basic assumption

Howaldt/ Bucharest 2012

Sozialforschungsstelle DortmundCentral Scientific Institute

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Networks as Success Factor for Social Innovation

RESER Conference BucharestSession on Social Innovation

21th September 2012

Jürgen Howaldt



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Basic assumption

The transition from an industrial to a knowledge and services-based society corresponds with a paradigm shift of the innovation system.

This paradigm shift also implies an increasing importance of social innovation as compared to technological innovation.



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“The tracks of international research on innovation demonstrate that the technology-oriented paradigm – shaped by the industrial society – does not cover the broad range of innovations indispensable in the transition from an industrial to a knowledge and services-based society: Such fundamental societal changes require the inclusion of social innovations in a paradigm shift of the innovation system.”

Vienna Declaration: The most relevant topics in social innovation research



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Main characteristics

Co-ordination and mediation between various different groups of stakeholders who are involved in innovation activities

Interdisciplinarity, heterogeneity and reflectivity of the processes of creation

Emphasis on historical, cultural and organizational preconditions

Increased involvement of users/citizens in processes of “co-development”



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Social Innovation moves from the margins to the mainstream

At the start of 2009 President Obama announced the establishment of a new “Office for Social Innovation at the White House“ and allocated USD 50million to a fund for social innovation.The Fund will focus on priority policy areas, including education, health care, and economic opportunity.



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Social Innovation

a new combination or new configuration of social practices

in certain areas of action or social contexts

prompted by certain actors or constellations of actors

in an intentional targeted manner with the goal of better satisfying or answering needs and problems than is possible on the basis of established practices

socially accepted and diffused widely throughout society or in certain societal sub-areas

finally institutionalized as a new social practice



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In this light innovation can be understood

“as a process of collective creation, in the course of which the members of a particular total population learn, i.e. invent and establish, new ways of playing the social game of collaboration and conflict, in a word a new social practice, and in the course of which they acquire the necessary … abilities to do this.”

(Crozier/Friedberg 1993)



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Areas of social innovation

civil society: the increase in the significance of cohabitation or the environmental movement

state action: the introduction of social security and national insurance

business world: the advent of team work, knowledge management or new social services

(cf. Katrin Gillwald 2000)



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Research fields

Management and Organizational Research Social Economy, CSR, Social Entrepreneur Creativity Research (Creative Industries) Local and Regional Development

(Moulaert et al. 2005)

Service Innovation/ Social Services Sustainable Development/ Climate Change Social Innovation in a digital era (Enterprise 2.0; Society 2.0)

(Howaldt/Schwarz 2010)



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Social Innovation – Social Entrepreneurship

An innovative, pragmatic and sustainable entrepeneurial activity for a significant, positive change in society

Connection between entrepeneurial activity and social goals

Multitude of global initiatives (e.g. Ashoka, Grameen Bank) and a barely clear number of regional initiatives

http://www.businesspj.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/socialentrepreneurship.jpg



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Social Innovation – Carsharing

Common use of cars through the provision of vehicles in main areas

Carsharing-organisation professionalized the traditional „driving communities“

In Germany there are around 110 carsharing-organisations with 158.000 customers

http://www.carsharing-vergleich.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/carsharing-münchen.jpg



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Focusing on social innovators as individuals?

“Most social businesses are likely tooriginate with one person, or perhaps

witha small group of people—friends, workcolleagues, or people with a sharedinterest in a particular social problem.Within such a small group, you may nothave all the expertise, experience, ideasand resources needed to make yoursocial business idea into a reality. Don’tlet that stop you! Look around for othersyou can partner with.”

(Yunus, 2010: 79–80)

www.br-online.de



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“It was the time when talented and energetic engineers could make enormous contributions and, for a while, they were the ‘superstars’ of their age. Thereafter, mayor projects became increasingly complex and grew beyond the grasp of a single person.”

(London, Science Museum)

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum.aspx



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Networks as Success Factor for Social Innovation

“Complex challenges demand complex solutions.”

(Moore and Westley, 2010)

Networks can be described as one of the most important features of the new innovation paradigm, a result of a profound transformation of the innovation process. (Howaldt and Schwarz, 2010)



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A New Nature of Innovation” (OECD 2010)



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Typical incentives and advantages of network co-operation better information larger resources a higher status

What is special about innovation networks (Powell and Grodal, 2005)? -||- etc. But: better information is even more important as knowledge is

crucial for innovation

Why networks?



