Foresight, entrepreneurship and the philanthropic desire for a better world

International calls for renewed and rejuvenated engagement with social and environmental issues have increased in recent times and have attained a sense of great urgency. These are the issues that dominate the agenda of non-profit 'third sector' organizations and are considered philanthropic in nature. Locally, Richard Slaughter, answered the call and with suppmt of both the Pratt Foundation and the Chancellery of Swinburne University of Technology, mounted a Melbourne-based effort to fmd innovative ways to make a difference. In the latest phase of this on-going effort, a project was mounted to first scan the research and development needs of the third sector and then engage in practical partnerships to find new routes to tackle seemingly intractable social problems.