What is social innovation
“Social innovations are new solutions (products, services, models, markets, processes etc.) that simultaneously meet a social need (more effectively than existing solutions) and lead to new or improved capabilities and relationships and better use of assets and resources. In other words, social innovations are both good for society and enhance society’s capacity to act.”
— The Young Foundation, UK
“Social innovation is the process of designing, developing and growing new ideas that work to meet pressing unmet needs.”
— Social Innovator (A collaboration between the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), UK, and the Young Foundation)
“This broad definition encompasses the innovations associated with fields as diverse as fair trade, distance learning, hospices, urban farming, waste reduction and restorative justice. Social innovation can come from individuals, groups and associations, the non-profit sector, the market and the state. The basic distinction between social and other innovations is that production is driven by social values as a primary imperative rather than private financial appropriation.”
— Social Innovator
“The application of innovative, practical, sustainable, market-based approaches to benefit society in general, and low-income or underserved populations in particular”.
— The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation (an advisory body comprised of leading practitioners, thought leaders and academics)
“Social innovation means being more strategic, more ambitious and more collaborative in how access and opportunity can be provided for billions of low-income people to participate in the global economy. “
— The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation
The process of social innovation ⇒
The six stages of social innovation
The Social Innovator has identified six stages that take ideas from inception to impact. These stages are not always sequential (some innovations jump straight into practice or even scale), and there are feedback loops between them. They can also be thought of as overlapping spaces, with distinct cultures and skills. They provide a useful framework for thinking about the different kinds of support that innovators and innovations need in order to grow.
(1) Proposals and ideas
This is the stage of idea generation. This can involve formal methods – such as design or creativity methods to widen the menu of options available. Many of the methods help to draw in insights and experiences from a wide range of sources.
(2) Sustaining
This is when the idea becomes everyday practice. It involves sharpening ideas (and often streamlining them), identifying income streams to ensure the long term financial sustainability of the firm, social enterprise or charity, that will carry the innovation forward. In the public sector this means identifying budgets, teams and other resources such as legislation.
(3) Scaling and Diffusion
At this stage there are a range of strategies for growing and spreading an innovation– from organisational growth, through licensing and franchising to federations and looser diffusion. Emulation and inspiration also play a critical role in spreading an idea or practice.
(4) Prompts and Inspirations
In this stage we include all the factors which highlight the need for innovation as well as the inspirations which spark it. This stage involves diagnosing the problem and framing the question in such a way that root causes, not just symptoms, will be tackled. Framing the right question is half way to finding the right solution.
(5) Systemic change
This is the ultimate goal of social innovation. Systemic change usually involves the interaction of many elements: social movements, business models, laws and regulations, data and infrastructures, and entirely new ways of thinking and doing. Systemic change generally involves new frameworks or architectures made up of many smaller innovations. Social innovations commonly come up against the barriers and hostility of an old order. Pioneers may side step these barriers, but the extent to which they can grow will often depend on the creation of new conditions to make the innovations economically viable. These conditions include new technologies, supply chains, institutional forms, skills, and regulatory and fiscal frameworks. Systemic innovation commonly involves changes in the public sector, private sector, grant economy and household sector, usually over long periods of time.
(6) Prototyping and Pilots
As an idea progresses from proof of concept testing through multiple stages of rapid prototyping, there are a raft of challenges: the feasibility of making the product, delivering the service, how one would deal with particular issues or pinch-points, what the economics look like and how it could be cheapened. The driving principles at this stage are speed, keeping costs low, tangibility and feedback loops from users and specialists.
[For more detail: https://www.socialinnovator.info/process-social-innovation]
—————–
Reference:
The Young Foundation: https://youngfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TEPSIE.D1.1.Report.DefiningSocialInnovation.Part-1-defining-social-innovation.pdf
The Social Innovator: https://www.socialinnovator.info
World Economic Forum – Social Innovation: http://reports.weforum.org/social-innovation/why-social-innovation-matters-to-business/?doing_wp_cron=1533994461.4927930831909179687500