Bringing together
SOCIAL INNOVATION
RESEARCH, INCUBATION
AND ACTION
A Social Innovation Europe Report
December 2014
Introduction
“Like the movie the Avengers, the heros came together to start the conversation. People start
sharing knowledge, sharing their practice, and people are realizing what they are trying to address,
On the 12th and 13th of November 2014, SI LIVE brought together over 160 leading social innovators, academics and practitioners
from more than 20 countries to discuss and explore the future agenda for social innovation, how best to incubate and scale
social innovations, and how the EU can help to strengthen and develop the field of social innovation in Europe.
In particular, the event focussed on one of the biggest challenges for the social innovation field – the disconnect between
research and practice. With this in mind, this two day international event held in Lisbon, Portugal was the first of its kind for
bringing together two groups that do not often work together: social innovation researchers and those involved in incubating
social innovation. The conference specifically focused around the work of four projects, two with a focus on research –
TEPSIE and SI DRIVE – and two with a focus on incubation and scaling – TRANSITION and BENISI.
In this report, you will not find a typical summary of what took place during the two days of the event. Instead, this document
aims to be forward thinking by highlighting key insights derived from the various discussions and exchanges during the event.
It also proposes next steps following the active and engaging discussions of the event.
Key Insights and Questions Moving Forward
As part of the closing discussion, Robin Murray from the London School of Economics, reflected on the discussions of the 2
days, and offered ten reflections on the critical issues we should be working on and thinking about in the future. In the section
below, we’ve drawn on Robin’s reflections sharing cases, quotes, insights and questions from the presentations, workshops
and discussions which took place during SI Live.
1. SCALING
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | BENISI, TRANISTION & TEPSIE
The European Commission currently funds two projects that focus their efforts on enabling and supporting scaling of social innovation: BENISI and TRANSITION. Both projects seek to build a Europe-wide network of networks of incubators for
social innovation. This network will proactively identify at least 300 social innovations that are identified with high potential
for scaling successfully, and ensure the delivery of necessary support services to those social innovations.
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From the research side, the TEPSIE project has built an significant body of research over the last 3 years. TEPSIE has
been a research collaboration between six European institutions aimed at understanding the theoretical, empirical and
policy foundations for developing the field of social innovation in Europe. One of the areas TEPSIE has worked on was
the structures and resources that are required to support social innovation at the European level. It is important that this
work informs the practice of BENISI and TRANSITION.
You may also be interested in: TEPSIE reports. As the TEPSIE project approaches its end, they have created several useful documents on their
work deliverables including a Blueprint to Social Innovation Metrics & Digital Technology in Social Innovation.
DISCUSSION
Diffusion, Replication and Adaptation
This quote is regularly referred to in relation to discussion of spreading and scaling social innovation, and it was a hot topic
at SI Live as well. Whilst knowledge on how support for the generation of ideas, and early stage start ups across Europe is
fairly well developed, how to scale and replicate innovations is less well understood. The key questions in this area include:
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How can we scale parts, not the whole?
How do you scale innovations internationally? How can we take culture and values into account?
Whose role is it to support replication and adaptation of ideas?
What are the different models for replicating projects and who pays?
Case Study: Realising Ambition, The Young Foundation
Realising Ambition is a 25 GBP million Big Lottery Fund supported programme investing in projects
which have been proven to help children and young people to fulfil their potential, and avoid
pathways into crime. Over the next five years, the programme will replicate the best evidence-based
practice, reaching over 140,000 8- to 14- year olds across the UK.
The consortium is led by Catch 22, and partners include Young Foundation, Substance and the Social
Research Unit. Twenty-one organisations based across the UK have received grant funding and a
support package to replicate a range of diverse interventions, supporting children and young people
across school, home and community settings.
The Young Foundation’s role is particularly around supporting the replication process and assisting
these twenty-one organisations to succeed. The Young Foundation is working with the portfolio of
delivery organisations to strengthen their organisational health and work towards the best outcomes
for children and young people. You can read more on this project here.
