a framework for understanding social innovation

A Framework for Social Innovation

Frances WestleySiG@Waterloo

University of WaterlooNovember, 2008

What is social innovation?.

Social innovation is an initiative, product or process which profoundly changes the basic routines, resource and authority flows or beliefs of any social system. Successful social innovations are therefore disruptive and have durability, impact and scale.

The role of:Social Innovation Generation (SiG)SiG@Waterloo

Key messages Social innovation is complex: understanding the

difference between complicated and complex is important in understanding the dynamics of social innovation

Market/diffusion models of social innovation should be complimented by complex system models which see change as discontinuous and focus on cross scale dynamics.

Agency and opportunity are both important. Agency is defined not only by social entrepreneurship but by

institutional entrepreneurship Institutional entrepreneurs tailor strategies to particular

opportunity contexts.

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Santropol Roulant

Eva’s Phoenix

The Working Center

Innovations abound….

modified from Nesta (www.nesta.uk)

How do innovations achieve a broader impact?A marketing

strategy for “routine” change

Hi control -innovation contained in the organization-spread by growth or clonign

Lo control:

Innovation spreads like weeds- advocacy, persuasion and a sense of mvt.

Licensing and franchising - quality assurance and training

Structured, open source methods - sometimes with payment, consultation or technical assistance

Federations or control thru professional networks - helped by evaluation

Following a Recipe A Rocket to the Moon Raising a Child

Complicated ComplexSimple

Following a Recipe

zThe recipe is essential

zRecipes are tested to assure replicability of later efforts

zNo particular expertise; knowing how to cook increases success

zRecipe notes the quantity and nature of “parts” needed

zRecipes produce standard products

zCertainty of same results every time

Simple

Following a Recipe A Rocket to the Moon

Formulae are critical and necessary

Sending one rocket increases assurance that next will be ok

High level of expertise in many specialized fields + coordination

Separate into parts and then coordinate

Rockets similar in critical ways

High degree of certainty of outcome

Complicated






Simple







Formulae have only a limited application

Raising one child gives no assurance of success with the next

Expertise can help but is not sufficient; relationships are key

Can’t separate parts from the whole

Every child is unique Uncertainty of outcome

remains

Complicated Complex






Simple





Separate into parts and then coordinate



Formulae have only a limited application

Raising one child gives no assurance of success with the next

Expertise can help but is not sufficient; relationships are key

Can’t separate parts from the whole

Every child is unique

Uncertainty of outcome remains

Complicated Complex




zRecipe notes the quantity and nature of “parts” needed



Simple

Complicated – “complicare”- folded Verb - to fold

Complex – “complexus” – woven Verb – to embrace or

comprehend a pattern

Stored

ReleasedVariety Sameness

An idea is born

The idea is developed

The idea is launched as a product, process or organization

An “established” innovation

A model for complex and discontinuous change: cross

scale interactions

Social Innovation

Political system Economic system Cultural system Legal system

Social entrepreneur

Institutional entrepreneurs + actor nets

Interorganizational/ intersectoral system

Local/organizational system

What is an institution “A patterned set of behaviors and meanings

which structure social behavior over time” Embedded in our language and our

understandings Embedded in our rules for social behavior;

including in our laws. Embedded in our economy, including resource

distribution

What is the role of the institutional

entrepreneur To change the ideas, discourse, knowledge, social

interactions, resource expenditures, and policies/laws which support environmental destruction to a new pattern which supports a particular innovation.

