SI-DRIVE by EU Research

Getting to the core of social innovation Social innovation projects help to change the way we live and work, yet the field itself is relatively under-researched, now the SI-DRIVE project is taking a fresh look at the topic. We spoke to Jürgen Howaldt, Christoph Kaletka and Antonius Schröder about their work in extending knowledge on social innovation and laying the foundations for further research The concept of social innovation has a

Social innovation

major role to play in addressing contemporary social and economic challenges, as Europe moves towards a more knowledge-based economy. While technological innovation has clearly been crucial in shaping modern society, social innovation is also a major factor in changing the way we live, work and travel. “Social innovation can be broadly defined as new social practices that diffuse into wider society and influence change processes,” says Jürgen Howaldt. Based at the Technical University of Dortmund, Howaldt is a key member of the SI-DRIVE project team, an EC-backed initiative investigating and analysing the concept of social innovation, together with his colleagues Antonius Schroeder and Christoph Kaletka. “We are looking at social innovation in a broad sense,” says Kaletka. “One of the misunderstandings which we believe has emerged over recent decades regarding social innovation is that it is quite narrowly defined. Social entrepreneurship is a very important element of social innovation for example, but it’s certainly not the only one.”

Researchers in the project are taking a broader social view, looking at more than , innovation initiatives across the world in seven major policy areas, with the aim of building a deeper understanding of their nature, characteristics, and wider impact. These social innovations are often related to specific societal challenges, commonly on the local level. “It might be that established systems have failed in some way, or that new demands have emerged from say government or civil society, or other motivated actors and innovators. Social innovation is a way of finding new solutions and changing the social practices of the population,” outlines Schröder. This might mean a car-sharing scheme to combat traffic congestion for example, or the development of new healthcare models; one of the main goals of the project is to improve our understanding of the relationship between social innovation of this kind on the ground, and wider social change on the macro level. “While of course some social innovation initiatives influence social change, most social innovators do not

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actually start out with the ambition of creating social change,” says Kaletka. The focus for social innovators is more typically on addressing specific social challenges in their local area, such as alleviating poverty, or tackling loneliness among elderly people. Technology can play an important role in addressing these types of issues, yet Howaldt says it must be embedded in social practice if it is to have a sustained impact. “Technology alone is not the solution, but in some cases it enables new social practices to develop, to cope with major societal challenges or deal with emerging demands,” he explains. The relationship between social and technological innovation is a major area of interest in the project, and researchers have been looking at case studies across each of the seven different policy areas. “For example, in the eHealth field, technology plays a very important role, but it’s less integral in fighting against poverty,” continues Howaldt. “It’s really a very interesting picture, where we can look to understand the relationship between social innovation and technological innovation,

across different case studies and social innovation initiatives.” A social innovation project may be initially rooted in a local area, but technology can help to heighten awareness of its impact, potentially then inspiring people in other areas to establish similar initiatives. This point of how a social innovation is perceived by wider society, and whether it is then taken up by other actors, is an important aspect of the project’s research. “Is that social innovation diffused into society, is it widely accepted? Does it lead to the establishment of new institutions that help us to deal with those challenges? SI-DRIVE is looking at the impact of social innovation initiatives in terms of social change,” says Howaldt. Researchers adopt an objective perspective in this regard, looking at the full impact of social innovation, not just the positive effects. “From a scientific and research perspective we always try to understand not only the positive outcomes of a social innovation, but also the possible negative repercussions of such developments. It’s very difficult to say if a specific social innovation is intrinsically ‘good’,” explains Kaletka. An example could be a social innovation organising the re-distribution of excess food from restaurants and supermarkets to the homeless for example. While this has positive

social effects, bringing food to people in need and helping to allocate resources more efficiently, it may also lead to some level of disruption for others. “Some actors might be negatively affected. For example, those who maybe previously found work in generating energy out of food waste,” points out Kaletka. These different perspectives need to be considered in terms of understanding the impact of social innovation, and also the

whether it is part of a wider eco-system, with links to other stakeholders. Many NGOs and not-for-profit organisations are involved in social innovation initiatives, along with other actors. “When considering solutions to a social challenge, it is very important that there is a kind of social innovation eco-system, integrating all the relevant stakeholders from different sectors and areas. For instance, it could be relevant to integrate the church, the

