Creating Fair (Economic) Space for Social Innovation? A Capabilities Perspective

2019 ◽  
pp. 50-79
Author(s):  
Rafael Ziegler ◽  
Nadia von Jacobi
Keyword(s):  
Social Innovation ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Provision ◽  
Economic Space ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
The Rich

Economic space for social innovation is not bounded by markets. Further to the money-based exchange relations in markets, there is self and informal provision based on social norms such as reciprocity, community, public provision of entitlements and of public goods organized via political processes, and professional provision based on expert knowledge. Although these ideal-types blur in practice, they show the rich contours and collaborative pluralism of economic space. Fostering fair space for social innovation requires taking all these modes and their relations into account. Social innovations as messages signal to the public where a change in mode or a reconfiguration of modes is demanded. Fairness as a matter of taking the perspective of those marginalized and least advantaged, calls for evaluative scrutiny with respect to such messages: do social innovations empower beneficiaries to become agents; and do they consider their well-being as patients?

Appropriateness of Standard Accounting Tools in Measuring Social Innovation in the New Global Economy

2020 ◽  
pp. 332-348
Author(s):  
Sanja Franc ◽  
Mirjana Hladika
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Third ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Social Innovations

The global economy brings about new trends, challenges, and needs, which require new solutions. Social innovations can have a major role in satisfying unmet social needs and increasing overall well-being. Measuring social innovation is therefore an important task with the purpose of informing the stakeholders about the performance value that an innovation creates. Standard accounting tools often neglect social or environmental impact, and thus, new or adjusted methods need to be developed. The objective of this chapter is to analyze methods of measuring social innovation and discuss advantages and disadvantages of traditional measures versus new approaches with the purpose of better understanding the significance of social innovation in the global economy. The chapter consists of six parts. After the introduction follows the literature review. The third part of the chapter discusses different approaches to measuring innovations while the fourth part suggests some new approaches to measuring social innovations. The fifth part describes future research perspectives. The final part is the conclusion.

Social Innovation as a New Social Policy Tool for Regional Government Institutions in Smart Territories

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Muradiye Ates
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Spare Time ◽  
Social Innovations

By aiming at improving social welfare and well-being, social policies, social innovation, and smart territories are closely related to each other. Local authorities are in direct contact with citizens and regional needs, which makes them an important actor in overcoming challenges ranging from housing, spare-time activities to education to improving democratic standards. There are many successful examples of social innovations, including FixMyStreet.com, participatory budgeting, and Open Government Vienna, which are supported by local governments that can contribute to the formation of smart cities and territories. By elaborating related examples from various perspectives, this chapter highlights the relation between social policy, social innovation, and smart cities.

A Politics Worthy of the Name

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Orr
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
The Public ◽  
Urban Decay ◽  
The Rich ◽  
To Receive

Relative to the problems we face, our politics are about the most miserable that can be imagined. Those who purport to represent us and who on rare occasions try to lead us have been unable to take even the smallest steps to promote energy efficiency to avoid possibly catastrophic climatic change a few decades from now. They have failed to stop the hemorrhaging of life and protect biological diversity, soils, and forests. They ignore problems of urban decay, suburban sprawl, the poisoning of our children by persistent toxins, the destruction of rural communities, and the growing disparity between the rich and the poor. They cannot find the wherewithal to defend the public interest in matters of global trade or even in the financing of public elections. Indeed, the more potentially catastrophic the issue, the less likely it is to receive serious and sustained attention from political leaders at any level. Our public priorities, in other words, are upside down. Issues that will seem trivial or even nonsensical to our progeny are given great attention, while problems crucial to their well-being are ignored and allowed to grow into global catastrophes. At best they will regard us with pity, at worst as derelict and perhaps criminally so. The situation was not always this way. The leadership of this country was once capable of responding to threats to our security and health with alacrity and sometimes with intelligence. In light of the dismal performance of the U.S. political system relative to the large environmental and social issues looming ahead, we have, broadly speaking, three possible courses of action (assuming that we choose to act). The first is to turn the management of our environmental affairs over to a kind of permanent technocracy—a priesthood of global managers. The idea that experts ought to manage public affairs is at least as old as Plato. In its current incarnation, some propose to turn the management of the earth over to a group of global experts. Stripped to its essentials, this means smarter exploitation of nature culminating in the global administration of the planet with lots of satellites, remote sensing, and geographic information systems experts mapping one thing or another.

scholarly journals The Role of Accountability Arrangements in Social Innovations: Evidence from the UK and Slovakia

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Marta Orviska ◽  
Colin Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Innovation ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Available Information

AbstractOur research focuses on selected accountability mechanisms in the two countries. In Slovakia these are the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) and the Ombudsman. In the UK, at the national level we chose the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC), the National Audit Office (NAO) and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and on the local level the relatively recently introduced local government system of Scrutiny and Overview.The goal of our article is to assess the potential contribution of these accountability arrangements to the anchoring of social innovation in the public sector. The theory anticipates that accountability institutions such as the SAO and Ombudsman may create feedback loops supporting public innovations. We undertook detailed checks on the concrete situation in the Slovak Republic and in the UK. On the basis of the comprehensive set of data reviewed, including reports, interviews and more generally available information, we can confidently conclude that while in Slovakia such a feedback loop barely functions, in the UK it does function on a limited but still significant scale. In the last part we provide selected arguments why the Slovak situation is less positive.

