What is social innovation and how is it brought about?

A look at Social Innovation as a learning process

Much is spoken about Social Innovation and, in general, we know little about the complexity of this concept that positively involves companies, universities, entrepreneurs and schools. Since social innovation is not in an instruction manual, but part of a process that influences behaviour, consciousness and ways of acting. Learning to innovate is a goal that few people can achieve. To facilitate this change, Jovesólides – pioneer and trailblazer of social innovation in Spain – was supported by the creation of Escuela Creactiva, a place where content, methods, tools and motivated people come together to do things in a different way.

Here we share some of the necessary key questions that we can make to approach an innovative way of looking, responsible way of educating, doing business or projects.

 What is Social Innovation?

There are many definitions, but we stick to the proposal of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which states that social innovation is “finding a new solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable or equitable (…) and based on added value that brings society as a whole to a place that is unique to the individual”.

This definition strengthens a clear value from our point of view and is the concept of COMMUNITY, PARTICIPATIONand SHARING. The positive effects of social innovation are collective and therefore, on the one hand, allow individuality to merge into the collective.

Why socially innovate?

We live in a dynamic society where social realities may or may not change, but this creates new realities that require new ways of dealing with situations.

Therefore, future solutions must combine ideas and information in a fresh and creative way. The efficiency in the long run will be for those who are able to adaptandanticipate new social scenarios. Innovation will be a key ingredient for said adaptation in the immediate future.

Doing the same thing, in the same way, will not allow development in the environment that changes the constant way out of habit.

 What is included in an innovative porject?

In analysing the key strategies, which components are needed to complete a social innovation process or project, the debate is served. Nevertheless, there are a number of essential elements on which most expert voices agree when it comes to specifying the definitions. Here we share criteria that the ESADE indicates (Superior School of Administration and Business Management)on the necessary variables that sum up the process of social innovation.

• The impact and social change as a goal, the essence of what is developed.
• Necessary intersectional colaboration,where the public, the private and other collectives can collaborate.
• Economic sustainability and security towards visability.Solving social challenges must go hand in hand with a strategy that ensures sustainability and effectiveness.
• It is necessary to design processes that can repeat, change, extrapolate and produce the same effect in other scenarios. We think that many social goals are global. So what could be more natural than to design solutions that are also what they are?

All these elements are found, not in a casual way, in the  methodology developped by Jovesólides in the Escuela Creactivato design social projects based in gamification . The innovative methodology Factor 5 is a dynamic way of tackling these key variables to ensure that a proposal fulfills the four requirements by ESADE to evolve in an innovative way.

What value does social innnovation bring?

If we try to recover the values that bring social innovation to organisations, companies and societies, we could at least note these five elements:

• Leaving your comfort zone could result in greater success.
• Allow making the most of human talent to invite to create, construct, dream.
• The process in essence to innovate ensures an experience and a learning in change.
• It makes it possible to change the role that the entity or business has in a particular context. Perhaps it allows us to discover new functions, works that can themselves contribute to society and the context of intervention
• Innovation as such is a process of experimentation that enables us to look at what we are, do and construct from a different angle.

 I want to innovate socially, who can support me in the process?

These are different initiatives that work for the development of social innovation in the Valencian Community and facilitate this learning process or accompany those who embark on this adventure. Some of the initiatives highlighted and examined in the Comunitat Valenciana are:

1. Llamp Programme for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in the Valencian Community.Programme of the General Directorate of Entrepreneurship and Cooperativism of the Generalitat Valenciana with support from the CEEIs of the Valencian Community.
2. Economic support from subsidies from the Valencian Council to be awarded and incetivise innovation projects orientated to the Valencian Climate Mission 2030.
3. The Social Innovation Map of Valencia, from the Ciudad de Valencia Chair, which allows you to know about the Social Innovation initiatives in the city and to know the concrete scenario in which they are developed.

The creative school of Jovesólides, where methods and materials are shared to develop new ways of looking at society and create a positive social impact.