To work across scales and boundaries and with multiple agents (agent net) in the “institutional field”

Institutional entrepreneurs tune strategies of resource mobilization to different opportunity contexts of

social innovation :

Designing strategies for cross scale impact when change opportunity is opaque : “ up-down

strategies” Innovation occurs in the community in the context of organizations/coalitions addressing specific issues - where problems are solved in real time

Social innovators/institutional entrepreneurs key role is to: question the strategic context/directions of decision makers in all sectors

at the community level and beyond. frame (explain) the context for community identify key innovations at the community level (those most pertinent to

the strategies) sell these to the key strategic decision makers (finding the right moment

to introduce the key innovation)

@Westley, SiG, University of Waterloo

National communications strategy -tell the story

Political

C1

C2C3

Senate commission: report and media attention

Legal

Identification of

system pathologies

and promising innovations

“First response” strategy

Committees

PR

Seed innovations

Institutional entrepreneurs+ actor net

Example 1: A movement for Mental Health….

.

Example 2 :Saving Endangered Species

Interpersonal and knowledge management competencies required

Interpersonal Convening Conflict

management Facilitation

Knowledge management Creating a common

vision Enhancing

sensemaking

Example 3. Plan Canada and the RDSP

“Every innovation has two parts: the first is the invention of the thing itself; the second is the preparation of expectations so that when the invention arrives it seems both surprising and familiar -something long awaited” Edwin Land

The social innovators +

The institutional entrepreneurs



Interpersonal and Knowledge skills

required Building social capital

and mobilizing it in support of novelty

Building intellectual/cultural capital and mobilizing it in support

Building financial capital and mobilizing it in support

Recognizing and championing innovative idea

Connecting the idea to “windows of opportunity” at multiple scales

System understanding and emerging pattern recognition

Example 4: The Great Bear Rain Forest

courtesy of Darcy Riddell

Social-Ecological Significance

25% of world’s Coastal Temperate Rainforest

Richest bio-mass on earth 100+ pristine valleys (none in US) 20%+ of the world’s wild salmon Spirit

bears, wolves, grizzlies Cultural, economic and social significance:

competing claims

adapted from Darcy Riddell

Competing Claims

Activists, logging companies, researchers, First Nations, Government….all laid claim1990s: widespread Land Use Plans

From mid-1980s-mid-1990s -conflict and blockades in Clayoquot Sound: mass arrests raise the stakes


Final Agreements Permanent protection – 5 million acres New parks - 3.3 million acres Previous parks - 1 million acres New no-logging zones - 736,000 acres EBM – 21 million acres $35 million mitigation package for forest workers $120 Million for conservation economy First Nations approve all plans International Marketplace shift Model used in Chile, Boreal, USA


Facing the Shadow Forest workers: “capuccino-sucking urban enviros” First Nations: “eco-colonialists” Forest Companies: “they are trying to destroy us

and the province we care about” and dueling scientists

Government: “irresponsible” and “enemies of BC” Other environmentalists: “corporate sell-outs”Grains of truth= “breathe”

In sum….the process of transformation:

International level - inside out strategy - using global market resources to reframe provincial “playing field”

Fertile ground fo innovation

Negotiation level =Change in stance: Owning the shadow of environmentalism – solutions space

The essence of an innovation

A change in meaning - “branding” The Great Bear Rain Forest “reframing” from the “war in the woods” to a generative

collaboration New patterns of resource flows

social financing and the conservation economy New relationships and practices

An experience of integration Different logging technologies become viable; different

networks for product distribution

Continues to stimulate Market demands for “Ancient Forest

Friendly” papers Additional innovations: the

“conservation economy” takes hold New forms of social financing - Coastal

Opportunities funds, First Nations forestry companies

Interpersonal and knowledge skills

needed Building coalitions Managing conflict Securing capital for

a focused momentum

Building vertical commitments

Social Marketing Bridging

perspectives and kinds of knowledge

Owning the shadow

Summary To understand social innovation demands a complexity

perspective To understand how social inventions have a broad

impact, marketing models can only tell part of the story Cross-scale dynamics are key and institutional

entrepreneurs + actor nets are as important for impact as are social entrepreneurs.

Institutional entrepreneurs draw on a range of transactional and translational skills and competencies to manage different phases of social innovation for greater impact.

“Farmers don’t grow crops. They create the conditions for crops to

grow.” - Gareth Morgan

a framework for understanding social innovation

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