University at Buffalo School of Management

14 Buffalo Business Autumn 2017 Aer leaving Merck in 2011, McGlynn was named CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). Again, she relied on public-private partnerships to advance IAVI's mission. "The challenge of developing a vaccine for AIDS is one that can only be met by bringing together the fi- nancial, scientific and community-based resources of many stakeholders around the world," says McGlynn, also the founder of the Hempling Foundation for Homocystinuria Research, which funds researchers who are developing treatments for the rare disorder. "IAVI can't do it on its own, but it can foster partner- ships with leading academic medical centers, pharma and biotech companies, and research centers where solutions can be tested." The next generation Collaboration also is the hallmark of the work being done at UB around social innovation. The School of Management and School of Social Work have launched an initiative together to bring entrepreneurial and socially minded students to- gether with faculty from both schools to learn from Student learning is central to the social innovation initia- tive driven by the School of Management and School of Social Work. Through a series of workshops and a newly launched, co-taught course, action-oriented students from both disciplines are exposed to challenges facing society, learn about tools and processes that foster or hinder innovation, and put that knowledge to practice. To start, the schools, along with the Blackstone Launch- Pad at UB, offered a series of half-day workshops. Undergraduate and graduate students from across campus received an overview of the lean startup meth- odology and mission-driven business models, and then completed an exercise, modeled after Google sprints, to generate and present ideas for local nonprofits. In the most recent workshop, the students worked with entrepreneurs from the community and School of Management, as well as staff from several nonprofits focused on affordable housing, food insecurity, school truancy or legal aid. "There was this explosion of ideas," says Robert Neubert, clinical assistant professor of operations management and strategy. "The entrepreneur stripped away the boundaries, the nonprofit leader gave context on the issue their organization faces and our students brainstormed new solutions." The workshops demonstrated the need for a semes- ter-long course that began this spring. Neubert and Kathleen Kost, associate professor in the School of Social Work, led the "Social Sector Innovation" class, giving their students a comprehensive introduction to the social sector, the process of innovation and how to measure social impact, as well as real-life examples of organi- zations using social innovation to improve communities nationwide. For their final projects, students teamed up to propose an economically viable innovation for a social issue. "We're not just scratching the surface on social innova- tion," Neubert says. "We're really digging in, so students understand it and can be effective in whatever they're passionate about when they leave UB." x — Matthew Biddle No boundaries, countless ideas "The challenge of developing a vaccine for AIDS is one that can only be met by bringing together the financial, scientific and community-based resources of many stakeholders around the world." Margaret Mcglynn, MBA '83 Former CEO International AIDS vaccine Initiative McGlynn with community members in Africa. Photo: IAVI

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