The big picture
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Transcript of The big picture
Transformative Social Innovation Insights from the TRANSIT-project Flor Avelino | [email protected] | @FlorAvelino
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613169.
ESF Brussel 26 October 2015
www.transitsocialinnovation.nl / @TransitSI
• 2014-2017
• 12 partners, 35 researchers
• EU & Latin-America
• 20 social innovation networks
What is a ‘transition’?
Product/ Service Innovation
Process Innovation
System Innovation
Transition
“Innovation Cascade” (Rotmans 2005)
• socio-technical innovation
• long-term
• complex
• uncertainty
Transitions ≈ • long-term process (1-2 generations, 20-50 years) • radical & structural change in culture, structure, practice • high levels of complexity and uncertainty
Sustainability transition ≈ • “radical transformation towards a sustainable society” • “response to persistent problems in modern societies”
(Grin, Rotmans and Schot 2010)
Definition (sustainability) transitions
Geels & Kemp 2000, Geels 2005, Schot & Geels 2010, De Haan & Rotmans 2011
Landscape (macro-level) Regimes (meso-level) Niches (micro-level)
exogenous macro-developments dominant structures, cultures & practices spaces for innovation
Multi-level perspective
societal systems
Landscape Climate change, economic crisis, resource scarcity, oil prices
Regime Centralised fossil energy regime incl. market, government, consumers
Niches Solar energy, wind energy, community energy, etc.
ENERGY
Example: MLP Energy System
• Strategic niche management: protecting, nurturing and empowering niches
• Questioning & challenging regime elements
• Top-down & bottom-up pressure on regimes
• Playing in to landscape developments
• Up-scaling ≈ beyond replication and growth towards institutional regime change
Multi-level strategy transition management
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Social Innovation?
Existing research & literature: • new (combinations of) social practices (Howaldt & Kopp 2012)
• changing social relations (Moulaert et al. 2013)
• societal, systemic change (Westley 2013)
Our working definition of social innovation: • change in social relations, involving • new ways of doing, organizing, knowing and framing • incl. renewal & reinvention
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
High Expectations of Social Innovation
Former EU president José Manuel Barroso: “If encouraged and valued, social innovation can bring immediate solutions to the pressing social issues that citizens are confronted with.” Hubert 2012
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
High Expectations of Social Innovation
“At a time of major budgetary constraints, social innovation is an effective way of responding to social challenges, by mobilising people’s creativity to develop solutions and make better use of scarce resources”. 2010: p7
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Questioning the Assumption
Underlying Assumption: social innovation contributes to wider transformative change and empowers people to deal with societal challenges
Research questions TRANSIT-project: • how, to what extent and under which condition does social
innovation contribute to transformative change? • how are people empowered (or disempowered) to contribute
to transformative social innovation? • how do we conceptualise and study transformative social
innovation?
Transformative social innovation
…challenges …alters
…replaces
- Transition studies - System innovation - Co-evolution - Institutional theory - Relational theory - Discourse analysis - Political theory
Agency in transformative social innovation
…challenges …alters
…replaces
AGENCY (dis) empowerment
- Transition studies - Social psychology - Entrepreneurship - Social movement
theory
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Empirical Case Studies
• Initiatives that work on social innovation • (aim to) contribute to transformative change • (towards more sustainable, resilient and/or just societies)
• Transnational (cross-continental) networks • Translocal: locally rooted, globally connected
• Europe & Latin-America
Transnational Networks under study in TRANSIT project Local Case 1 Local Case 2
1 Ashoka: Network for supporting social entrepreneurs HU DE
2 Basic Income (BIEN) DE NL
3 Credit Unions: Network of different types of credit cooperatives ES UK
4 DESIS-network: Network for design for social innovation and sustainability ITA BRA
5 International Co-operative Alliance (Housing) ARG DE
6 FABLABS: Digital fabrication workshops open to local communities UK ARG
7 Global Ecovillage Network: network of eco-villages DE POR
8 Hackerspace: User driven digital fabrication workshops UK ARG
9 Int. Observatory for Participatory Democracy (Participatory budgeting) BRA NL 10 Impact Hub: Global network of local hubs for social entrepreneurs NL BRA
11 INFORSE: International network of sustainable energy NGOs DK BE
12 Living Knowledge Network: Network of community-based research entities/ science shops
DK RO
13 Living Labs (EnoLL) labs for co-creative research, development and innovation NL UK
14 RIPESS: Network for the promotion of social solidarity economy BE RO
15 Seed Freedom MovementNetwork bricolage (5 networks) HU UK
16 Shareable Network: Promoting and collecting sharing initiatives mainly in cities ES NL
17 Slow Food: Linking food to a commitment to community and environment ES DE
18 Time Banks: Networks facilitating reciprocal service exchange UK ES
19 Transition Towns: Grassroot communities working on ‘local resilience’ UK HU
20 Via Campesina: Network for family farming to promote social justice and dignity ARG HU
Transnational Networks under study in TRANSIT project Local Case 1 Local Case 2
