"Legacy" is a word you hear more and more in sporting circles. How do we make sure that the country and community that hosts – and hence usually helps to pay for – a given sporting event derives as much lasting benefit as possible?

Hosting the London 2012 Games in an economically disadvantaged area of the city has accelerated the development of east London by at least a generation. The co-operation and co-ordination exhibited by the Olympic boroughs in creating the Olympic Park is a great advertisement for London as a destination for business and investment. It makes the prospect of this area becoming a new economic focus for London more believable and more deliverable – as evidenced by the opening of the new Westfield shopping centre.

Deloitte is supporting the Business in the Community (BitC) arc programme, providing support to hundreds of social enterprises in the host boroughs, helping them contribute to economic and jobs growth in East London. The programme has real immediacy with jobs already being created: by April 2012, 13 social enterprises had created 27 jobs in three months and BitC is on track (ratio-wise) to meet the target of 1,000 jobs by 2015.

We were especially keen to engage with the BitC programme because it connects our role in delivering the London 2012 Games with our wider commitment to foster social innovation. We supported BitC by helping it to develop the selection process for the social enterprises that are eligible for the programme and we are also directly working with a number of the selected organisations, through our Social Innovation Pioneers programme. In addition, we are helping BitC to roll out the programme to other parts of the UK.