Social Innovation 101

SIX is part of a new consortium, Change Hubs for Ecosystemic Social Solutions – CHESS (2023-2025), under Horizon Europe programme which seeks to improve the overall ecosystem for innovation in Europe. It is now widely accepted in Europe that we need new approaches if we are to tackle the systemic and urgent societal challenges we ... Building European innovation ecosystems

We are facing immense societal challenges globally, which cannot be solved through technological innovations alone. We need sustainable and socially oriented solutions, that is innovations with and for society. Such social innovations need adequate financial support.   Over the last decade, there have been various approaches to financing and supporting social innovations, from accelerator grants to ... Insights on financing social innovation in Europe

Fábio Deboni is the Executive Manager at the Sabin Institute. He currently is a co-manager of the Social Enterprise Theme Network of GIFE (Group of Institutes, Foundations and Companies) with the ICE. Member of GIFE’s Board of Directors. Author of “Reflexões contemporâneas sobre Investimento Social Privado” (Contemporary reflections on private social investment). Contact him here: fabio@institutosabin.org.br As ... Challenges of Social Innovation in Brazil

Surmounting daunting social challenges such as ending malaria or achieving marriage equality can require the help of an intermediary organization—a field catalyst—that amplifies the efforts of others. Open access to this article is made possible by The Bridgespan Group. When looking across the major social-change efforts of our time, the parabola of success sometimes arcs suddenly ... How Field Catalysts Galvanise Social Change

As SIX Global Council member Social Innovation Generation (SiG) draws to a close after ten years, the organisation have created this book to chart and track their learning journey from the past decade.  Social Innovation Generation (SiG) was a coming together of unusual allies — a private family foundation, an innovation hub, a non-profit social enterprise and a ... Fostering a Canadian ecosystem for systems change – the SiG story

In 2017, a Co-Creation Steering Group, appointed by the Government of Canada, engaged stakeholders from across sectors and regions to provide recommendations for a pan-Canadian Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy. In 2018, the Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy Co-Creation Steering Group released its report, Inclusive Innovation: New Ideas and New Partnerships for Stronger Communities. ... Government of Canada releases recommendations for comprehensive social innovation and social finance strategy

“Towards a general theory and typology of Social Innovation” comprises the most important findings of the four years lasting SI-DRIVE project according to the development of the theoretical framework. Based on a new innovation paradigm seven central building blocks are summarising the theoretical and empirical work of the project: a comprehensive definition of Social Innovation, five ... SI-DRIVE: Towards a general theory and typology of Social Innovation

Original post here The Young Foundation has published a research report on the MONDRAGON Corporation, the largest industrial Co-operative in the world. The report explores it as a social innovation ecosystem, a highly successful and competitive way of transforming people’s lives for the better through shared ownership. MONDRAGON is a large global business owned by ... Humanity at work – MONDRAGON, a social innovation ecosystem case study

Social innovators have a lot to learn from situations where they and their target beneficiaries vote on opposite sides. This past June, as a US citizen and social innovator living in London, I found myself surrounded by British colleagues who voted to remain in the European Union. Many of the people they and their social ... What Lessons Does “Brexit” Hold for Social Innovators Worldwide?

The Social Innovation Index, sponsored by Nippon Foundation was devised and constructed by an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The report examines, analyses and explains social innovation.   This piece of work sets out to define social innovation. It examines results, policy and institutional framework, financing, entrepreneurship, civil society and how best to enable social innovation. The ... Old problems, New solutions: Measuring the capacity for social innovation across the world

Originally posted here. To start the Social Innovation Community project we reviewed what social innovators and researchers have said so far about the relationship between public policy and social innovation. Across Europe there are many initiatives operating nationally and transnationally that have been designed to support social innovation, but we’re still some way from a ... Policy for social innovation: Five ways policy can support social innovation

In the next decades, a growing number of people will be on the move. The challenge for Europe is to see this not as a threat, but as an opportunity. That is, to imagine how migration can become a driver of innovation towards a younger, dynamic, cosmopolitan and, at the end of the day, a ... Migrants, social innovation and collaborative inclusion

As part of our work to demystify innovation within international development, we spoke with Milica Begovic, Innovation Specialist at UNDP’s Regional Hub for Europe and CIS. We asked her how UNDP has been able to embed innovation within the organisation and position themselves within the sector. Prototyping is key ‘We’ve created innovation funds for staff within ... Embedding innovation within UNDP- SIX speaks with Milica Begovic

