According to Chairman of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at SMU Dr Tan Chi Chiu, social innovation is required to develop solutions to social problems. He defined social innovation as “a process that deals with complex situations, problems that transcend linear thinking, problems that would require multiple stakeholders to bring to bear their collective wisdom before we can find solutions which may work, and the process by which we test, research, validate and then roll out the solutions in order to benefit society at large.” He said that in the complex world today, social innovation has not only emerged to allow a level of thinking that allows complex problems to be solved, but it also means that philanthropists have the opportunity to invest their resources at a level which is upstream from where service is delivered.