1 Ashoka: Network for supporting social entrepreneurs HU DE
2 Basic Income (BIEN) DE NL
3 Credit Unions: Network of different types of credit cooperatives ES UK
4 DESIS-network: Network for design for social innovation and sustainability ITA BRA
5 International Co-operative Alliance (Housing) ARG DE
6 FABLABS: Digital fabrication workshops open to local communities UK ARG
7 Global Ecovillage Network: network of eco-villages DE POR
8 Hackerspace: User driven digital fabrication workshops UK ARG
9 Int. Observatory for Participatory Democracy (Participatory budgeting) BRA NL 10 Impact Hub: Global network of local hubs for social entrepreneurs NL BRA
11 INFORSE: International network of sustainable energy NGOs DK BE
12 Living Knowledge Network: Network of community-based research entities/ science shops
DK RO
13 Living Labs (EnoLL) labs for co-creative research, development and innovation NL UK
14 RIPESS: Network for the promotion of social solidarity economy BE RO
15 Seed Freedom MovementNetwork bricolage (5 networks) HU UK
16 Shareable Network: Promoting and collecting sharing initiatives mainly in cities ES NL
17 Slow Food: Linking food to a commitment to community and environment ES DE
18 Time Banks: Networks facilitating reciprocal service exchange UK ES
19 Transition Towns: Grassroot communities working on ‘local resilience’ UK HU
20 Via Campesina: Network for family farming to promote social justice and dignity ARG HU
• Embedded case-studies: • 20 translocal networks • 80-120 local manifestations • Across EU/Latin-America • In-depth case-studies • Cross-comparative meta-analysis
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Mid-term insights
1. Narratives of change & game-changers 2. Renewing social relations 3. Challenging institutions
(Dis)empowerment challenges for transformative social innovation > preliminary ‘policy insights’
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Narratives & Game-changers
Narratives of change = • Societal discourses on change and innovation, i.e. sets of ideas,
concepts, metaphors, and/or story-lines about change and innovation
Game-changers = • Macro-developments that are framed as/ perceived to change the (rules,
field, players in the) ‘game’ of societal interaction • e.g. ‘globalisation’, ‘climate change’, ‘economic crisis’ Narratives respond to game-changers, while also (re)framing them. Social innovation initiatives play into that ‘discursive dynamic’.
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Narratives of change on ‘New Economy’
Diversity of (new) ways of framing the (new) economy:
1. Green economy through degrowth & localization
2. Collaborative economy (incl. ‘sharing economy’)
3. Social entrepreneurship & social economy
4. Solidarity economy
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
‘post-capitalism’, ‘social impact economy’, or ‘gift economy’
Strands of New Economy
Social Innovation networks under study
Degrowth & Localization
Global Ecovillage Networks, Transition Towns, INFORSE, Time Banks
Collaborative Economy
Ashoka, Impact Hub, Time Banks, Fablabs, Hackerspaces, Science Shops, DESIS, Global
Ecovillage Network, Transition Towns
Solidarity Economy
RIPESS, Global Ecovillage Network. Time Banks
Social Entrepreneurship & Social Economy
Ashoka, Impact Hub, Time Banks, Credit Unions, DESIS, INFORSE
“It is very common for the social economy to be conflated with the solidarity economy. They are not the same thing and the implications of equating them are rather profound. The social economy is commonly understood as part of a “third sector” of the economy, complementing the “first sector” (private/profit-oriented) and the “second sector” (public/planned). (…) The solidarity economy seeks to change the whole social/economic system and puts forth a different paradigm of development that upholds solidarity economy principles.” “RIPESS Global Vision”, Manila 2013 – www.ripess.org
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Renewing social relations
• Transforming societal as well as interpersonal relations
• Community building
• Relational values & principles
trust, reciprocity, equality, collectiveness, cooperation,
sharing, solidarity, inclusion, transparency,
openness, connectedness etc.
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Renewing social relations (1)
“Economy is always a reflection of our social behaviour. And so you need to look at this if you want to change the economy also. (…) If we build a new currency, we need to anchor it in a new social system, in a new social behaviour of people, in order for it to work. Because if I don’t trust people, also Gift Economy doesn’t work at some point. […] I have my doubts [about alternative economic systems] if they are not based in community work.” (Interview TAM6)
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Renewing social relations (2)
“It is about the quality of relationship and the way we operate with each other. (…). It is something around being part of a certain type of society, which attracts people here. Not just pure service relationship or nice products and services. That’s nice, but people come in for something bigger. The way of being together is why people come to our Hubs. We pride ourselves in building another kind of society.” (Member global Impact Hub team) “Trust, courage, collaboration”
public
private
STATE (public agencies)
MARKET (firms, business)
COMMUNITY (households, families etc.)
Avelino & Wittmayer 2015, Based on Evers & Laville 2004, Pestoff 1992
NON-PROFIT (NGOs, associations
foundations)
Challenging Institutional Boundaries
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Origin of social innovation?
