À much needed examination of a neglected issue - how societies, regions and institutions adjust to our rapidly changing economic world.'. - W. Brian Arthur, Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico. T̀his is a marvellously rich work of synthesis, bringing together a very wide range of theoretical perspectives to make sense of contemporary patterns of economic and social change. Its range of reference is remarkable - and it is further proof that much of the most interesting theoretical and empirical work today is being done on the boundaries of disciplines.'. - Geoff Mulgan, Director, The Young Foundati.

As we grapple with how to respond to some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as inequality, poverty and climate change, there is growing global interest in ‘social innovation’ as a potential solution. But what exactly is ‘social innovation’? This book describes three ways to theorise social innovation when seeking to manage and organize for both social and economic progress.

This book examines the different ways companies can develop and design social innovation. Combining technological and social perspectives, the contributors present emerging research on social innovation from different sectors such as entrepreneurship, education and energy. Collectively, the authors demonstrate the ways in which social innovation can drive sustainability and development in regions around the world. All societies are characterized by their political, economic and social institutions, as well as by how they utilize technology. The social innovations with the highest importance are those which modify existing institutions or create new ones, and based on their magnitude, they can be considered as radical or incremental. For example, when Joseph Chamberlain encouraged workers to organize in order to achieve universal male suffrage in Great Britain in 1885, this was a considered a radical innovation for British society, which in turn changed its political framework. Social innovations may be based on intelligence and commitment, on technology or on social entrepreneurship in its most open forms. In addition, social innovations can be classified into those which correspond to an entire country or region, a field (e.g., education) or a sector (e.g., entrepreneurship, technology, social reform). Featuring contributions on topics such as agro-food, smart cities, higher education, gender equality and sports, this book is ideal for academics, students, scholars, professionals and policy makers in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability and regional development.

Innovation is a key factor not just in the research & design process, but in policy, institutions, & society. This handbook is unique in examining research findings & new theoretical models relating to innovation at a number of analytic levels: projects, organizations, industrial sectors, & society.

This book explores how the State can play a role as an enabler of citizens-led social innovations, to accelerate the shift to sustainable and socially just lifestyles. To meet the twin challenges of environmental degradation and the rise of inequalities, societal transformation is urgent. Most theories of social change focus either on the role of the State, on the magic of the market, or on the power of technological innovation. This book explores instead how local communities, given the freedom to experiment, can design solutions that can have a transformative impact. Change cannot rely only on central ordering by government, nor on corporations suddenly acting as responsible citizens. Societal transformation, at the speed and scope required, also should be based on the reconstitution of social capital, and on new forms of democracy emerging from collective action at the local level. The State matters of course, for the provision of both public services and of social protection, and to discipline the market, but it should also act as an enabler of citizen-led experimentation, and it should set up an institutional apparatus to ensure that collective learning spreads across jurisdictions. Corporations themselves can ensure that society taps the full potential of citizens-led social innovations: they can put their know-how, their access to finance, and their control of logistical chains in the service of such innovations, rather than focusing on shaping consumers’ tastes or even adapting to consumers’ shifting expectations. With this aim in mind, this book provides empirical evidence of how social innovations, typically developed within "niches", initially at a relatively small scale, can have society-wide impacts. It also examines the nature of the activism deployed by social innovators, and the emergence of a "do-it-yourself" form of democracy. This book will appeal to all those interested in driving societal change and social innovation to ensure a sustainable and socially just future for all.

The world of work and labour is in a permanent transformation affecting the various social groups in the different parts of the world quite unequally. Social innovations, related to the idea of economic progress and well-being, tackle the problems of employment leading to social exclusion and poverty as a consequence of the extreme positioning in favour of economic performance. An alternative economy complements the deficiency of both the market and the State. This volume presents contributions from scholars coming from different continents, about Social Economy, Labour Rights, corporate Social Responsibility, Social Regulations and Public Policies. Social innovations have huge impacts on national and regional economies as their sources come from the citizen. Many initiatives presented in this volume are a social response by civil society to poverty, precarious employment, job losses, long term unemployment, delocalisation and de-industrialisation.

This book addresses ‘the economics of social innovation’, a widely neglected topic in regional development. The chapters in this edited volume cover distinct but complementary and related aspects concerning the existing gap between the hitherto unexploited potential of social innovation in relation to socio-economic challenges that regions across Europe and globally face. Research on social innovation has gained momentum over the last decade, spurred notably by the growing interest in social issues related to policy making, public management and entrepreneurship in response to the grand challenges societies in Europe and worldwide face. Accelerated by the normative turn in research and innovation policies towards ‘missions’, social innovation is nowadays a central element on policy agendas, from the urban and regional level to the national and subnational level of the European Commission and the OECD. However, for social innovations to unfold their full potential a better understanding of underlying mechanisms, processes and impacts is necessary. The first three chapters focus on framework conditions and characteristics of social innovation. The following two chapters emphasise the determinants of social innovation and translocal empowerment. In the last part, attention is devoted to social innovation in specific fields such as health care and greening society, and social innovations’ transformative potential. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, European Planning Studies.

'Social innovation’ can be simply defined as the new ideas and initiatives that make it possible to meet our society’s challenges in areas such as the environment, education, employment, culture, health and economic development. It is currently becoming increasingly important as a central concept for social theories and politics. This edited volume brings together interdisciplinary contributions which examine the complex interrelation between innovation and social problems, a link which has been surprisingly underexplored in academia and practice thus far. Social Innovation: New Forms of Organisation in Knowledge–Based Societies examines the mutual interdependence of innovation processes and social affairs. This interdependent relationship is characterised by a high degree of complexity which stems on the one hand from the true uncertain character of innovation and on the other hand from the different time scales in both domains. The alliance between innovation and social policy is highly relevant to the challenges which we are facing in the 21st century, such as resource scarcity, ageing societies and climate change. All of these issues demand substantial, continuous and sustainable structural change to maintain international competitiveness. Social change can only be understood by improving our knowledge about the impact of innovation processes in their co-evolutionary alliance with social evolution. The purpose of this book is to increase awareness of social participation among civil society organisations, SMEs, governments and research institutions, in order to promote economic, political and social changes that enhance collective welfare. This volume offers a key starting point for those looking to further explore this important realm of social research.

This book explores how public organizations and not-for-profit organizations (NPO) can be more collaborative, innovative and effective in solving social issues in both developing and developed countries. “Social innovation,” led by social entrepreneurs and/or social enterprises, emerged in the late 1990s, and spread in 2000s. As the West faced management failures, demand increased for corporations to take on more social responsibility. Based on intensive research on social innovation processes at the municipal and the community level in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan, the book analyses the factors that affected the most effective and efficient social innovations.

This book presents a model for examining problems of institutional change and applies it to American economic development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors develop their model of institutional change. They argue that if external economic factors make an increase in income possible but not attainable within the existing institutional structure, new organizations must be developed to achieve the potential in income. Their model is designed to explain the type and timing of these necessary changes in institutional organization. Individual, voluntary cooperative, and governmental arrangements are included in the discussion, although the latter differs considerably from the first two.