Building on Social Innovation Europe (SIE)’s country profiles which demonstrate a variety of views on what social innovation means to different kinds of organisations in a particular country, SIE also looking at how social innovation is carried out in different regions across Europe. SIE recently interviewed Innobasque to learn more about social innovation in the Basque Country. The following interview builds on Innobasque’s contribution to the country ... Social Innovation in the Basque Country

We have reached a watershed moment. After a century of robust development of technological and business innovation, plus several decades of cracking the code of social innovation, the time has come to create an integrated innovation system. Innovation has long been recognized as necessary for a nation’s economic and business success. But citizens have relied ... Innovating Innovation: Connecting technological, business and social innovation

This originally appeared on the BRAC blog. If there were a simple recipe for social innovation, anyone could easily transform an idea into an impactful solution reaching millions. Unfortunately things are a lot messier on the ground. Many ‘amazing’ innovations that promise to save millions of lives fail to scale and quietly disappear. Who’s to blame: ... Scaling social innovation: An art or a science?

SIMPACT investigates the economic foundation of social innovation in relation to markets, public sector and institutions with the intention of providing a dynamic framework for action at the level of individuals, organisations and networks.  According to SIMPACT’s understanding, social innovation refers to: novel combination of ideas and distinct forms of collaboration that transcend established institutional contexts with the effect of empowering and (re) engaging vulnerable ... Comparative Report on Social Innovation across Europe

This article was written by Tim Draimin (Executive Director, Social Innovation Generation) and is part of our SIX Global Council series on Ideas for the Future.  Social Innovation’s Imperative to Be Ambitious and Think Big The world is awash with innovation reports and indices comparing the innovation prowess of different countries, cities, and corporations. The two ... Recoding Our Innovation Systems

This article was written by Chris Vanstone (Director of Co-design, TACSI) and is part of our SIX Global Council series on Ideas for the Future.  The commonsensical approach of doing with rather than to might just be sticking, in places. A decade and a half of work on people powered public services and a long demand ... People Powered Everything?

As civil society grows in post-colonial Hong Kong, participatory art has registered a heightened local consciousness, the desire to be autonomous and attempts to resist various kinds of hegemony in the 2000s and the 2010s. This essay aims to provide an empirical base for further studies by examining exemplary works, namely Complaints Choir of Hong ... Taking part: participatory art and the emerging civil society in Hong Kong

This article, written by Simon Willis (CEO, Young Foundation) and Jeremy Crump (Head of Strategy, Young Foundation) is part of our SIX Global Council series on Ideas for the Future. Clayton Christensen’s concept of disruptive innovation arose largely from an analysis of the industrial and product market, such as steel, manufacturing and computing. The focal point ... Disruptive Social Innovation – A political challenge

This article was written by Geoff Mulgan (CEO, Nesta) and is part of our SIX Global Council series on Ideas for the Future.  Over the last 50 years vast sums of public money have been spent supporting digital innovation in the military and business.   These fuelled transformative new phenomena – from drones to mass surveillance, Amazon ... Digital Social Innovation – Future directions

Transnational Network for Social Innovation Incubation – TRANSITION – is a 30-month project that supports the scaling-up of social innovations across Europe by developing a network of incubators which brings together established partners within the fields of social innovation (SI) and innovation-based incubation (IBI). TRANSITION will also provide learning output on which scaling methodologies are most ... Transnational Network for Social Innovation Incubation

This article was written by Josine Stremmelaar (Coordinator of the Knowledge Programme, Hivos) and Remko Berkhout (Consultant, Hivos) and is part of our SIX Global Council series on Ideas for the Future.  The obsession with ‘superheroes of social innovation’ undermines the social fabric that is needed to achieve social change. What if we harness the power ... U Innovate Us

Jordan Junge reflects on SIX’s recent event in Johannesburg, South Africa. Standing in a hot field in Soweto, we saw the vision for the future. There would be a juice bar in the corner, Bob Marley blasting out of the speakers, and people of all ages from the community hand picking their fruit and veg. ... 10 trends of social innovation in South Africa

Over the last 18 months Nesta, funded by the European Commission, has led a large research project into DSI. The project seeks to define and understand the potential of DSI, to map the digital social innovators, their projects and networks, and to develop recom­mendations for how policymakers, from the EU to city level, can make the ... Growing a digital social innovation ecosystem for Europe

Chief Executive of Nesta and SIX Global Council member Geoff Mulgan highlights the issue of inequality in innovation in this blog, originally published on Nesta. The relationship between innovation and inequality is rapidly moving up policy agendas. For years an implicit ‘trickle down’ theory dominated how policy makers thought. It argued that resources should be concentrated where ... Inequality and innovation: the end of another trickle down theory?