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2. INNOVATION WITHIN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
Although this was not a key feature of SI LIVE, policy was, of course, a reoccuring theme. Innovation in the public sector
is a challenging task and on the agenda of governments and public sector organisations all over the world. An efficient
and productive public sector can be a strong driver of economic growth through its support for and governance of the
private sector. At a time where governments face the challenge to ensure financial consolidation while fostering growth,
competitiveness and employment, there is a strong justification for efficiency gains, better governance, faster delivery and
more user involvement in public sector.
There are innovation labs inside governments across Europe, and several toolkits being developed which attempt to measure
the impact of public sector innovation. How to instigate, measure and embed it are at the core of the debate on public sector
innovation in the European Comission, who launched the pilot Public Sector innovation Scoreboard in 2013.
You may also be interested in: the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation. Coinciding with SI LIVE, the OECD hosted a conference which
brought together public sector practitioners, researchers, civil society and businesses to discuss how innovation can help solve today’s complex
challenges. They launched this online platform at this event. This website promotes innovation through practical guidance to support innovation
across the public sector.
3. FINANCE: New Models and Forms of Funding
How to fund social innovation is at the forefront of discussions of how to support social innovation, all over the world. In
particular, how do we ensure that there is funding across an innovation lifecycle from ideas generation to growing a project,
to diffusion and scaling. Whose job is it at each of these stages?
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION
This event was generously hosted by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, an organisation which has been
championing collaboration and innovation since it was established in 1956. Its eponymous founder Calouste Gulbenkian,
was an international businessman who built his business on both, establishing multi-national consortia and developing new
business methods. Innovation and collaboration are therefore part of the DNA of his foundation which is transnational (with
offices in Lisbon, London and Paris) and cross-disciplinary (supporting the arts, science, education and social welfare).
Foundations play an important role in developing new models of funding. Increasingly foundations are thinking about how
they can best work together as part of a “financing ecology” where each organisation understands its strengths and the
contribution it can best make. Calouste Gulbenkian is a great example of this, particularly their work in Portugal where
it has established the Social Investment Laboratory in partnership with Social Finance and the Social Entrepreneurship
Institute.
You may also be interested in: “From grant-makers to change-makers”. Luis Jeronimo and Teresa Leitao of the Gulbenkian Foundation lay
out their thoughts on how the relationship is fundamentally changing towards a collaboration of funders and the organisations they support.
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Case Study: Internatonal Centre for Social Franchising (ICSF)
The ICSF tackles the issue of scale; its mission is to help the most successful social impact projects
replicate through Social Franchising. The essence and power of social franchising is that a proven
social change project is turned into a ‘franchise’ and then quickly replicated. At its simplest, social
franchising can be equated to the highly successful commercial franchising seen all over the world:
The Body Shop, Subway or McDonalds. The central franchise documents their processes and then
franchisees adopt the approach and are given support in establishing themselves. This allows them
to set up a successful business much faster, with reduced risk, whilst maintaining quality.
The critical difference with social franchising is that rather than creating profits for shareholders
the aim is to create benefits to society.The model can be successfully applied to the full spectrum
of third sector organisations, from social enterprises to NGOs. The power of a social franchise is
greatest when a network is established under a common brand. Rapid innovation becomes possible
because of the number of semi-independent, highly motivated franchisees tackling the same issues.
In some cases the shared brand has given the ability to influence policy far beyond that of an
individual organisation. You can read more on ICSF at the-icsf.org
4. RESEARCH
DISCUSSION
Developing a research agenda on social innovation
Research agendas should be developed in a collaborative way, as SIE is beginning to do next year. We often think we are
an exclusive club and that is not a productive way to progress a research agenda.
There is a lot to work on in terms of how we do research:
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Social innovation shouldn’t be a response to austerity. It needs to look at the wider systems and address
inequalities at a higher level versus on a micro-level response.
We need to connect learning from techology innovation and social innovation fields
Time is a real issue with innovation – Problems are happing now but yet we need time to analyse. Research
funding does not allow longitudinal studies.
