Young Social Innovators (YSI) and Cork-based biopharmaceutical company AbbVie have joined forces in a unique partnership designed to foster innovation exchanges between AbbVie employees and young people from surrounding communities. Students from St. Angela’s College in Cork were welcomed to AbbVie’s state-of-the-art medicines manufacturing facility in Carrigtwohill recently to exchange ideas with AbbVie staff on the importance of positive and healthy relationships and how they can help fuel productive work environments. The Cork students were recent winners of a national YSI award for their social innovation project on this issue. Their project aimed to educate young people on what constituted an unhealthy relationship and to encourage them to celebrate the healthy relationships they had with people close to them, raising funds and awareness for domestic violence group Mná Feasa as part of their campaign. The students were taking part in the YSI Social Innovation Action Programme which empowers young people to explore social issues affecting them and their communities and, using a unique innovation process designed to foster critical 21^st century skills, to suggest and implement creative ideas for social change. In addition to being given a tour of the modern oral dose manufacturing facility in Carrigtwohill, students attended exchange sessions with AbbVie teams to witness how innovation is a critical element of their business. AbbVie employees then heard first-hand about the innovative actions the students had taken to promote positive relationships among their peers and wider community. Shelly Whelan, a teacher and YSI guide at St. Angela’s College said the collaboration was an incredible opportunity for students to see how innovation is present in the workplace in a leading global pharmaceutical company. “My students were able to experience first-hand how the skills they develop, practice and implement in YSI - including teamwork, co-operation and communication - will be used in their future careers and help them achieve their maximum potential. This will in turn have a very positive impact on society in general," she said. “As an organisation, we believe in nurturing our employees and working in partnership to develop their careers in a supportive and positive environment,” said Gary Crowley, AbbVie’s site engineering manager and acting site director. “AbbVie is delighted to welcome students into our facilities. It allows us to demonstrate what we have to offer as a potential future employer but also to learn from them about the issues affecting them and our shared local communities. The transference of knowledge and the exchange of creative ideas between generations are vital for continuous and successful innovation whether in business or social contexts and we are delighted to facilitate that exchange.”