Social innovation as “innovative activities and services that are motivated by the goal of meeting a social need and that are predominantly developed and diffused through organisations whose primary purpose is social” 2007: p8
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Across institutional boundaries Transformative social innovation ≈ • change in social relations, involving • new ways of doing, organizing, knowing and framing • challenging dominant institutions in the social context
Therefore, transformative social innovation: • can originate in each sector, in each institutional logic • changing relations between sectors & institutions • initiatives lack an ‘institutional home’ • hybrid forms (instead of ‘stretch & conform’) • they challenge institutional boundaries
public
private
PPP
MARKET (firms, business)
COMMUNITY
(households, families etc.)
STATE (public agencies)
Avelino & Wittmayer 2015
NON-PROFIT (NGOs, associations
foundations)
Shifting power relations
(Dis)empowerment challenges 4 cross-cutting themes
1. Governance
2. Social learning
3. Resourcing
4. Monitoring
Schizophrenic attitude of (local) governments: “We have political parties that come here and want to film us and believe that we are the future of social innovation in the city and then on the other side votes against us to kick us out of this place because they want to build a luxury hotel.”
Impact Hub Amsterdam team member
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Prelimenary Policy Insights 1. Acknowledge inherent nature of changing social
relations, values & narratives of change
2. Allow for institutional hybridity and ‘institutional challenging’ (vs. stretch & conform)
3. Enable qualitative (self/peer)-monitoring of transformative impact (vs. project targets), incl. attention for unintended consequences
4. Involve & support translocal networks behind social innovation initiatives > ensure their local ties and encourage cross-network synergy & confrontation
5. Enable long-term and systemic support for social innovation beyond temporary projects
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Thank you. Questions?
Flor Avelino
DRIFT / Erasmus University Rotterdam
@FlorAvelino
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Prelimenary Policy Insights 1. Acknowledge inherent nature of changing social
relations, values & narratives of change
2. Allow for institutional hybridity and ‘institutional challenging’ (vs. stretch & conform)
3. Enable qualitative (self/peer)-monitoring of transformative impact (vs. project targets), incl. attention for unintended consequences
4. Involve & support translocal networks behind social innovation initiatives > ensure their local ties and encourage cross-network synergy & confrontation
5. Enable long-term and systemic support for social innovation beyond temporary projects
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Science & Social Innovation
Not one discipline or research area, but rather an overlap in interests in various (inter-) disciplines
http://www.nesta.org.uk/event/social-frontiers
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Research aim TRANSIT
To develop a theory of transformative social innovation,
building on & contributing to existing theories of change,
grounded and tested in empirical data,
useful to academics & practitioners.
Conceptual challenge
Empirical challenge
public
private
STATE
MARKET COMMUNITY
employer / employee
poor / rich
benefactor/ beneficiary
large / small
civil servant / citizen
man/ woman
national/ local
ethnicities
young/ old
expert/
lay
Avelino & Wittmayer 2015
Power inequalities
Social Innovation ≈
changing social relations ≈
shifting power relations
≈ contestation
≈ struggle & conflict
public
private
STATE (public agencies)
MARKET (firms, business)
COMMUNITY (households, families etc.)
NON-PROFIT (associations,
NGOs)
Avelino & Wittmayer 2015
politician, policy-maker, bureaucrat, citizen, voter
consumer, producer employer, employee, client, entrepreneur
activist, volunteer, member, benefactor,
researcher
resident, neighbour, family member,
friend
individual roles
87
Aberdeen (United Kingdom)
Ghent (Belgium)
Montreuil (France)
Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Ludwigsburg (Germany)
MUSIC project www.themusicproject.eu
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
DRIFT (Coordinator) Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands
3S-group University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
ICIS University of Maastricht, the Netherlands
IHS Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands
ULB-CEDD Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
AAU Aalborg University, Denmark
SPRU University of Sussex, United Kingdom
IEC-UNQ Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina
COPPE Rio de Janeiro Federal University, Brasil
People-Environment Research Group Universidade da Coruna, Spain
BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Austria
ESSRG research and development SME, Hungary
Contact: scientific coordinators Flor Avelino & Julia Wittmayer (DRIFT)
Partners
https://www.facebook.com/transitsocialinnovation
@TransitSI
https://www.linkedin.com/transitsocialinnovation
transitsocialinnovation.eu | si-drive.eu
Social Innovation 2015: Pathways to Social Change Research, policies and practices in European and global perspectives
Vienna, 18-19 November 2015
TRANSIT and SI-DRIVE bring together practitioners, policymakers and researchers from around the world to look at how social innovation can lead to societal transformations.
The first day focuses on the state-of-the-art in research, whereas the second centres on practice. Both feature a rich offering of interactive sessions and opportunities for networking. Registration is open & free
These projects have received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613169 & 612870
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Transformative social innovation
1. Renewing social relations (to people, nature, technology, economy)
2. Bringing narratives of change ‘to life’ (‘new economy’, ‘sustainability’, ‘resilience’, ‘social impact’)
3. Challenging institutions (questioning paradigms, regulations, dominant political ideologies)
www.transitsocialinnovation.eu
Social Innovation Discourse
• ‘Social’ vs. ‘technological’ innovation
• More than social dimension of technological innovation
• The social as the object of innovation in itself
• “Immaterial and intangible” (Howaldt and Schwarz 2010)
• Beyond a technology focused innovation paradigm