What is social innovation?

A simple definition is “the design and implementation of better ways of meeting social needs”.

This is a wide field – from new models of child-care to micro-finance, from new ways of delivering healthcare to the home to new web-based energy co-ops.

When we talk about “better ways” we mean transformational improvements, not incremental gains. The new approaches we seek involve step changes in:

• how we do something (who is involved in delivering a programme or service, where and when it is delivered and what users experience) AND
• resulting outcomes.

A shared commitment to dramatically improved outcomes is what drives the process.

Why do we need it in NZ?

Social well–being is important in its own right, but it also underpins economic growth.

New Zealand‘s success depends not only on our ability to innovate in areas such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, biotechnology and ICT but also in social services. Furthermore, some of the most important sectors for growth over the next decades are social – health is already the largest sector in many countries, and education often comes second.

The current economic climate is going to create more need and more demand for social services. If these are to be delivered for the same or less funding, we need to be innovative.

3 key themes

1. Collaborative innovation
The future of innovation is open-source. As businesses are learning, new ideas come from all of us – from users and consumers, from front-line staff, from entrepreneurs, from external research organisations, from the wider community. Programmes and services are often most effectively developed by supporting users to come up with their own solutions.

2. The role of technology
New internet and communications technology is facilitating this collaborative innovation, as well as enabling new service delivery mechanisms.

3. Agnostic about delivery model
Social innovations may be purely market-based , run by Government or grants alone, or driven by a not-for-profit social enterprise with a very explicit business model.