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This article discusses how an inclusive working life may be enforced by social innovations, in terms of new services, products, methods, organizations, etc. that aim for societal benefit and social change. Social innovations may seek to improve the wellbeing and empowerment in various societal areas, such as working life, education or health. In the EU, social innovation is seen as a prerequisite for keeping welfare and labor market policy up to date with current societal trends. The European Social Fund (ESF) is highlighted as a particularly important arena for development, testing and dissemination of social innovations for working life inclusion. In Sweden, ESF currently funds two projects managed by The Union for Professionals (Akademikerförbundet SSR5). The projects promote universal design in the workplace, in terms of work organization, work environment and work supply that benefits a diversity of employees, regardless of their disabilities, age, gender, religion, language skills, etc. In this article, SSR's promotion of universal workplace design is analyzed in the light of previous studies of social innovation. The purpose is to advance the knowledge on social innovation aspirations and strategies in the promotion of an inclusive working life. ; Godkänd;2020;Nivå 0;2020-08-24 (alebob)

This article examines whether hitherto marginalized actors, industries and innovations – such as women, services industries and service innovations – could be acknowledged by the use of a bottom-up approach in innovation research in a way that helps make public innovation support more inclusive. It is scrutinized whether the relation between context, organization and outcomes in publically financed innovation networks such as clusters and innovation systems serves to highlight how more inclusive innovation support could be designed. Four regional innovation networks promoting women's entrepreneurship and innovation in Sweden are analyzed by a bottom-up approach, since while emphasizing decentralization and inclusion in theory, most innovation theories and policies are in practice characterized by a top-down approach, ascribing superiority to certain actors, industries and innovations while marginalizing others in a distinct – often gendered – pattern. The bottom-up approach makes it possible to expose that being a marginalized actor in public innovation support is related to the organization of entrepreneurial types of innovation systems, based on contacts established ad hoc and resources gathered from scratch, making a wider range of actors, industries and innovations relevant than in institutional types of innovation systems favored in prevalent public innovation support. By acknowledging both types of innovation systems, more inclusive innovation policies could be designed and more nuanced innovation theories could be developed.

Since the establishment of the new governmental agency Vinnova in 2001 and the initiation of the regional growth agreements in 2000, the Swedish government has promoted innovation by means of regional innovation systems. Just as long, there has been a debate about the gendered aspects of these policy efforts, especially in relation to the transformation of academic theory into regional practice. In this paper, the matter of how gender is produced in Sweden's innovation policy is discussed in the light of a survey brought out on the pattern of prioritization among regional innovation systems in Sweden. The survey exposes how 75% of the regional innovation systems subject to public promotion via the Vinnväxt programme concerns groups of industries that primarily employ men. From a 'doing gender' perspective, this pattern implies that gender is done in a manner that distinguishes men from women in relation to regional innovation systems. A seed of change is to be seen, however, in the bottom up initiative to organize regional innovation systems around women's entrepreneurship and innovation, originating from the project Lyftet. In this paper, this seed of change is interpreted as an alternative to the segregating and hierarchical doing of gender in Sweden's innovation policy, introducing a way where it is unnecessary and undesirable to distinguish women from men when it comes to public promotion of regional innovation systems. Some final thoughts on how different measures of gender mainstreaming influence the doing of gender in the regional practice of innovation policy programs indicate that measures introduced ad hoc in already prioritized formations will not change the encompassing pattern of how different groups of industries are esteemed in the process of prioritization, thus leaving the predominant way of doing gender intact. However, a gleam of hope can be discerned in recent calls made by Vinnova on areas that bridge the gender segregated labour market, e.g. within innovation journalism, e-services and healthcare.

The innovative contributions of third sector organizations (TSOs) to tackle work-related societal challenges are increasingly acknowledged in policy and research, but rarely in Nordic working life studies. The article helps fill this knowledge gap by an empirical mapping of efforts by Swedish TSOs to promote work inclusion among people considered disadvantaged in the regular labor market, due to age, disabilities, origin, etc. Previous studies of social innovation help distinguish their innovativeness in terms of alternative or complementary ways to perceive and promote work inclusion in regard to Swedish labor market policies. By combining various measures for providing and preparing work opportunities, addressing their participants through individualistic and holistic approaches, and managing work inclusion by varying organization, funding, and alliances, the mapped cases seem to innovatively compensate for government and market failures in the work inclusion domain to some extent, while also being limited by their own voluntary failures.

The innovative contributions of third sector organizations (TSOs) to tackle work-related societal challenges are increasingly acknowledged in policy and research, but rarely in Nordic working life studies. The article helps fill this knowledge gap by an empirical mapping of efforts by Swedish TSOs to promote work inclusion among people considered disadvantaged in the regular labor market, due to age, disabilities, origin, etc. Previous studies of social innovation help distinguish their innovativeness in terms of alternative or complementary ways to perceive and promote work inclusion in regard to Swedish labor market policies. By combining various measures for providing and preparing work opportunities, addressing their participants through individualistic and holistic approaches, and managing work inclusion by varying organization, funding, and alliances, the mapped cases seem to innovatively compensate for government and market failures in the work inclusion domain to some extent, while also being limited by their own voluntary failures.

