The Melting Pot, Edinburgh’s incubator for social innovation, founded by CHE fellow Claire Carpenter, will celebrate its 2nd birthday on Thursday 1 October 2009. The Melting Pot is a not-for-profit social enterprise that aims to inspire and support people to realise their ideas for a better world. It provides shared workspace for people working for social, economic or environmental well-being, and publicly available meeting and events space. For more information, please see www.themeltingpotedinburgh.org.uk.

Claire writes: It seems like a life-time ago from the writing of my MSc thesis, and sharing this idea in its infancy and formation stage with a number of student cohorts over the years... Thank you always for your positive reception and encouragement. We all need positive reflectors to help us grow.

To celebrate the big day, The Melting Pot is throwing open the doors of its city centre space at 5 Rose Street from 6-9pm on 1st October. As well as members, friends and supporters, they’re inviting anyone who’s curious about the space. Anyone interested in attending the event should contact the team on 0131 243 2626 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

As well as its second birthday, The Melting Pot is also celebrating news of a £100,000 investment from the Scottish Government’s Third Sector Enterprise Fund. The award will enable the innovative social enterprise to introduce an Assisted Places scheme and a Volunteer Programme.