Come learn about and brainstorm with new social venture, "soket", a new corporate intrapreneurship model to stimulate innovation for poor communities in the developing world. Learn about their pilot project, in collaboration with Nissan, to repurpose batteries from electric vehicles as storage for solar powered irrigation systems.

Soket's founder, Naoto Kanehira would like to engage the group around a few questions:

1. Expansion strategy: Would soket's "intrapreneurship incubator" approach, stemming originally from Japanese corporate environment, also work in the US? Similarities and differences? How might soket tap into the local innovation resources in Boston/Cambridge?

2. Talent Sourcing: How to recruit professionals to get involved as intrapreneurs or part-time resources?

About:

Soket (www.soket.me), the name of which derives from "society" and "market",  is a not-for-profit consultancy and incubator specialized in market driven pro-poor innovations. It organizes "intrapreneurs" - professionals who innovate from within established organizations to mobilize corporate resources (talent, knowledge, technology, financial) - to generate, accelerate and formalize high-leverage ideas. soket's operations are based in Tokyo, Geneva, Delhi, Dhaka and Dakar, covering energy, water, agriculture, healthcare, ICT and finance. Current projects include: building a market for used lithium ion batteries from electric vehicles to be repurposed for flexible and mobile solar-powered irrigation (automaker); and establishing an investment fund and technical assistance facility to bridge the resources and intellectual property between developed and developing countries.