The international community increasingly recognises the need for new approaches to address our most pressing social challenges. In order to stimulate this innovation, this report suggests a number of approaches which policy makers can take, drawing on examples taken from around the world. The report draws on the work and findings of the TEPSIE project, a ... Growing social innovation: A guide for policy makers

Social innovation has an irresistible global appeal, but is it biased towards protecting the status quo? What’s the state of play in the fast paced world of social innovation? The Unusual Suspects Festival in London seemed a good place to find out. Collaboration was the theme. The claims made were high. The stakes may be even higher. A ... Irresistibly Biased? The blind spots of social innovation

TEPSIE is a research project funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme. One area of their project examines the extent to which, how and why, online networks and other digital tools are being used by, and having an impact on, social innovation. There is much evidence that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) substantially changes the character ... Digital technology in social innovation – TEPSIE report

Twenty years ago, Indian activist Arbind Singh pleaded with local officials to address the issues facing the urban poor. The state government of Bihar had recently carried out a massive antiencroachment drive that left thousands of street vendors without the means to earn a living. Across India, cities were being ‘beautified’—which in part meant kicking ... What does it take to scale social impact?

This Nesta report Making it Big: Strategies for Scaling Social Innovations aims to help social innovators consider the best options for scaling up their innovations. Key findings: Scaling isn’t for everyone. Not all innovations are scalable, and scaling brings risks. But where social innovations have potential to benefit more people, we think innovators should at least consider whether ... Making it Big: Strategies for scaling social innovations

This article was originally posted on the Nesta blog on 24/06/2014 by Peter Baeck and Alice Casey. People are using digital technology to revolutionise how we make social impact and to develop useful new resources for everyone. Nesta knows this is happening in a wide range of ways but is often informal and community-driven which means that ... Eleven trends to watch – Digital Social Innovation

Nesta and Bloomberg Philanthropies have published the i-teams report to explore in-depth twenty innovation teams and funds from around the world. We analyse the diversity of structures and approaches, their impacts, and the key lessons for other government leaders looking to emulate these efforts.  We present the new practices being developed and implemented by city ... The teams and funds making innovation happen in governments around the world

Louise Pulford, Director of SIX, interviewed Agnès Hubert, adviser in the Bureau of European Policy Advisers and author of the influential report ‘Empowering people, driving change: Social innovation in the European Union’ first published in 2010. Agnès has been instrumental within the Commission for championing and recognising the importance of social innovation as a pillar of ... Interview with Agnès Hubert: How has social innovation changed in Europe?

The new study program “Master of Arts in Social Innovation” at Danube University Krems (Austria), which will start its new course on 16th of June 2014, offers a recorded version of Geoff Mulgans Webinar for all those who are interested in Social Innovation. For more informations click here.

This article was originally published on Social Innovation Generation (SiG) website. Social Innovation Generation (SiG) is a group who believes that serious social problems can be solved. Our focus is on fostering social innovation to achieve impact, durability and scale by engaging the creativity and resources of all sectors. Today, it is quite common to come ... The Scaling Imperative

In 2013, The Young Foundation and the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) were commissioned by the national Colombian Centre for Social Innovation of ANSPE (National Agency to Overcome Extreme Poverty) to design and run a series of events on Social Innovation with a range of stakeholders. This project was supported by Compartamos con Colombia and the Inter-American Development Bank. Through ... Report: A reflection on Strengthening Social Innovation in Colombia

What’s going right and what’s going wrong? Is design a key to more efficient and effective public services, or a costly luxury, good for conferences and consultants but not for the public? This Nesta paper looks at the elements of the design method; the strengths of current models; some of their weaknesses and the common criticisms ... Design in public and social innovation: What works and what could work better

This report was originally posted on Wilco Project. In the course of the WILCO mid-term seminar, a pioneering initiative was launched to take stock of all the research done so far within the Framework Programmes with a view on preparing for Horizon 2020. The main result of this event is the “Social innovation research in the ... Social innovation research in the European Union: Approaches, findings and future directions

An interesting phenomenon is emerging worldwide: more and more people are organizing to solve daily problems together and are collaborating with each other to live more socially cohesive and sustainable lives. This active and collaborative attitude, driven by several social and economic factors, is also based on a technological pre-condition: the diffusion of technologies that ... Public and Collaborative: Exploring the Intersection of Design, Social Innovation and Public Policy

This article is written by Tricia Hackett and Diana Daste as part of the Social Life of Cities series for Urban Times It’s not all about Brazil – though the media might lead you to believe otherwise. Lesser known but not less exciting things are also happening in other Latin America countries, namely Colombia. With much fanfare, Colombia’s ... At The Forefront Of Social Innovation In Latin America – Colombia

