习

Newsgd.com: As we all know that the social situations are different in UK and in Guangdong of China, so when you come to Guangdong for social innovative movements, how do you overcome the difference and try to make the movement successful?

南方英文网：我们都知道英国和广东的社会情况不同，所以当你来广东进行社会创新活动的时候，你是怎么适应这些不同并让创新活动成功？

Norton: We all face different problems, but we are all with the same purpose: we all want a better world for ourselves, our families and our children. China is on the rise, and there it has a lot of good-will and ambition to do things. So you come up with an idea, and then you will find that something is going to happen and will happen. I came up with an idea for a hotel run by disabled people, and over the years it came to be the reality in Shenzhen.

诺顿：尽管我们在英国和广东会面临不同的社会问题，但我们的目的是一样的，我们希望为自己、为家人、为孩子建立一个更好的世界。中国正在崛起，这里的人非常有善心，也很有雄心壮志想要在这方面做些事情。当你有个创新想法的时候，很快你会发现这个创新想法正在或者即将要成为现实。多年前我曾想过要开一家雇佣残疾人的酒店，几年后深圳就已经开办了这样一家酒店。

So these ideas are from people in China who have energy and ambition to do quite big things. In 4 or 5 years you are going to see a lot of successful and interesting social innovation entrepreneurs here. We have a lot to learn from each other. I am feeling that when I come to China, it is not that I give my experiences to you. It is a share and also a process of learning from each other.

我觉得中国人非常有激情和野心在创新方面干一番大事业。四五年后深圳必将涌现更多的一大批成功社会创新者。其实现在我们都有很多要像他们学习。每次我来中国我就觉得，其实并不是我跟他们介绍我的经验，而是我们在互相学习互相分享。