The study provides insights into how rural municipalities approach social innovation as a way of addressing current societal challenges. A survey and interviews among public servants in 14 municipalities in Sweden's northernmost and largest region – Norrbotten – show that they perceive social innovation as pivotal in improving the supply and quality of public services. However, the presence of terminologies, cultures, structures and cooperation for promoting social innovation varies among the municipalities. The increased promotion of social innovation among public authorities at regional and national levels in Sweden, and at international level in Europe and beyond, is thus only reflected to some extent in these municipalities. The findings indicate that this variation might be related to their rural challenges and conditions, which restrict their economic and human resources for promotion of social innovation in relation to declining and ageing populations, limited and decreasing tax bases, and persistent labour shortages.

A gender gap in entrepreneurship and innovation can be discerned across Europe – often portrayed as a statistical pattern showing differences in prevalence of entrepreneurial and innovative activities between the categories of men and women. The gender gap can be traced back to the general perceptions of gender in society, where entrepreneurial venturing and innovation work are culturally defined as masculine activities. A situation in which dominating policy models for regional entrepreneurship and innovation – such as the Triple Helix model – sustain the gender gap by being blind to gender issues imply both practical and theoretical challenges for critical management research. In this paper, we intend to analyse the gendered norms and consequences of dominating innovation models, such as the Triple Helix, and to identify roles and challenges of NGO's in the alternative conceptualization of Quadruple Helix. Based on an exploratory case study of an EU-financed project intentionally set up as a Quadruple Helix innovation system, we find that NGOs may fill four roles in bridging the gender gap: (1) collaborative platforms for women-led SMEs, (2) legitimating and linking women-led SMEs to governmental and academic actors, (3) developing competences and process innovations related to entrepreneurial venturing outside traditional Triple Helix constellations, and (4) carrying individual and societal aspects of entrepreneuring ; QC 20111208 ; Quadruple Helix Central Baltic

A gender gap in entrepreneurship and innovation can be discerned across Europe – often portrayed as a statistical pattern showing differences in prevalence of entrepreneurial and innovative activities between the categories of men and women. The gender gap can be traced back to the general perceptions of gender in society, where entrepreneurial venturing and innovation work are culturally defined as masculine activities. A situation in which dominating policy models for regional entrepreneurship and innovation – such as the Triple Helix model – sustain the gender gap by being blind to gender issues imply both practical and theoretical challenges for critical management research. In this paper, we intend to analyse the gendered norms and consequences of dominating innovation models, such as the Triple Helix, and to identify roles and challenges of NGO's in the alternative conceptualization of Quadruple Helix. Based on an exploratory case study of an EU--‐financed project intentionally set up as a Quadruple Helixinnovation system, we find that NGOs may fill four roles in bridging the gender gap: (1) collaborative platforms for women--‐led SMEs, (2) legitimating and linking women--‐led SMEs to governmental and academic actors, (3) developing competences and process innovations related to entrepreneurial venturing outside traditional Triple Helix constellations, and (4) carrying individual and societal aspects of entrepreneuring. ; QC 20111118

By investigating the occurrence of place innovative synergies between retail and tourism in a small-sized Swedish city, this article advances knowledge on how city center attractiveness can be enforced in a rural context with competing online shopping and suburban/out-of-town shopping centers. Previous studies of city center attractiveness, place innovation, and social innovation help distinguish innovative intertwinement of correlated trends of experiencing retail and retailing experiences, augmenting customer experiences through place-based characteristics. Interviews, workshops, and participatory observations with entrepreneurs, business promoters, and municipality representatives reveal three dimensions of place innovative synergies in city center attractiveness: 1) innovative variance in city center retail and tourism, 2) innovative interwovenness between the city center identity and its configuration, content, and communication, and 3) innovative interaction between retailers and tourism entrepreneurs in city center events. A key question is whether synergies in temporal events and everyday commerce are sufficiently combined, in order to engender encompassing renewal.

Purpose
In Sweden, gender mainstreaming policies have a long political history. As part of the national gender equality strategy of the Swedish forest industry, the ten largest forestry companies committed themselves to gender mainstream their policies. Limiting the impact of policies and the agency of change, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the varied and conflicting meanings and constitution of the concepts, the problem and, in extent, the organisational realities of gender mainstreaming.


Design/methodology/approach
In both, implementation and practice, gender mainstreaming posse challenges on various levels and by analysing these documents as practical texts from the WPR-approach. This paper explores constructions of gender and gender equality and their implications on the practice and the political of gender mainstreaming in a male-dominated primary industry.


Findings
The results show that the organisations themselves were not constituted as the subject of the policy but instead some of the individuals (women). The subject position of women represented in company policy was one of lacking skills and competences and in the need of help. Not only men and the masculine norms but organisational processes and structures were also generally invisible in the material. Power and conflict were mainly absent from the understanding of gender equality. Instead, consenting ideas of gender equality were the focus. Such conceptualisations of gender equality are beneficial for all risk concealing power structures and thereby limit the political space for change.


Originality/value
By highlighting the scale of policy and the significance of organisational contexts, the results indicate how gender and gender equality are constitutive through the governing technologies of neoliberal and market-oriented ideologies in policy – emphasising the further limiting of space for structural change and politicalization within the male-dominated organisations of Swedish forest industry.