A Fresh Look at Social Innovation: What it is, Why it Matters, and How it Can be Accelerated

When practitioners in the developing sector think of the term ‘social innovation,’ they often think of a business, product or service that is ready to change the lives of millions of the world’s poor. However, it can be argued that social innovation is everywhere – for example the concept behind Wikipedia, or Open University.

In his report Social Innovation: What it is, Why it Matters, and How it Can Be Accelerated, Geoff Mulgan draws us into an in-depth understanding of the term, its usage and its implications to solving global solutions.  Mulgan is the director of the Young Foundation, based in the UK. This work is a working paper published by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

Mulgan beings his by giving us his definition of social innovation: “innovative activities and services that are motivated by the goal of meeting a social need and that are predominantly developed and diffused through organizations whose primary purpose is social.”

The definition distinguishes between social innovation and business innovation (which is generally motivated by profit maximization). The article also focuses its interest more widely on innovations that take the form of replicable programs or organization. For example the use of cognitive behavioral therapy developed in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

The report moves on to address the source of social innovation; the question of who innovates.  Mulgan identifies three sources of innovation. The first being innovation through individuals, such as Nobel Laureates Mohammed Yunus and Wangari Mathaai. The second source he identifies is through movements such as feminism, and environmentalism. The third group is organizations, such as the US military which laid down pioneering work for the internet.

Irrespective of its source, the stages of social innovation however remain unchanged. Mulgan takes us through these various stages: identifying need, developing, prototyping and piloting ideas, assessing, then scaling up and diffusing the good ones, and finally learning and evolving.

Mulgan also puts forward the group’s “Connector Difference” theory that distinguishes between social innovation and technological innovation.  The theory distinguishes social innovation as most commonly, a combination or hybrids of existing elements, rather than being wholly new. Social innovation also is distinct in that it cuts across organizational, sectoral or disciplinary boundaries, and leaves behind compelling new social relationships. This theory places a critical role on the ‘connectors’ within this eco system – the brokers, entrepreneurs, the money, the institutions, and others who contribute to lasting change.

Finally the report identifies some key essentials necessary to take social innovation forward:

• Develop leadership and structures that suit innovation
• Finance focused on innovation
• Develop public policy frameworks that encourage innovation
• Develop social innovation accelerators, such as incubators
• Share experiences between national and cross-national innovation pools.
• Engage in research to enhance learning.

The full report is available on the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship website.