SOCIAL INNOVATION Creators’ Academia (SICA) is a student-run academic club within Underwood International College that was established to tackle newly emerging social issues through creative and innovative solutions. The Yonsei Annals interviewed the 9th president, Hwang Sung-won (Jr., UIC, International Studies), 9th vice-president, Kim Han-na (Sr., UIC, Science, Tech. & Policy), and its club members to learn more about SICA. 

Annals: Could you briefly introduce your club? 

Hwang: SICA is a student academic organization within Underwood International College, and our purpose is to study and develop solutions to pressing challenges faced by society. Our vision is to bring positive and sustainable changes through social innovation. 

Annals: What kind of club activities do you offer? 

Hwang: We have one dominant theme for the whole semester, so our main activities differ for each semester. However, SICA usually does pro bono consulting for social enterprises, or we do student-led projects that tackle social problems. All projects are presented at the final showcase at the end of the semester. Also, we hold workshops once a semester, during which we practice ‘design thinking’ methodology, learn certain skills, and sometimes collaborate with other student societies. SICA is also famous for its “Global Innovation Tour,” during which we visit foreign countries and collaborate with different institutions depending on the tour’s theme. We could not hold the tour for winter 2020 due to the pandemic, but hopefully, we will be able to begin the tour again soon. 

Annals: What kind of skills can students learn in SICA? 

Hwang: Students can learn the ins and outs of project development. First, members begin a project at the problem-identification phase and then move onto the ideation phase during which they think about how to solve the social problem. Later, they engage in setting up business models and creating “prototypes” for the idea. Furthermore, we receive a lot of feedback from professionals in the field; that is how members can constantly improve their model and learn how to approach their projects in a more structured way. Last but not least, students can learn networking and case-studying skills. We utilize those skills to further social innovation. 

Kim: In addition, students can learn how to communicate with people they have never met before who may or may not have the same interests as them, which I believe is essential once you graduate from university. 

Annals: What kind of qualities do you look for in new candidates? 

Kim: I would say we look for three main qualities. First, they have to be interested in social innovation, meaning they are eager to make positive changes in society, and not just for a monetary profit. Second, they would have to enjoy teamwork; one of the main things we believe in here at SICA is that a person can make a big change in society, but a group of people with different skills and mindsets can bring a more significant and impactful change. Third, they should be ready to invest considerable time and effort into solving a social problem; not just coming up with a solution but also actualizing that potential solution. 

Annals: How do you arrange your club meetings? 

Hwang: On Wednesdays, we hold General Sessions that are divided into Academic Sessions and Practical Sessions. For our Academic Sessions, we usually invite lecturers to give us lectures regarding social innovation, start-ups, business models, and other issues. During the Practical Session, we give our members time to develop a social project or a business model that targets a social problem the members have identified themselves. Due to the coronavirus, ever since spring 2020, all our General Sessions are currently being held online. 

Annals: What are some of the projects you have done so far? 

Hwang: There are many projects SICA has done so far, so I am going to introduce just two of them. The first project I would like to talk about is called “EcoWear.” For this project, our members decided to solve the problem of plastic waste by creating unique socks with images of cute marine animals from discarded plastics. For the second project, “EduYSM,” our members created a web platform where adolescent North Korean defectors can connect with professors from South Korean universities. 

Annals: Have you had any collaborative projects with other organizations? 

Kim: For this semester, we are collaborating with GLOSUS, an organization pursuing research proposals that is also part of the World Economic Forum. Since environmental issues are highly relevant to SICA, some of our members are working with the GLOSUS member to write a research paper on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). Moreover, we collaborated with Impact, an academic club from Seoul National University. They also have a social purpose, but they aim to contribute to society by using their own analytical framework. Our collaboration included using their framework to analyze the social impact each of our members’ projects would have, and we were able to give feedback on their framework as well. 

Annals: What are some of the club’s achievements? 

Kim: SICA was recently awarded the Institute of Higher Education Innovation (IHEI) “Social Impact Award” and “MZ Choice Award” in 2020. We are also, with POSCO Research Institute and Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency, the first public-private governmental pro bono consulting partnership; from them, we also received the “Best Pro Bono Award.” Those are just a few of the awards we have received lately. 

Annals: Why did you decide to join SICA? 

Pyun Do-bin (Soph., UIC, Creative Tech. Management): At the time of my application, the idea of social innovation was quite new to me. I wanted to gain more experience because we have limited opportunities due to the ongoing pandemic.  

Lee Min-lo (Soph., UIC, Quantitative Risk Management): There are other clubs that focus on social innovation, but I thought SICA is where I can actually grow both academically and personally. After one of their showcases, I heard that SICA had many meetings with alumni and networking opportunities. I thought it would be a great platform where I could find people who share similar passions with me. 

Annals: Could you briefly explain the projects you are currently working on? 

Eum Ju-sang (Fresh., UIC, HASS): I am a part of the project called “Viriduous,” which aims to tackle the lack of incentive for cosmetic consumers to purchase cosmetics with eco-friendly packaging. We decided to make sample boxes containing cosmetic products from companies that use eco-friendly packaging. We want to collaborate with small companies that are not well-known and provide them with a platform to engage with interested consumers. 

Lee Eun-gyul (Fresh., UIC, UD): Our team “KeyWe” is currently working on a project to design a social business model that aims to solve the problem of ‘unbalanced diets’ for college students. We wanted to make college students more aware of their health conditions by creating a platform, providing personalized menu suggestions with detailed nutritional information for each menu for the users. 

Annals: Do you have any advice for potential applicants? 

Kim: Please sign up if you are interested in social innovation, even if you think you may not have the skills yet. As long as you are enthusiastic about and genuinely want to have a positive social impact, then I would say you should just apply and see what kind of new people you can meet. We have great and inspiring people here in SICA, and if you want to be part of that group, please join. 

Hwang: If you actually want to make a change within the society, you cannot do it by yourself; you have to learn how to work with others. I think SICA provides the greatest networking opportunities to look for people to work together with in the future. Finally, if you think you have something to bring to the table and be an asset, please apply to SICA.