Suchergebnisse

The article examines research on Social Innovation in the European Union with a special focus on the experience of one of the current protagonists in this field, TU Dortmund University – sfs. Research on Social Innovation has increased significantly in the recent years and, driven largely by EU programme funding, an important knowledge base has emerged which allows for a better understanding of Social Innovation. Social Sciences and Humanities play an important role in this process. However, the most urgent research questions still remain unanswered. The article presents the global research project SI-DRIVE, which seeks to contribute to a significantly better understanding of Social Innovation, as well as further Social Innovation research projects by TU Dortmund University – sfs. While focusing on Social Innovation developments in the EU and current projects such as SI-DRIVE, the article reflects on possible conclusions for research processes in Latin America.

Dieser Band macht konkrete soziale Innovationen zum Gegenstand. Der Schwerpunkt liegt bei den Kommunen von Stadt und Land, sei es beim Carsharing oder bei der Bewältigung der zahlreichen Erscheinungsformen des demografischen Wandels, bei neuen Wohnformen oder Schulen als Innovationszentren. Der Band soll das Verstehen sozialer Innovationsprozesse erleichtern, für das Verhalten in solchen Prozessen qualifizieren und den Diskurs über die Rolle der Sozialwissenschaften in, für und bei sozialen Innovationsprozessen vor Ort befördern. Gezeigt wird, wie vielfältig involviert Sozialwissenschaft mit ihren Theorien und Methoden praktisch wird, wie sie soziale Veränderungsprozesse unterstützt, verbessert und bereichert; auch, wie sie ihr theoretisches Verständnis sozialer Prozesse und ihre methodische Kreativität an ihnen schärft; und, zu guter Letzt, wie SozialwissenschaftlerInnen selbst als wissenschaftliche Begleitung solcher Prozesse von deren Beobachtung und Analyse lernen, daran wachsen können. Der Inhalt Diffusionsprozesse sozialer Innovationen beobachten und begleiten • Ökosysteme sozialer Innovation entdecken und entwickeln Die Herausgeber Dr. Hans-Werner Franz ist Mitglied des Geschäftsführenden Vorstandes des BDS (Berufsverband Deutscher Soziologinnen und Soziologen) und Permanent Advisor of ESSI (European School of Social Innovation) mit Sitz in Wien. Dr. Christoph Kaletka ist Senior Researcher und Mitglied der Geschäftsführung der Sozialforschungsstelle, zentrale wissenschaftliche Einrichtung der TU Dortmund

ABSTRACT Purpose: Against the backdrop of clear paradoxes and confusion in prevailing innovation policies, the contours of a new innovation paradigm, as elaborated in this paper, are becoming visible and causing social innovation to grow in importance. Originality/gap/relevance/implications: However, innovation research is still lacking sustained and systematic analysis of social innovation, its theories, characteristics, and impacts. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a theoretically sound concept of social innovation as a precondition for an integrated theory of socio-technological innovation in which social innovation is more than an appendage of technological innovation. Key methodological aspects: The paper presents first empirical results of the global research project "SI-DRIVE: Social Innovation - Driving Force of Social Change" and introduces key findings of a global mapping of social innovation initiatives. This quantitative mapping is based upon 1.005 social innovation initiatives. Summary of key results: The mapping underlines the broad range of actors involved in the mapped initiatives and thereby confirms the need for a cross-sectoral concept of social innovation. It reveals a high diversity of social needs and societal challenges addressed by the initiatives as well as a high dependency on networks. The results also show that 90% of the initiatives are scaling. Key considerations/conclusions: Finally, on the basis of these empirical results, a recourse to Gabriel Tarde's social theory allows us to widen a perspective which was narrowed to economic and technological innovations by Schumpeter and after him by the sociology of technology, and to include social innovations in all their diversity.

The Atlas of Social Innovation series provides a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted manifestations and practices of social innovation from a global perspective. This second volume brings together leading experts of the field. In 43 articles, the atlas gives new insights into current trends of social innovation research and its connection to other schools of thought and research traditions. The conceptual underpinnings of the contributions draw upon the experiences of a variety of disciplines contributing to the rich, multi-layered nature of the phenomenon. By building up a knowledge repository for a growing community of practitioners, policy makers and researchers, the book opens up new avenues to unfold the potential of social innovation.

The Atlas of Social Innovation series provides a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted manifestations and practices of social innovation from a global perspective. This second volume brings together leading experts of the field. In 43 articles, the atlas gives new insights into current trends of social innovation research and its connection to other schools of thought and research traditions. The conceptual underpinnings of the contributions draw upon the experiences of a variety of disciplines contributing to the rich, multi-layered nature of the phenomenon. By building up a knowledge repository for a growing community of practitioners, policy makers and researchers, the book opens up new avenues to unfold the potential of social innovation.

"Inspired by recent critical social and economic developments - and their most visible eruptions in the Arab world, Spain and Greece - which demonstrate that there is a relatively low barrier of entrance for individuals and groups to adopt social media for virtually any shared purpose, objective or cause, a 'manifesto' has been written by a group of transdisciplinary researchers, activists and practitioners from the fields of ICT and social movements. It promotes the possibility of using social media as a platform to effectively support the processes of social innovation, overcoming its limitations of speed and scale to become an alternative to currently established institutional mechanisms. Such social innovations comprise all new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet current social needs and strengthen civil society. Further, the present paper proposes a framework for research into the elements of socio-technical architectures capable of sustaining large scale social innovations enabled by the availability of social media, considering the 'paradigm shift of communication' in a knowledge society and describing key challenges of social innovation initiatives. In this context, the objective of the Manifesto on Social Media for Social Innovation is to propose actions oriented to extract the best of the potential synergies among those two concepts of social innovation and social media." (author's abstract)

The report focus on the international field of social innovation research with its actors and networks, projects and initiatives, trends and topics, and achievements. The report mirros the thematic structure used in the EU funded project Social Innovation Community (SIC), which aims to create a 'network of networks' of social innovation actors by identifying, engaging and connecgting researchers, social innovators, citizens, policy makers, intermediaries, businesses, civil society organisations, public sector employees etc. SIC aims to deepen and strengthen different thematic communities and forge new connections between them. The report reflects upon these communites seperatly and provides an overview of the current research landscape in Europe and beyond. The purpose of this report is to allow for insights into the complex field of social innovation research through relatively short and not entirely academic articles. These insights should help to better understand what social innovation research is about, how it is organised through networks and communities and how it is related to practice in order to support the emergence of an inclusive social innovation research community which transcends European borders and research disciplines. The findings of the report can be used by all those who work in social innovation and are looking for new opportunities to get involved with a community, which is growing in a very dynamic way. Hence, one particular feature of this report is that it not only refers to usual suspects, but also reveals that there are important parts of the research landscape which are often not recognised as such. The report demonstrates ongoing processes of community building in all thematic areas under review. At the same time, it makes clear that more possibilities are needed for researchers to work on social innovation. Funding provided by the European Commission has been crucial for successful development of the area of social innovation. Hence, further funding opportunities will largely ...