About SI-DRIVE

The conference, titled "Social Innovation – Research and Policy of the Future: towards a comprehensive innovation policy" on 24^th and 25^th October in Brussels, is going to be one of the key events on social innovation in the year 2017.
The conference is hosted by:

• SI-DRIVE – Social Innovation – Driving Force of Social Change, a project under the EU 7^th Framework Programme, 
• SIC – Social Innovation Community, a project under the Horizon 2020 Programme, 
• the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, as local host, and
• NET4SOCIETY, a network of National Contact Points in Horizon 2020.

"Social Innovation – Research and Policy of the Future: towards a comprehensive innovation policy" will explore the future of social innovation research and policy by bringing together leading social innovators, academics and politicians.

Presentations by more than 30 leading experts in the field will provide insight into the various aspects of this ubiquitous phenomenon. On the one hand, the contributions will build on empirical results generated by the international research project SI-DRIVE. The 25 international partners of SI-DRIVE have mapped over 1.000 cases of social innovation all over the world and selected over 80 cases for an in-depth case study analysis. On the other hand, these insights will be complemented by contributions of the Social Innovation Community (SIC) project and international experts’ inputs.

Further information (programme, registration, conference speakers, etc.) is available here.

Final conference of SI-DRIVE

The recently published SI-DRIVE EU policy briefs are based on the SI-DRIVE in-depth case study reports and its compilation, as well as on seven policy and foresight workshops, which were conducted in spring 2017. They appraise the state of social innovation in the seven policy fields of SI-DRIVE and look at current and future challenges and opportunities, analysing their implication for policy and provide recommendations. Key messages of the policy briefs, as well as the links to the documents are available here.

SI-DRIVE publications

Members of the "Policy and Foresight Work Package" in the SI-DRIVE project have been managing a large set of discussions with stakeholders and policy makers over the past three years. These discussions culminated in the final "International Round Table" for the project. Next to six participants from the SI-DRIVE consortium, some 19 policy makers, social innovators and other stakeholders participated. One of the discussed key questions was: "What has SI-DRIVE to show after four years of work?" [Read more]

SI-DRIVE event review

Dmitri Domanski, researcher from SI-DRIVE lead partner TU Dortmund University, convinced the jury with his research proposal on "Developing the Social Innovation Ecosystem of the Vienna Region". Through the annually awarded fellowship, the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) in Vienna, which is also SI-DRIVE partner, seeks to facilitate the discourse on social innovation. The goal of the annually awarded Josef Hochgerner (JH) fellowship, named after the founder and longtime scientific director of ZSI, is to support the discourse on social innovation. It aims at stimulating critical reflections on how social innovations can be introduced into society. Further information about the awards presentation for 2017 and the announcement for 2018 is available here.

Over the last six months, the SI-DRIVE partner, The Young Foundation has been delivering a range of social innovation projects combining research and practice related, in particular, to education, inequality and developing an inclusive economy. In their research work, they recently launched Humanity at Work, a research report examining the MONDRAGON co-operative as a social innovation ecosystem case study. The Young Foundation also supports the development and dissemination of new research from the Science Policy Research Unit on the impact of technological innovation and automation on employment and inequality in local areas. [Read more]

Representatives from the SI-DRIVE partner Zhejiang University, based in Hangzhou, China, organised a couple of events, focusing on social innovation and topics related to SI-DRIVE. The following contributions offer detailed information:

• Forum on regional development and social services in Shanghai, China
• International Workshop "Innovation and Development" in Hangzhou, China
• Workshop "Social Work in Ageing and Urbanisation - International Experience & China’s Development" in Hangzhou, China

Social innovation in connection with SI-DRIVE received particular attention in different events, either (co)organised from the SI-DRIVE lead partner TU Dortmund University, or with contributions from researchers from TU Dortmund. Further information is available here:

• Keynote "Desiging social innovation locally" at the 19^th Conference for Applied Social Sciences in Dortmund 
• "Hot Topic Workshop on social innovation research" in Dortmund
• Session on "Social Innovation as a Challenge for a Comprehensive Innovation Policy" at the Eu-SPRI Conference 2017 in Vienna

A call for papers for a special issue of the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM) is launched. The special issue focuses on "Social Innovation in an Interconnected World". Submission due date: November 15^th, 2017. Further information is available here.

Call for papers

You are invited to read and comment the posts published here:
Theory Building Forum, Policy Field Platforms.

www.si-drive.eu

15^th SI-DRIVE Newsletter