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Types of networks



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Why Social Innovation Networks?Cross-sector collaborations

“Increasingly, innovation blossoms where the sectors converge. At these intersections, the exchanges of ideas and values, shifts in roles and relationships, and the integration of private capital with public and philanthropic support generate new and better approaches to creating social value. To support cross-sector collaborations we have to examine policies and practices that impede the flow of ideas, values, capital, and talent across sector boundaries and constrain the roles and relationships among the sectors.”

(Phills et al., 2008: 43)



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Combine the potential of social innovation in the social economy, civil society, business firms and the state (Multi-level governance)

Promote alliances between universities, companies and the state around social innovation

Opening the process of innovation to society including all stakeholders in the development and diffusion of innovation

Empowering people: Include citizens, clients, social movements, communities in the process of social innovation

Innovation „bottom up“: learning from experiences of innovation research and business and public service innovation

Ameliorate the conditions of participation and self-management in social innovations aimed at overcoming poverty and pauperisation

Vienna Declaration: The most relevant topics in social innovation research



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One critical question is “whether and how networks can help facilitate innovations to broad the seemingly insurmountable chasms that separate local solutions from broad system transformation: that is, how they help innovations to “cross scales”.


Why Social Innovation Networks?



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Institutional Entrepreneurs in Social Innovation Networks

“One type of entrepreneurship may be the inventor of a novel norm, idea, or product (sometimes called the social entrepreneur).”

“A second type is the institutional entrepreneur, whose job it is to manage the context, complex as it is, in such a way that the innovation has a chance to flourish, widening the circle of its impact.”

“An institutional entrepreneur, therefore, not only introduces a certain innovation but also works to change the broader context so that the innovation has widespread appeal and impact.”




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Institutional entrepreneurs are key agents in effective social networksand rely on a “complex skill set”, which “enables them to recognizewhich types of relationships within the network are crucial at specifictimes and to mobilize those relationships in order for innovations tocross scales. In some cases, this means skillfully establishing strongbonds and weak links, where appropriate, as well as understandingthe content of those relationships and whether the connections providespecific resources (information, financial support, access to new ideas)and ways to leverage those resources”.(Moore and Westley, 2011)



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Findings by Moore and Westley (2011) indicate that some of the keyentrepreneurial skills are: pattern generation (recognizing “the patterns causing a rigidity trap”

e.g. efforts “to change cultural, economic, and policy institutions”) relationship building and brokering (“working to ensure the purpose

of a formal structure is replaced by the mission of an informal group”) knowledge and resource brokering (“ability to understand

specialized knowledge and reframe the discourse about the subject so as to make it comprehensible, accessible, and engaging for others, particularly decision-makers”)

network recharging (being “the visionary leaders who give form and direction to the network and its mission”)



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Social Innovation Networks in different areas

Social Services in general Health Care Services for Elderly

and Dependent Persons Modernization of Education

Systems (LLL) Social Integration and Equal

Opportunities Clean Technologies Sustainable Development Climate Change

http://1.bp.blogspot.com



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Social Innovation Networks – Climate Change

developing a regional strategy for adapting to the consequences of climate change

platform for collaboration and dialogue as well as think tank, knowledge repository and expert partner for the region

applying a 2020 roadmap, the region expects to receive the support it needs to proactively anticipate and respond to the challenges of climate change

“social-science-driven” cross-sector collaboration and fertilization



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Relevance of Social Innovation Networks in scientific debate and for policy-making

focusing on the single person of the social innovator does not cope with the reality of innovation processes, often characterized by multiple interactions and a systemic nature

this perspective may raise false expectations regarding successful social innovations: if societies should benefit from social innovations, promotion and consultancy in this field should hardly concentrate on extraordinary personalities, but rather on systemic approaches with various actors involved

(Howaldt, Domanski and Schwarz, 2011)



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Conclusion

“The world needs more social innovation - and so all who aspire to solve the world’s most vexing problems - entrepreneurs, leaders, managers, activists, and change agents - regardless of whether they come from the world of business, government, or nonprofits, must shed old patterns of isolation, paternalism, and antagonism and strive to understand, embrace, and leverage cross-sector dynamics to find new ways of creating social value.”

(Phills et al. 2008)



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[email protected]

Social Innovation: Concepts, Research Fields and International TrendsStudies for Innovation in a Modern Working Environment 5

Jürgen Howaldt/Michael Schwarz

basic assumption

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