Social Innovation in the Public Sector EGPA Conference 11 Septembre 2013 Edinburgh

1. SocialInnovation in the Public Sector EGPA Conference 11 Septembre 2013 Edinburgh Victor Bekkers Erasmus University Rotterdam

2. Content • Social innovation as a rising star and the LIPSE project. • Why is social innovation a ‘magic concept’? • What is social innovation? • What are drivers behind social innovation? • What about citizens and governments? • Social innovation as a magic concept: some questions?

3. Socialinnovation: a rising star • “combines public and private resources to grow promising community-based solutions that have evidence of results …. America's challenges are being developed every day at the grass roots -- and government shouldn't be supplanting those efforts, it should be supporting those efforts” (Obama’s social innovation fund) • “The idea is to give local communities more power and to encourage people to play an active role in these communities. The assumption is that these communities set up co-operations, charities, mutual and other social enterprises to deal with the local and concrete needs that citizens encounter.(Cameron on the Big Society) • Social innovation is “ about new ideas that work to address unmet needs. We simply describe it as innovations that are both social in their ends and in their means” (European Commission)

4. LIPSE • To identify relevant drivers and barriers that explain the success or failure of social innovations in the public sector, and to give policy recommendations. • To learn from cross-national and cross-sectoral comparisons to understand how social innovation practice convergence or diverge between states • To advise policymakers and researchers on potential future pathways for social innovation in the public sector that can enhance productivity, growth and competitiveness in countries • Tocontributeto the governance of socialinnovation in the public sector

5. Socialinnovation as a magic concept • Fourdevelopmentsmerge: • How to meet new societalchallenges, likeglobal warming, (youth) employment, growingelderlypopulation? Responsiveness of governments • How to deal withneedsthatreally matter tocitizensand companies? Efficacyandlegitimacy of governments • How deal with the budgettary crisis of government? Austerityand efficiency • How to make use of the self-organizing power in society? How tousethis power of individualsandcommunities?

6. Socialinnovation as a magic concept • Toproduceneed-orientedoutcomes • Open process of co-creationwith relevant stakeholders: collaborativeinnovationnetworks • Game-changer: fundamentally changes existing relations, positionsandplayingrules • Beyond technologicalinnovations • Re-allocation of public valuestherebyreinventingpublicness

7. The essence of socialinnovation • Innovation as a process • Learning, trial and error, experimenting • Qualitative discontinuity with the past (radical, transformative change) • Ecological perspective • Co-evolution between different environments • Interaction between different stakeholders • Specific (institutional) environment and local embeddness

8. Building blocks of drivers andbarriers • The broaderinnovation environment • The innovationnetwork • The innovationprocess • The diffusionand adoption process

9. Drivers andbarriers of socialinnovation

10. Citizensandgovernments • Citizenparticipation • As co-implementor of existingrulesand programs • As co-creator or co-design • As initiator : self-organization • Expectationsregardingpossibleoutcomes • Expectationsregardingeffortstoparticipate • Level playing field and ‘weakinterests’ • Representativeness of voices

11. Citizensandgovernments • Governments • Formalwitdrawalbut informalsteeringproblem of ‘letting go’ and ‘the open back door’ • Persistence of existingpractices • Weak interest and level playing field But also: Self-organization paradox: self-organizationrequires strong governmentinvolvement???

12. Socialinnovation as a magic concept: somequestions? • Is socialinnovation more than a rhetoricstrategytolegitimize the withdrawal of governmentand the downsizing of the welfare state? • Is socialinnovation as form ‘conspiciousproduction’: it is the processthatcounts: inspiration, sense making andlearningthat matter not the outcomesthat have been produced? • How relevant are the outcomesandtowhom? Cuibono?The proof is in eating the pudding • How are these outcomesbeinglegitimized? New valuesand the re-allocation of existingvalues: re-definition of (in)equality, solidarityandfreedom? Otherforms of publicness?? • Does context matter? Are somestatesand policy sectors more socialinnovativethanothers? • How toovercomeinnovation bias? Lookingfor ‘failedinnovations’? • Did policy makers and society make use of the ‘austerity ‘ policy windowto change the ‘rules of the game’?

13. Further information www.lipse.org info@lipse.org