When considering solutions to a social challenge, it is very important that there is a kind of social innovation eco-system, integrating all the relevant stakeholders from

different sectors and areas potential for these types of initiatives to be replicated elsewhere and contribute to wider social change. “An important question is whether an initiative or idea is sustainable. Could it be replicated or diffused to other regions? Or at least, if it has been implemented in this specific city, has it been successful? Has it been maintained over a longer period? So the sustainability question is very important,” stresses Kaletka. This may be affected by the organisation of the specific social innovation initiative and

public administration, local businesses and other civil society actors to address a problem in a common and sustainable way,” says Schröder. Analysis of social innovations shows that research institutes and universities are major players in a relatively small proportion of cases, a finding which surprised Howaldt. “Universities and research institutes played an percent of the important role in less than initiatives that we analysed,” he says. “I think there is undeveloped potential in social innovation.”

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SI-DRIVE This stands in stark contrast to technological innovation projects, in which universities typically play a far more prominent role in research and development. The scaling and diffusion of social innovation projects is another important point in this regard. “In some cases social innovation initiatives may have developed, and yet the participants are maybe not aware that something similar may already have been done in other areas,” says Schröder. This points to a need for more effective information-sharing and support for social innovation. “It’s not only about support for the development of scaling strategies, that’s only one side of the diffusion of research and innovation. It’s also about enhancing the capability of society to take up and imitate solutions that have been developed in other parts of the world,” outlines Howaldt. “We found from our mapping that a greater part of the social innovation initiatives that we analysed had utilised ideas from other social innovation initiatives. Imitation and innovation are closely connected.”

Eco-systems There are clearly a multitude of different factors to consider in analysing social innovations and understanding why some

scale successfully, while others fail to have a lasting impact. Researchers in the project aim to investigate these factors, to build a clearer picture of the innovation eco-system, with the wider aim of informing social policy development. “We are developing a policy declaration that we will present at our final conference, together with our colleagues in the project. We will describe the insights that have been drawn from the project,” says Howaldt. The project team is also closely involved in the development of a more comprehensive innovation policy in Germany. “We focus on social innovation as part of a comprehensive innovation policy, describing new ways and concepts of promoting social innovation,” outlines Howaldt. The second major outcome of the project will be to further strengthen the social innovation research community, laying the foundations for continued investigation. A European School of Social Innovation has been established, bringing together researchers from different countries, and Kaletka believes it’s important to encourage continued collaboration between researchers. “Different social innovation projects and research communities are starting to exchange their views and help one another,” says Kaletka.

Social Innovation – Driving Force of Social Change Project Objectives

The project’s research is guided by the following four objectives and expected outcomes: • To determine the nature, characteristics and impacts of social innovation as key elements of a new paradigm of innovation (strengthen the theoretical and empirical base of social innovation as part of a wider concept of innovation that thoroughly integrates social dimensions) • To map, analyse and promote social innovations in Europe and world regions to better understand and enable social innovations and their capacity for changing societies • To identify and assess success factors of social innovation in seven particular policy areas, supporting reciprocal empowerment in various countries and social groups to engage in social innovation for development, working towards Europe 2020 targets and sustainable development (e.g. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)) • To undertake future-oriented policy-driven research, analyse barriers and drivers for social innovation; develop tools and instruments for policy interventions.

Project Funding

FP7 Programme for Research of the European Union – Collaborative project Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities SSH.2013.3.2-1 Social Innovation – empowering people, changing societies?

Project Partners

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Contact Details

Antonius Schröder, Member of Management Board - European Research / Infrastructure Research Area 3 “Work and Education in Europe” Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund - sfs Technische Universität Dortmund Evinger Platz 17 D-44339 Dortmund T: +49-(0)231-8596-243 E: schroeder@sfs-dortmund.de W: www.si-drive.eu Antonius Schröder, Professor Jürgen Howaldt and Dr Christoph Kaletka

Antonius Schröder (Left) is a Senior Researcher and member of management board of the social research centre (sfs) at TU Dortmund University. Professor Jürgen Howaldt (Centre) is Director of Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund, TU Dortmund University and professor at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. Dr Christoph Kaletka (Right) is a Senior Researcher and member of the management board at Sozialforschungsstelle, central scientific unit of TU Dortmund University (TUDO).