Social Innovation
What is social innovation? Social innovation is about creating solutions to societal problems in collaborations across civil society, business and the public sector. What are the challenges you see and how can we solve them?
Social innovations are new social practices that aim to meet social needs in a better way than the existing solutions: from the way people engage in work, to how they share and communicate, to how they build community, and more. We believe that new social innovations are the core of a well-functioning society, but they must be designed to meet a new set of social needs as well as to address the old ones. This means that social innovations must not only work well for the individuals in society that they target and are meant to benefit, they must also work well for society as a whole, which includes the rest of the individuals and groups in society. For us, the best social innovation is the one that helps people achieve their needs better for themselves, and also for the society in which they live. That may mean creating an environment that is more conducive to the way people interact with their communities, or it may mean creating an environment that makes work more enjoyable. In this context, it is also important for a social innovation to be more than just an alternative to a traditional solution. It is also a complement and part of a solution that people value at the same time.A new social innovation can be designed for any age: a product that works well for today's workers at any age, or an innovative tool that helps individuals succeed in life and work, when they would otherwise fail.But social innovation can be more than just an alternative to traditional social structures, or a tool to help people succeed in life today. The most promising and relevant innovations are those that are designed to help individuals thrive in communities in which they will grow and flourish. They are designed to make the communities in which they live more attractive, healthier, more safe and fulfilling. They are designed to help people meet needs that they find unmet in the communities where they live, and to provide social opportunities that will help them meet their future needs. This is exactly what we are working on: helping people thrive in communities in which they will grow and flourish