For researchers working on projects that have a tangible benefit to society, building a social venture can be a deeply purposeful and rewarding impact pathway that the University has various avenues of support for social ventures, which operate differently than traditional commercialisation models and are inherently collaborative across disciplines. 

In this article, we sit down with Natasha Rawlings, Ventures Advisor in the University of Sydney’s Commercialisation Office, and Professor Lee Wallace, director of the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC), to discuss what social impact is and how researchers can leverage this model to translate their research. 

What is a social venture?

Unlike a traditional start-up, a social venture is not defined by a single legal structure. It might be a registered charity, a company, a co-operative or another model entirely. What matters is that the organisation is designed around impact: who it serves, what change it aims to create, and how its resources are used to sustain that impact. “A social venture puts mission before profit,” Natasha says. “For a typical company, profit is the goal. For a social venture, profit is the fuel for the mission. And usually all, or at least the vast majority, of any profits made are reinvested right back into the enterprise to supercharge that mission.”

Unlike projects built around deep science and deep tech, which may require significant capital over a long period and need to become large companies to deliver return to their investors, social enterprises can scale to different kinds of business models. “They may still have a strong mission, but their structure needs to support commercial scale and investment,” says Natasha.

“Social ventures can be different. They may emerge from research focused on behaviour change, education, community engagement, service delivery, policy, design, health, sustainability or systems change. They may not need the same level of upfront capital, and their funding model may draw from government grants, philanthropy, partnerships, earned revenue or a mix of sources.”

Indeed, funding often supports the delivery of the impact service or program. For Natasha, the important question is whether the model fits the problem. Researchers considering a social venture need to ask: Who or what will benefit from this work? Does the proposed solution actually meet the needs of that group or system? How will the benefit be measured? Who will do the work? What will it cost? And how will the venture cover those costs while staying focused on its mission?

In other words, a successful social venture still needs discipline, evidence and a sustainable business model. The difference is that success is measured not only by whether the venture survives financially, but by whether it creates meaningful change. Natasha and the team from the Commercialisation Office can point researchers to development opportunities and funding programs that can elevate their idea into a tangible enterprise.

A breeding ground for social ventures

While some ventures are built around a protected technology or product, many social ventures begin with a different kind of premise based in how people live, make decisions, access services, experience inequality, respond to systems, or participate in cultural and civic life. “That is where the social sciences, humanities and creative disciplines can make a significant contribution,” says Natasha.

It is also where SSSHARC comes in: helping researchers find each other, collaborate, and acquire the support to build capacity. Through SSSHARC, researchers are exploring how expertise from the social sciences can connect with scientific, technical and community knowledge to address complex social challenges. Rather than treating impact as something that happens after research is complete, social venture models can create pathways for researchers, partners and communities to work together around a shared problem from the outset.

Professor Wallace’s interest in helping researchers build social ventures began in a research collaboration with Associate Professor Victoria Rawlings, an expert on gender and sexuality in education and Consent Labs, a social enterprise delivering youth-based consent training in Australian schools. This is where she learned that there needed to a more symbiotic relationship between research and social enterprise. 

“Initially I thought, okay, we do the research and then we engage the social enterprise as the impact platform because they are already going into schools,” she reflects. “But across that project I realised, no, we need a different model here, one where research drives the intervention and the social enterprise.”

“One of the things we’re doing is learning about social ventures by trying to make a social venture,” says Professor Wallace. “Ideally we’ll build a research intervention into an income-generating venture, which would then fund further research and other interventions in the space.” Rawlings has now led the development of Wishmakers, a storytelling game designed to make classrooms more inclusive and connect students across difference. Wishmakers is a case study of the Sydney Innovation Enterprise ecosystem at work: the project received Proof of Concept funding (Social Enterprise) from the Commercialisation Office and then went through the PERIscope Program offered by the Sydney Knowledge Hub. This institutional support and skill-building allowed the team to develop a minimum viable product that is now ready to launch into the real world. 

Image above and in header: Researchers convene to build their social enterprises in the SSSHARC Research Impact Accelerator 

Creating sustainable pathways for research

The Sydney Innovation Enterprise ecosystem, including SSSHARC, is designed to help researchers create sustainable social impact that continues beyond what traditional research investment allows. “I think academics hear the word ‘business model’ and they switch off,” says Professor Wallace. “But a business model is a really good way of deciding or determining whether something is sustainable. We have. A lot of academics devise great interventions, but when the funding runs out everything stops. The idea is to find an enterprise model that can keep things going. The challenge of social enterprise is that it asks academics to think differently.”

Enterprise thinking prompts researchers to consider early on how they can scale their research into something tangible: “If you are going to build something that makes a difference in this space, what would you build? What problem does it address? What difference is it going to make and to whom? Who are the partners you need? Who are the end users? It’s a much more holistic way of thinking about research and impact.”

It takes a village to build a social venture. The Wishmakers team included Karmen Kong from the Commercialisation team and progressed through the CSIRO On Prime Program in 2025, which included additional development funding and mentoring as well as exposure to other research start-ups, including Intelodont, who went on to secure $30,000 via the Sydney Genesis program run by The University of Sydney Business School.

Teamwork makes the dream work

SSSHARC’S Research Impact Accelerator,  Social Impact Matters conversation series and new AdVenture Playground workshop are designed to build social venture literacy across the institution. They encourage researchers to think differently about enterprise, impact, beneficiaries, risks and collaboration. They also provide a space for like minds to find one another – and those who can fill gaps in their project team. 

“Sometimes teams come to us preformed and we observe that like bonds with like.  Our job is then to introduce some diversity and range. We might introduce a designer or an educationalist, or someone from the sector that can bring a new perspective that could shift understanding and application.”

It is this interdisciplinary approach that can have the biggest pay offs when it comes to research translation creating social impact. One example is CLOAK, an art-science collaboration that paired LGBTQ-identifying STEM researchers with fashion students to transform discarded lab coats into garments exploring visibility, identity and belonging in science. The project later inspired HIV Unwrapped, a global science communication and HIV education initiative that uses fashion to interpret research and reduce stigma. For Professor Wallace, this shows how prioritising impact can produce better research. CLOAK began as an unfunded collaboration led by impact but has now become a global initiative that also raises the profile of traditional research outputs too.

The SSHARC Research Impact Accelerator has supported new interdisciplinary collaborations, including the “Access all Areas” project that received Proof-of-Concept funding to prototype an abortion desert visualisation, which went on to influence policy change.  

The common thread through the Sydney Innovation Enterprise ecosystem is that research impact comes through curiosity and collaboration. “The thing we have learned from our colleagues in PERIscope and the School of Strategy, Innovation and Technology at the Sydney School of Business is that you have to learn to love the problem not the solution,” says Professor Wallace.

Natasha knows that interdisciplinary expertise becomes powerful within the space of problem solving. A promising social venture might combine technical expertise with knowledge of behaviour, policy, culture, ethics, design or lived experience. “We see incredible promise in blended teams,” she says.

Researchers, including HDR students, wanting to learn more can join the SSSHARC mailing list to keep up to date with programs and events that bring an entrepreneurial lens into research impact.  Those ready to start a social venture can reach out to the Commercialisation Office and book a meeting with Natasha, Juliana or Karmen who can point them to the next steps to turn social impact ideas into a reality.