{"id":2581,"date":"2016-03-15T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T11:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/six.stimulatingminds.co.uk\/?p=2581"},"modified":"2022-06-08T14:41:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T14:41:33","slug":"innovating-innovation-connecting-technological-business-and-social-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socialinnovationexchange.org\/legacy\/innovating-innovation-connecting-technological-business-and-social-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovating Innovation: Connecting technological, business and social innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We have reached a watershed moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Innovation has long been recognized as necessary for a nation\u2019s economic and business success. But citizens have relied on a trickle down approach for the benefits from technological and business innovation to trigger broad societal well-being. Unfortunately today\u2019s social, ecological and economic problems \u2013 ranging from preventable chronic disease to social exclusion to youth unemployment to climate change \u2013 are escalating in scale, severity and urgency. They won\u2019t wait for laissez-faire innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s needs and innovation\u2019s benefits can be more directly connected and aligned. The opportunity of the 21st century is to harness the combined power of social innovation and mainstream (technological and business) innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mainstream innovation is an advanced ecosystem of technological, business, financial and human resources wired to produce efficiencies, profit and, increasingly, disruption. Social innovation works primarily at the margins to take on the most pressing social and ecological challenges of the 21st century. Social innovation responds to gaping tears in our social fabric made more visible as aging systems fall behind or fail to use new tools like behavioural economics, human-centred design, collective intelligence, and both open and big data.

The urgent call is to steward a new collaborative mindset and approach. One that integrates today\u2019s tools and technologies with new knowledge emerging from across all sectors on innovation, social behavior, social capital, collaboration and networks.  We need an innovation system driven by a new integrated innovation paradigm and a solutions-oriented economy.

The status quo isn’t working<\/strong>

The OECD reports that \u201c[i]n 2014, OECD countries devoted more than one-fifth of their economic resources to public social support\u201d.  It is estimated that 17% of Canada\u2019s GDP, or $338 billion, is spent on social outcomes. In the US, that figure is closer to 19.2% of GDP or $3.4 trillion USD and in Spain, it is higher still, at 26.2% of GDP.

What are we missing by not having a more inclusive, integrated national innovation system, capable of producing greatly improved and robust social outcomes? How can we repurpose the large investments in social programs that are structured mostly to mitigate rather than solve societal challenges? How can we catalyze a purpose-driven innovation ecosystem?

The problem is not that these questions are not being asked. Nor that we are not already deploying social innovation and advancing social outcomes in critical domains.<\/em>  

The problem is that these efforts remain marginal to the scale of our challenges.<\/em>
Something more is needed: We must reqire the innovation system.<\/strong>

We have to be intentional around rewiring the innovation system with a solutions-orientation. This includes its:
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