Critical Transitions in Social Innovation and Future Pathways to Sustainable Development Goals: The Indian Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 09
Author(s):  
Sunil D. Santha
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 0326-0332
Author(s):  
Yohani Dominik dos Figueiredo ◽  
Márcia Aparecida Prim ◽  
Gertrudes Aparecida Dandolini

Social innovation and sustainable development are topics of research interest for political leaders and civil society players, as well as for scholars from different disciplinary fields. They are presented as an effective, efficient, and sustainable solution to social problems generated by the present. In this sense, this research aims to identify characteristics of social innovation that are associated with sustainable development, from a narrative review of the literature. As a result, it was possible to identify characteristics such as improving quality of life and well-being, social change, innovative nature, among others, which are directly linked to the constructs of sustainable development. Special attention should be paid to the Sustainable Development Goals, which go hand in hand with social innovation actions as a way to reverse the situation of environmental degradation and social indigence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9797
Author(s):  
Nana Osei Bonsu ◽  
Jennifer TyreeHageman ◽  
Juliet Kele

Given the complex nature of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are increasing calls for new inclusive and bottom-up governance mechanisms in building a relationship between governments and their citizens, in particular, the youth, to localise the 2030 Agenda. But such successful bottom-up multi-stakeholder engagement tools have yet to emerge in practice. Hence, of specific interest in this study is exploring bottom-up approaches useful for localising the SDGs and harnessing real transformative change to leave no one behind by 2030. Using a case study from the UK, we present a novel integrated mechanism to achieve this. An integrated Social Innovation (SI) and Scenarios Thinking (ST) mechanism remains a valuable bottom-up tool capable of empowering citizens, including the youth and decision-makers in delivering coherent SDGs plans, policies, and programmes. The study reveals that although the SDGs are distinct, they are also interconnected. A scenario development workshop with youth with no prior knowledge of the SDGs showed a common thread of policy measures for different SDG future images. Standard policy measures amongst different SDGs call for an equitable society at all levels; that all energy sources be from clean and renewable sources; investment in low-carbon technologies and research; and financial support for promoting sustainable transportation and consumption measures. This study highlights that we need to change how we think and talk about SDGs and recommends socially innovative steps to embrace cross-sectoral and nexus thinking as the backdrop of the citizen science concept. We conclude that the SDGs should not become a performative exercise or failed social experiment. And any practical localisation from the UN’s Member States across the northern and southern hemispheres will require robust measures addressing future-oriented systemic thinking, inclusivity and good governance, together with standards for community resilience and sustainability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8954
Author(s):  
Karina Cagarman ◽  
Jan Kratzer ◽  
Laura Helen von Arnim ◽  
Kristina Fajga ◽  
Michaela Jacqueline Gieseke

The environmental context plays a very important role in the success of entrepreneurial behaviour. Governments used this opportunity by introducing specific programmes, but do social entrepreneurs have a comparable chance of getting governmental support as commercial entrepreneurs do in these programmes? We analyze the EXIST Start-up Grant in terms of likelihood for entrepreneurs following economic and social sustainable development goals (SDGs). Our results indicate that there is a decreased probability to get the EXIST Start-up Grant when following social SDGs. We argue that it is about time to introduce specific programmes for social innovation and/or reassess existing programmes in terms of their openness to social entrepreneurs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Díaz-Perdomo ◽  
Luis Ignacio Álvarez-González ◽  
María José Sanzo-Pérez

The evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility is forcing firms to adopt a new business approach based on combining competitiveness improvement with societal well-being. This evolution is materialized in the adoption of socially innovative practices to solve complex social problems, where collaboration is a key to confront them. And it is that, considering the existence of huge social and environmental challenges, independent actions undertaken by each of the societal actors with only their own resources reveal clearly insufficient to address them. Thus, a way firms can encourage the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is done by partnering with stakeholders, and particularly by developing the strategies of co-creation with non-profits. This study assesses the effects of business-non-profit value co-creation on both the organizational performance of the partners, and the social results linked to the SDGs. The methodology used to study the existence of these relationships is known as structural equations modeling (SEM) analysis. The results derived from a quantitative-based research with 205 Spanish non-profits show a positive effect of co-creation on indicators at the micro- (individuals), meso- (both the organizations), and macro-(society) levels. Furthermore, positive indicators at the micro- and macro-levels have a positive influence on the performance of the partners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 149-162
Author(s):  
Arul Selvan K.S.

As per Human Development Index of 2019 report, India is in the 129th rank. Nearly 28% of the Indian population lives below the poverty line. As per another report from The Lancet journal on healthcare index, India is in 154th position among the 195 countries. According to India’s Annual Status of Education Report 2017, 14% of children in the age group of 14-18 are not enrolled in any school system. Education, health and living standards are the primary factors to measure the quality of life in any social settings. Giving this grim view of social conditions in India, the role of public institutions as well as individual members’ are crucial in lending adequate support to the society to enhance the standings of living conditions. According to a study published in 2011, only 2% of news space were being given to the issues pertinent to development by the leading Indian national newspapers. Many news stories in these 2%, might have appeared due to 'Coups and earthquakes syndrome’ type of events that contained news values of death, disease and disaster. From the perspective of Sustainable Development Goals, the participatory approach of individuals is more meaningful in order to achieve the stated 17 goals as well as 169 targets. Apart from the government’s initiative for the SDGs and substantial fundings from the donor agencies, awareness about the SDGs is essential and ideal for the bottom-up approach towards achieving the development goals and its targets by 2030. In this respect, with the help of twitteR package of and text mining tools of R programming, citizen’s voice was measured for those keywords and its equivalent hashtags which were appeared in June 2018. English is being the elite language in India, one regional language Tamil would be included to compare the non-English private sphere with regard to SDGs in Indian context.


Author(s):  
Wendy M. Purcell ◽  
Heather A. Henriksen ◽  
Jack D. Spengler

Universities can do more to deliver against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), working with faculty, staff and students as well as their wider stakeholder community and alumni body. They play a critical role in helping shape new ways for the world, educating global citizens and delivering knowledge and innovation into society – universities can be engines of societal transformation. Here, using a case study approach, different ways of strategizing sustainability in a university setting are explored with an example from the UK, Europe and USA. The first case is a public UK university that adopted enterprise and sustainability as its academic mission to secure differentiation in a disrupted and increasingly marketized global higher education sector which then became a source of inspiration for change in regional businesses and the local community. The second case study is a business sector-led sustainability-driven transformation working with a private university in Bulgaria to catalyze economic regeneration and social innovation. Finally, the case of Harvard’s Office for Sustainability engagement program is given to show how this approach connects faculty and students with institutional sustainability plans and external partners.  Each case is a living lab, positioning sustainability as an intentional strategy. Leadership at all levels, and by students, was key to success in acting with purpose. Partnerships within and with universities can help accelerate delivery of the SDGs, with higher education making a fuller contribution to sustaining the economic, cultural and intellectual well-being of our global communities. 


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