scholarly journals The Role of Translation in Citizen Science to Foster Social Innovation

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Heinisch
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Innovations

Citizen science has become a world-wide phenomenon. Especially for citizen science projects that have a global reach, translation is crucial to overcome language and cultural barriers to reach members of the public. Translation, understood as the transfer of meaning (of a text) from one language into another language, is crucial for the transmission of information, knowledge and (social) innovations. Therefore, this paper examines the role of translation and terminology used in citizen science projects and how translation can foster (or impede) social innovation through citizen science activities. Based on a set of predefined criteria derived from the social innovation literature, this paper analyzes the factors that contribute to (social) innovation in citizen science by means of translation. A specific focus of the case study is on the aspects of agency, institutions, and social systems. The results demonstrate that translation in citizen science may support a change of social practices as ingredients of social innovations. Additional research is needed to further understand the implications of translation in citizen science and its effects on social innovation. Nevertheless, this work has been one of the first attempts to examine the relation between translation, citizen science and social innovation.

scholarly journals Design Thinking as a Means of Citizen Science for Social Innovation

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoe Chin Goi ◽  
Wee-Liang Tan
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Forward Movement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Housing Estates

Members of the public or community can play a significant role in the development of social innovations. When a social innovation is developed involving a scientific approach and the community, there is the confluence of two fields-citizen science and social innovation. Social innovations can be developed through the employment of design-thinking. In this paper, we advocate design thinking as an approach to marry the two fields for a desired outcome of improved community life in ageing housing estates in Tokyo. The two fields, citizen science and social innovation, are described in brief before the design thinking method is introduced and its utility in engaging citizens for social innovation is explored. The paper provides two case illustrations and the lessons drawn from them. We conclude with pointers for others who desire to employ this approach. When the resultant innovation and design-thinking approach are adopted by the community for future projects, there could be a change in society and possible forward movement for self-help and change.

scholarly journals My Life Matters

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Black Youth ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
The Public ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Cost

White supremacy presents Black communities with numerous challenges. We are constantly being injured by the anti-black racism that is deeply entrenched in the policies and practices of dominant institutions. These establishments, including, if not especially, the criminal justice system, purport to be responsible for ensuring the well-being and welfare of all, but only ever protect the rich and white. The recent re-mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide has reminded the public of the urgency of tackling anti-black racism, but much work still needs to be done if we want future generations of Black people to live freely. Like Black adults, Black youth are not immune from racist encounters. In such a time of racial crisis, the experiences of Black youth need to be centralized in a movement that opposes racial injustice and white supremacy. Accordingly, this poem adopts the lens of a Black youth to speak to the cost of growing up Black immersed in the dominant anti-black culture of our society, underscoring the troubling realities of what it means to be a Black youth in today’s world. 

Co-Creation as a Social Innovation in Delivery of Public Services at Local Government Level

2017 ◽  
pp. 281-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Beáta Mikušová Meričková ◽  
Mária Murray Svidroňová ◽  
Daniel Klimovský
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Main Role ◽  
The Public ◽  
Project Learning ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Government Level

This chapter examines social innovations in the public sector emphasizing the plural forms of ownership in public service provision which enable co-creation. It identifies different types of co-creation as social innovations, as well as the drivers for, and barriers to, successful co-creation processes at the subnational level in Slovakia. This study is a part of the research project “Learning from innovation in public sector environments” (LIPSE) and as such focuses on co-creation in the fields of welfare and the environment. One of the findings is that co-creation innovations are predominantly proposed and initiated by other actors, rather than by local self-governments, contrary to the main role that local governments are believed to play in initiating the co-creation processes. Explanations for such situations are provided.

scholarly journals Social Innovation: Worklessness, Welfare and Well-being

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Roy ◽  
Neil McHugh ◽  
Clementine Hill O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Causal Pathways ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Work Integration ◽  
The Uk

The UK Government has recently implemented large-scale public-sector funding cuts and substantial welfare reform. Groups within civil society are being encouraged to fill gaps in service provision, and ‘social innovation’ has been championed as a means of addressing social exclusion, such as that caused by worklessness, a major impediment to citizens being able to access money, power and resources, which are key social determinants of health. The aim of this article is to make the case for innovative ‘upstream’ approaches to addressing health inequalities, and we discuss three prominent social innovations gaining traction: microcredit for enterprise; social enterprise in the form of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs); and Self Reliant Groups (SRGs). We find that while certain social innovations may have the potential to address health inequalities, large-scale research programmes that will yield the quality and range of empirical evidence to demonstrate impact, and, in particular, an understanding of the causal pathways and mechanisms of action, simply do not yet exist.

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