Akriti Shrivastava, a volunteer at Skillseed and an experienced social development professional across the non-profit and corporate sectors, breaks down the concept of Social Innovation and shares how corporates can contribute to sustainable impact.
Innovation is the new buzzword that is being sounded in a variety of settings. Much of what’s been written about innovation comes from the world of business. However, it has applicability across all kinds of fields and areas of interest. Innovation is being touted as the solution for non-profit organisation sustainability and the cure for many of the world’s social problems. In the last few years, those of us who focus on using innovation to improve the lives of others have seen an increasing emphasis on the concept of “Social Innovation”.
(Source: What is Social Innovation)
Social Innovation (SI) has gained significant attention and interest in recent times as observed in national, international policies and strategies. Stanford Graduate School of Business Centre for Social Innovation defines it as “a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable or just than current solutions. The value created accrues primarily to society rather than to private individuals.”
Business Innovation or Commercial Innovation is when organisations implement new processes, ideas, services, or products with the goal of boosting the net earnings whereas Social Innovation focuses on the process of innovation, and how innovation and change take shape. Commercial Innovation gives priority to the internal organisation of companies, their productivity and commercial success. By contrast, social innovators are interested in where we can create the most impact, reducing disparity for those who need support most and applying new solutions to social problems that are not getting solved by traditional approaches. Social Innovation includes a social purpose, perception of being new in a certain context, close cooperation and new modes of interaction between different stakeholders, and fosters joint creation with end-users.
COMMON TERMS IN THE SOCIAL INNOVATION SPACE
In today’s world, the private sector is also engaged in development work in some form or another. Through different approaches, some commercial businesses are focusing on creating solutions for the social and environmental challenges in the world today. While each approach is not better or inferior than the other, they are simply different concepts that end up operating in the same space. They are also, in fact, synergistic. The simple infographic below highlights a few methods that organisations adopt to create social impact.
What overlaps across these definitions is the common belief that social change is essential to creating a society in which everyone prospers.
HOW TO IMPLEMENT CORPORATE SOCIAL INNOVATION: For an organisation to invest in Social Innovation it should be integrated into its core business model. It needs to be bold and continuously innovate to keep the business at the forefront of evolution and impact. By fostering creative, innovative environments, organisations set the stage for pursuing Social Innovation goals.
Elements of Corporate Social Innovation
(Source: Corporate Social Innovation)
Ideas for Social Innovation can also be developed through specific methods. Here are four examples shared by Tamara Kuhn, Research Scientist & Director of Technology, dfusion
At Skillseed, one of our popular equipping workshops in the Integrated Social Innovation Toolkit is our ‘Design Thinking for Social Impact’ which guides participants through an iterative process of empathising, defining the challenge space, ideation, prototyping and testing before arriving at a potential solution for our end-users in the social / environmental space. Some methods that we share during the workshop include creativity primer activities, the concept of applying analogous thinking, as well as tapping on collective ideation within a team.
In fact, COLLABORATION is a key component of Social Innovation. Public, private, and government groups come bearing their gifts, capitals and skills that encourage social change. Collaborative innovation uses all these skills to create the greatest social impact. Social Innovations are launched by a variety of actors, including research institutions, companies and independent organisations, which use their respective definitions of Social Innovation to identify local or global needs and create solutions. Learning occurs through cross-sectoral relationships between companies, government and non-profit organisations. These collaborations, therefore, have started to pivot the shift of established mindsets and habits towards one that applies Social Innovation in service delivery. A non-profit, for example, might have an effective plan for social change but limited funds. By working with government or investment organisations, they can form a like-minded collaborative group with both the vision and means to reach their social goal.
In conclusion, Social Innovations are 'innovative responses to unsolved social problems and needs, which have not been successfully tackled by the State or market. Social Innovation is needed because many social challenges are resistant to conventional approaches to solving them. They require novel approaches, inventive actors and new forms of co-operation among them, thus bringing together different kinds of expertise, skills, tangible and intangible assets. On a socioeconomic level, the impact of innovation is far-reaching and essential for growth. Technological advancements provide the right tools and techniques to tackle global and local issues with improved efficiency. Research and innovation are driving productivity growth and thus economic development. But at the same time, they are also associated with the process of 'creative destruction' that can lead to social instabilities (unemployment, poverty, social exclusion) and global challenges (climate change, energy efficiency, pollution). As a result, modern economic growth must advance together with societal progress. Social Innovation that achieves some form of social impact can help to reconcile these two forces, bringing economic growth and social value at the same time.
Skillseed brings innovation in connecting Experiential Learning to understand the needs of the world by working with our community partners around the world. The skills-based and hands-on learning of social, environmental challenges develops global citizenry and social responsibility amongst participants of our programmes. The impact is in influencing the future change makers who not only understand the problems but are also part in creating sustainable solutions to real world challenges. We hope to continue empowering our participants to be change makers in Social Innovation.
Reach out to us here if you are interested in any of our Social Innovation or Experiential Learning Programmes!