Senior Entrepreneurs Are Driving More—and More Sustainable—Social Innovation Worldwide Than Any Other Demographic

Social innovation is much more than having an idea. Real innovation is recognizing the value of that idea and operationalizing it through social enterprise. Research demonstrates that, contrary to the media image of an entrepreneur as a tech-savvy youth, senior entrepreneurs (aged 50+) are creating more businesses worldwide than any other age group and an overwhelming number are creating social enterprises, including green businesses. That being said, we should bear in mind that while experience fuels innovation, experience is also regenerative, so the opportunity is at hand to intentionally facilitate knowledge transfer across generations and foster dynamic, innovative decision-making. Catalyzing multigenerational experience generates new insights, perspectives, and multiple paths to solutions. In this chapter, I will discuss how senior entrepreneurs activate and scale social innovation, how older adults can be more innovative than their younger counterparts, and how shared intergenerational knowledge is a unique social and economic opportunity to drive innovation and boost workplace engagement, productivity and profitability, and successful new business startups that can result in healthier societies, a more sustainable environment, and robust economies and provide specific examples.