The current interest in tackling the challenge of measuring social innovation is driven by at least two factors. First, there is undoubtedly a need for tackling long standing as well as new social challenges and meeting current social needs more effectively. The means of choice for doing so is social innovation. Thereby, and this leads ... Paving the way to measurement – TEPSIE report

The reality of day-to-day organizational work is that we tend to rely on typical strategies to achieve outcomes. An innovation mindset challenges key ideas about the traditional ways of working in social sector organizations, the importance of asking challenging questions and gathering data to better understand the complexity of social sector work, and the need ... Project Innovation: the Social Innovation Toolkit

In an article for Public Servant Magazine, Geoff Mulgan explains why Nesta is promoting social innovation in the UK and how SIX brings together innovators from around the world. For the last 14 years Nesta has been working to help people and organisations bring great ideas to life across a wide range of fields – ... Public Sector Social Innovation: It’s time we changed some old habits

The field of innovation for social purposes is developing rapidly all over the world, with new institutions and methods, growing confi dence and evidence of impact. Social innovators are changing the way governments work, the way civil society achieves impact, and the actions of business.  Social innovations are new ideas, institutions, or ways of working ... Financing Social Impact: Funding Social Innovation in Europe

By Johanna Mair While Western societies increasingly recognize social innovation, and its importance for the growth and well being of communities, there is still a wide gap between the scale of the problems we face and the scale of the available solutions. Businesses spend big money on innovation, but governments spend far less on systematically ... Social Innovation: International Practices for Diffusion and Policymaking

This report was prepared by the Young Foundation, as part of the TEPSIE project.  These ten points summarise the reports findings: an understanding and analysis of social innovation, namely what it is, where and how it takes place as well as core features and common elements. 1. The field of social innovation is broad and varied. It ... Defining social innovation – A 2012 report by TEPSIE

Recently, I interviewed Paul Carttar, Director of the Social Innovation Fund–an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) intended to improve the lives of people in low-income communities. It does so by mobilizing public and private resources to grow promising, innovative community-based solutions that have evidence of compelling impact in three areas ... The Obama Administration’s Social Innovation Fund:An In-depth Interview with Director Paul Carttar

Andrew Wolk is the Founder and CEO of Root Cause. The establishment of the Social Innovation Fund last year marked a great milestone for the field of social innovation in the United States. As the Corporation for National and Community Service is receiving applications for its 2011 Notice of Funds Opportunity, I want to share ... A Social Issue-Based Approach to Finding and Funding Social Innovation

A really interesting article from the “Inspired Economist” site (http://inspiredeconomist.com) Yesterday’s extensive feature in The New York Times business section on Google.org’s (http://www.google.org/) failure to match its own lofty social innovation goals is a must read for anyone interested in the intersection of philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and information technology. The piece chronicles Google’s philanthropic ... The Failure of Google’s “Do No Evil” Approach to Social Innovation

SIX and the Young Foundation were commissioned by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors at the European Commission to a study of social innovation in Europe, and to suggest some priorities for action. The paper sets out the current position, policies, programmes and future options for promoting social innovation in Europe. Its primary focus is ... First Study on Social Innovation for BEPA

The Open Book of Social Innovation looks at ways to design, develop and grow social innovation.

The Basque region is the proposed setting for the world’s first ‘social Silicon Valley’. Alison Benjamin meets two Spaniards intent on creating a post-industrial revolution High in the hills of Spain’s Basque region, an experiment is taking place that could determine how we tackle social problems in the future. At a time when governments, economists ... Small is powerful

This article originally appeared on The Guardian What makes a city buzz? The most dynamic cities have always been immersed in the critical innovations of their time. Today, the world’s great cities compete to lead in innovation in fields such as nanotechnology or genomics, sometimes successfully, sometimes with ineffective copycat strategies. Science and business have ... Our creative minds need to be harnessed

The original article appeared on The Guardian Social innovation is the new global obsession. It might be a nebulous idea but it has huge potential. Lord Darzi, following his review of the NHS, is so enamoured of its powers that he’s set aside a £50m annual budget to encourage its spread. Governments in Singapore, Denmark and ... New ways of doing

This report is about how social innovations spread and grow. It aims to provide a theoretically and empirically grounded guide for the many people involved in social innovation: innovators, funders, policy-makers and commissioners. It draws on a growing body of research on patterns of growth, and distils its conclusions into a guide to help direct ... In and out of sync: The challenge of growing social innovations