We also need to do more hands-on research. We need to be more proactive in understanding systems and
understanding how can we use research better to do things better. We need to be more innovative in our
own methods. One way is by getting people to innovate on the agenda.
5. COMMUNICATION: Information and the Relations of Information
Around the world, we are not very good at focussing on how to hightlight great social innovations. The two projects below
demonstrate two ways of improving communication at an European and country level.
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P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | SOCIAL INNOVATION EUROPE
Networks play an important role in allowing different players in the field to exchange information and communicate
effectively. Social Innovation Europe was one of the organizers of the SI LIVE event.
Since 2011, the Social Innovation Europe (SIE) initiative has been working to connect policy makers, entrepreneurs,
academics and third sector workers with other innovators from across Europe. Its goal is to become a hub where innovative thinkers from all 27 member states can come together to create a streamlined, vigorous social innovation field in
Europe, to raise a shared voice, and to propel Europe to lead the practice of social innovation globally.
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | Maps of Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (MIES)
MIES is a research project that will discover and map innovative initiatives by seeking to create knowledge, using a
methodology, which closely involves local communities in Portugal.
This methodology focuses on the analysis of the competitiveness of the innovative business models identified, and on
publishing and disseminating national and international success stories and best practices. To this end, the project will
pay particular attention to communication and the sharing of knowledge generated through the creation of an online tool
that will include an interactive map with the projects chosen, the production of videos (MIES TV), the publication of a book
and the organisation of national and international events. Learn more at mies.pt
6. CHANGING SYSTEMS
Systemic innovation is an important part of innovation - it involves changes to mindsets but also interaction of ideas,
movements, models and interests from different sectors. When talking about systems, we are essentially studying how
different things interact and flow with each other. But in all discussion on systemic innovation, we need to be clear on which
system we are trying to change whether it be within a sector like healthcare or environmental or within a community.
Case Study: Local system change, “O nosso Km2”/”Our squared mile”,
Another site visit from SI LIVE was “O nosso Km2”/”Our squared mile”, an initiative of the Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation, who partnered with the Lisbon City Council and the Nova University of Lisbon.
The project’s innovative rationale is based on the assumption that if neighbor institutions, organizations
and individuals partner together to establish local networks that tackle local issues, more effective
and appropriate solutions will arise when compared with traditional approaches to social issues.
The project is located in “Avenidas Novas” area, where the Foundation is based, and is working with the
local community on three topics: isolation of older people; youth unemployment and intergenerational
/ intercultural relationships. It is an example of changing systems at a local level.
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CHRIS SIGALOFF on Dancing PRESENTATION
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | KENNISLAND
Chris Sigaloff is the director of Kennisland, an organisation in the Netherlands that aims to make society smarter and to
empower people to learn and to renew themselves continuously. One of their focus areas where a systemic approach is key
is in the field of education. Many projects that aim to innovate education are isolated from the daily educational practice.
However, if we actually want to empower the learning and innovative capacity of pupils, teachers and schools, it should be
fundamental in the jobs of teachers and school leaders, as well as part of the policy of schools. Kennisland takes a more
systemic approach to the challenge of providing a good education for everyone. How can we help teachers to become better
problem-solvers for their own practice?
7. DIGITAL
PETER BAECK on DSI
PRESENTATION
Digital Social Innovation (DSI) is collaborative and empowers citizens in new ways but there are huge challenges around
these types of networks and network effects. We need to understand more about this. Much of the practice of DSI can be
split into 4 categories:
You may also be interested in: digitialsocial.eu Explore 943 organisations with 596 collaborative research and innovation projects on this
living map of organisations that use digital technologies for the social good.
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8. CULTURE
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | SUNDAY ASSEMBLY
Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans are two comedians who set up a non-religious gathering, the Sunday Assembly. More
than just a live comedy show, it is championed as chance for anybody searching for a sense of community, to meet and
“turn good intentions into action.” With the tag line ‘live better, help often, wonder more’ the brainchild has the pastoral
aims of provoking kindness and encouraging people to volunteer in their local community.
