Today the world faces many social challenges in the economic, social and environmental spheres that needs to be overcome. The public debate has been focused on finding solutions to them and one of these has been addressed as social entrepreneurship. This phenomenon combines the resourcefulness of traditional entrepreneurship with a mission to change society. Observing the positive social impact of entrepreneurs providing basic needs, this paper recognizes their unique role in efficiently contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals. The purpose of this article is to introduce the connection of social innovations and sustainable growth as an important phenomenon in today's real economy. Based on the interviews with the focus group and the cases of good practice, the authors have established the development of social innovation and social entrepreneurship in Slovenia. It is important in numerous fields, especially in employment, social inclusion, demographic changes, health care, education, finance, political structures and social integration. We found that the obstacle in the development of social entrepreneurship is scattered, unrelated or absent support mechanisms that do not offer the right incentives for the creation and the development of social enterprises. Another conclusion is that cooperation with partners from different sectors of the society is an important fundament in their work with social entrepreneurship.
Socijalne inovacije nadopunjuju ekonomske inovacije te su prvenstveno usmjerene na ostvarivanje socijalne skrbi. Suština socijalne inovacije je simultano djelovanje u cilju stvoriti javno dobro pomoću otkrivanja i prepoznavanja socijalnih problema, kao i korištenje poduzetničkih načela za postizanje pozitivnih socijalnih promjena. One uključuju nove ideje, organizacije ili načine funkcioniranja koji učinkovitije zadovoljavaju socijalne potrebe za razliku od prethodnih alternativa i poboljšavaju socijalno blagostanje. Europska Unija podržava i potiče socijalne inovacije; inovacija je, u stvari, 'srce' strategije Europa 2020. Cilj ovog rada je usmjeren u pregled i proučavanje razvoja socijalnih inovacija kao važnog fenomena u današnjem realnom gospodarstvu, s naglaskom na izgradnji potpornog okruženja za socijalne inovacije i marketing socijalnih inovacija u Sloveniji. Stupanj razvoja socijalnih inovacija razlikuje se od zemlje do zemlje u EU, pri čemu se Slovenija još uvijek nalazi na samom početku. Autori vjeruju da je razvoj socijalnih inovacija od ključnog značaja za prevladavanje gospodarske krize u slovenskom okruženju. Svrha ovog rada je prikazati trenutno stanje u tom području u Sloveniji u smislu u kojoj mjeri je taj fenomen istražen i u smislu stupnje razvoja u praksi. Što se tiče metodologije, autori članka navode nalaze koji proizlaze iz istraživanja literature, analize relevantnih dokumenata i produbljenih intervjua kao i sekundarne analize statističkih podataka. U Sloveniji društvene su inovacije važne u brojnim područjima, posebice u zapošljavanju, socijalnom uključivanju, demografskim promjenama, zdravstvu, obrazovanju, financijama, političnim strukturama i socijalnoj integraciji. Kod uvođenja socijalnih inovacija u društvo najveće su poteškoće nedostatak financijskih sredstava, slaba podrška okoline, nedostatak marketinških znanja i nedostatak međusektorske povezanosti. ; Social innovations complement economic innovations and are focused primarily on achieving social welfare. The essence of social innovation is the simultaneous action to create public good by detecting and identifying social problems, as well as using entrepreneurial principles to achieve positive social changes. These include new ideas, organisations or ways of functioning that more effectively meet social needs than previous alternatives and improve social wellbeing. The European Union supports and encourages social innovation; in fact, innovation is 'the heart' of the Europe 2020 strategy. The paper aims at reviewing and studying the development of social innovations as an important phenomenon in today's real economy, with an emphasis on building a supportive environment for social innovations and marketing social innovations in Slovenia. In the EU the level of development of social innovation differs from country to country, whereby Slovenia is still in its beginnings. The authors believe that social innovation development is of vital importance for overcoming the economic crisis in the Slovenian setting. The purpose of this paper is to show the current state in this field in Slovenia in terms of the extent to which this phenomenon is researched and the level of development in practice. In terms of methodology, the authors of the article reference the findings from the research of literature, analysis of relevant documents and in-depth interviews, as well as a secondary analysis of statistic data. In Slovenia, social innovations are important in numerous fields, especially in employment, social inclusion, demographic changes, healthcare, education, finance, political structures and social integration. When introducing social innovation into society, the greatest difficulties are a lack of financial resources, a weak support environment, a lack of marketing knowledge and lack of inter-sectoral connection.