The Sunday Assembly is being supported by the TRANSITION project and they joined us for the SI LIVE event, both as
presenters and participants. They used their charm and humour to spread their message, as well as contribute to the
discussions and entertain us over dinner.
Connecting Over Music and Food: The Case of Mouraria, Lisbon
SI LIVE also gave attendees the opportunity to see social innovation at a local level, in the streets of Lisbon itself. Special
festivities were held in Mouraria, which used to be a run-down and neglected neighbourhood plagued by unemployment
and drug dealing. Using a mix of European funding, participatory budgeting and direct grants the mayor piloted a series of
‘interventions’. Completed projects include a community kitchen, Cozinha Popular da Mouraria, which hosted our dinner.
Alongside having a presentation from Sunday Assembly, the participants also had an opportunity to hear live traditional
Portuguese music, Fado. The Fado performers included local students and called on dinner guests to take part by clapping
and sometimes singing along. Although it had been a long day, a majority of participants stayed until the very end, just
showing how powerful artistic tools like music can be.
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | A Avo Veio Trabalhar/ “Grandmother came to work”
This project provides a place of learning, sharing and personal building through traditional crafts and design, to increase
the grey-haired power in our society. Every product they make is based on a cultural and ethnographical research and
for these gifts they wanted to bring some of the Portuguese history to light. “Grandmother came to work” kindly provided
SI LIVE with a collection of handmade pins to give to participants as gifts.
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9. GLOBAL
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | SI DRIVE
SI DRIVE is a research project aimed at extending knowledge about social innovation through integrating theories and
research methodologies; undertaking European and global mapping of social innovation; and ensuring relevance for policy
makers and practitioners through in-depth analyses and case studies in seven policy fields. Learn more at si-drive.eu
Global Social Innovation Tour
PRESENTATION
To set the scene and demonstrate how social innovation differs in different contexts, SI Drive kicked off with a presentation
from Kriss Deiglemeir, and a whirlwind global tour of what social innovation looks like in different contexts.
We used Pecha Kucha style presentations to guide us in understanding social innovation around the world. Pecha Kucha is
a style of presentation designed to be concise and engaging. Originating from Japan, the format is typically 20 slides with 20
seconds spent on each slide. Our global social innovation tour had perspectives from:
Mediterrenean Area
by Hamid El Zohiery,
Heliopolis University
New Zealand
by Anne de Bruin,
Massey University
Latin America & the Caribbean
by Maria Elisa Bernal, ECLAC
South Africa
by Lindi van Niekerk,
Bertha Centre
India
by Swati Banerjee,
Tata Insitute of Social
Sciences
P R O J E C T P R O F I L E | | Social Innovation Exchange (SIX)
Over the last seven years, SIX has inspired, connected and supported thousands of individuals and organisations, across
sectors and industries, to build the field of social innovation globally. SIX brings together people from diverse perspectives
to exchange and share how to accelerate social innovation.
By connecting innovators, and developing, curating and disseminating ideas and practical examples of social innovation,
SIX enables its global community to learn from each other, building the capacities of our members to become better
innovators.
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10. COORDINATION, COOPERATION & COLLABORATION
Coordination was a core theme of this event and it was highlighted that we both need better collaboration within our sector,
but also between sectors.
SI Live itself is an example of facilitating better coordination within the sector, supporting two different groups of people to
share what they were doing with each other. When collaborating between the sectors, the event recognised the importance,
but also challenge of Public Private partnerships.
In both cases, we need to consider that different organisations speak different languages and may have competing agendas.
Relationships are key, and we need to remember that different sectors have different roles and different power dynamics,
depending on the country and cultural contexts. Collaboration isn’t easy and the process needs to be acknowledged
considered carefully. Developing a shared goal is vital, whatever the collaboration.
DISCUSSION
What can design do for social innovation and collaboration?
Design can be helpful in communicating ideas and helping people work together. Design is not only about post-its and
designing furniture and clothes. Design is also a tool and a way of thinking. The following points attempt to illustrate this:
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Designers are able to make “a user journey” – to see things from a user’s perspective. This is relevant for
social entrepreneurs and for co-creation
Designers are excellent in mapping out a process and reducing complexity – making more people
understand a complex situation and, thus being able to contribute their ideas
Designers have a holistic approach
Design helps visualizing scenarios for people – triggers innovation
Design is problem-solving – similar to how social innovation is solving a social need
Designers should be more involved in designing processes and solutions. Problem: Who will pay for the designer? Is the value
recognized amongst politicians? Or amongst users?
E X E R C I S E : T R A N S N AT I O N A L C O L L A B O R AT I O N
Eddy Adams kicked off our event with an icebreaker activity on transnational collaboration. It started as a way to get to
know each other but it also allowed participants to recognize that we all had something to learn from and teach each other.
To display this, everyone was asked to write on two post-its what they wanted to learn or needed from people as well as
sharing what they can provide to others in return. We have summarized all the post-it notes to key themes on the following
page.
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TRANSNATIONAL
COLLABORATION
Organisational
Support
How to track and
measure the impact of
interactions and
networks
social innovation
Impact &
Measurement
Analytical
comprehenshion &
research for monitoring
social innovation
Learning from
social innovation
failure
Helping NGO’s to
be more
business driven
How to maintain a
cohesive community
to be self-sustainable
Grassroot experiences
with marginalized
communities
Healthcare innovation
in a developing
African setting
Good
Examples/Cases
Scaling grassroot
community projects
Services for
collaborative housing
GIVE
Scaling
GET
Help in establishing
a SI Centre
at my university
Physical space to
enable scaling
Best practice
examples outside
Europe
How to
Set Up X
How innovations
with children thrive
Tools and methods
for engaging with
older people
Persuade retailers to
donate to a food-sharing
network
Work with
How to set up
and run a living lab
Crossover between
Creative Industries
and SI
Cross-sector
Collaboration
Need to improve
social innovation
in education
How to align
stakeholders in a
collaborative network
Results of studies of
private-public
partnerships
CONCLUSION
TRANSNATIONAL COLLABORATION: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL INNOVATION EUROPE
Networks for learning and sharing are regularly referenced as an important resource for social innovators, and research from
the TEPSIE project supports this notion. But sometimes networks need to go further than just providing resources. Whilst the
SIE network has developed into a valuable knowledge resource for innovators in Europe, it needs to support and connect
innovators at a deeper level, facilitating and encouraging more transnational collaborations. SIE must now play an active role
in ensuring that those who have something to give are connected with those who are in need. The wheel must stop being
reinvented in Europe and we must start to share resources more actively. SI Live was the first step in this process.
This exercise raises the question of what we can do to help people work together better. What are the right kind of tools?
Should they be online marketplaces? Are they physical tools such as incubators? Should we be more intentional in pairing
and connecting people?
You may also be interested in: Photos, videos and presentations from SI LIVE These can be accessed on the Social Innovation Europe
website along with other original content. Sign up to SIE and continue the conversation!
SI Live highlighted 3 key things we need to continue to prioritise as we develop a connected social innovation field:
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Look at who is missing:
whilst the event brought a diverse group of
people together, there are certainly more
people we need to learn from, expecially
those in digital social innovation, business
and the public sectors
Creating a shared experience:
At the event, our focus was to create a non
hierarchical space, where all projects had
the opportunity to achieve their goals, as
well as work towards a shared objective.
Creating shared values is easy during an
event, but we need to continue this beyond
the two days in Lisbon
The language is important:
Language is a key element in our ability to
collaborate with each other. We need to pay
more attention to different reference points
and experience. Innovation is relative to a
time and place, but that doesn’t mean we
don’t have a lot to learn across borders.
Social Innovation Europe can play a role in forwarding this agenda, and we hope you will all be
able to join us at the next SIE event in the Summer of 2015.
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REFLECTIONS: WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE EVENT
an event that creates the energy where people want to stay to the end, where they
partner organisations with competing priorities and perspectives is an additional chal
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socialinnovationeurope.eu
Report
produced by:
These projects have received funding from the European Union’s
Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological
development and demonstration