Dynamics in Social Innovation:
Enabling Factors and Barriers
SusanBaker
TalkPresentedtotheSocialInnova6oninMarginalisedRuralAreas
(SIMRA)Mee6ng,Bra6slava,October2016.
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Key Ques(ons
1.  Howandunderwhat
circumstancescanmore
sustainableformsof
developmentbe
promotedataplace
basedlevel?
2.  Whatisroleofsocial
innova6oninpromo6on
ofsustainableplaces?
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Our Star(ng Point
SIisboth:
1.  Process:focusonorganisa6onal&socialdynamicsthatproduceinnova6on
o  Individualcrea6vity
o  Organisa6onalstructures/func6oning
o  Environmentalresources
2.Product:focusonoutcomeofSI&howthismanifestedinsocialchange
o  Moresustainableformsofcommunitydevelopment
o  Governancechanges
Civilsocietyis‘pivotalterrain’uponwhichSIemerges
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Socialinnova*on:
‘significant,crea*veand
sustainableshi8inwaya
givensocietydealswitha
profoundandpreviously
intractableproblem’
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What Dis(nguishes Social Innova(on?
ForSItobeSocial
1.  Shouldhaveimpactonbroader,social,poli6calandeconomiccontextthatcreatedthe
problem
2.  Innova6onissocialtoextenttowhichbalanceis6ltedtowardssocialvalue
ForSItobesignificant
1.  Scale
2.  Scope
3.  Resonance
Itisimpactonscale,scopeandresonance(SSR)thatmovesac7onsfromordinarysocietal
responsestoinnova7veones
Whenbothsocialandsignificant-hastransforma6onalpoten6al
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Scale, Scope & Resonance Scale
1.  Microlevel:sa6sfac6onofmaterialandnon-materialneeds
2.  Mesolevel:wheresocialrela6onsimpactonrela6onshipbetweensocialgroups
Scope
3.Bridgesbothscales
Bringsposi6ve,macrolevelchangeviaup-scalinge.g.throughins6tu6onalleverage
HereSIlinkedtoempowerment
o  Marginalisedgroupsbecomeempoweredthroughcrea6onof:sharedcommunityiden66es,socio-poli6cal
capabili6es&strengtheningofsocialcapital
o  Inturn,socialinnova6oncancontributetochangesbetweencivilsocietyandstate
But:howcansocialinnova6onanditstransforma6onalpoten6alberealisedinprac6ce?
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1. SI as Process
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2 Key Drivers 1.Need
2.Crisis
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Need
• Foremostdriver:requirementtosa6sfybasicneeds
• KeycomponentofBrundtlandconceptofsustainable
development
• UNSummitslinkprovisionofneeds(material,culturalor
spiritual)tomoresustainableformsofsocietaldevelopment
• Payspar6cularaben6ontoitsplacespecificity-history,
resourcesandsocialstructuresopera6veatlocallevelmeans
communi6esoptforplacespecificop6onstosa6sfyingbasic
needs
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Need: Examples
• ComillaCoopera6vePilotProjectforruraldevelopmentin
EastPakistan(nowBangladesh).
• FairTrade
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Crisis •  Responsestocrisiscanpoten6allyleadtoempowermentoflocal
groups
•  Somecrisesofacutenature,butotherslongertermoreven
indeterminatee.g.GEC
•  Catalystforac6on:spa6alimpactofcrisis,asbothimmediateand
(materially)imminent
•  Peoplenotmo6vatedbyabstractandglobalframingofproblems
•  Spa6al,place-basedimpactss6mulatesSIforlocal,collec6veac6on
•  Crisiscanactaswindowofopportunityforsocietalchange
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Crisis Example Transi6onTowns’movement
Whydosomecommuni6es
managetofostersocial
innova6onandothersdonot?
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Diffusion of SI
Whatareprecondi6onsthatallow,encourageandnurtureSIprac6ces?
ProcessesthatgenerateSIdifferentfromprocessesunderlyingadop6onanddiffusion:
1.  ‘Enablingenvironment’:contextwithinwhichsocialinnova6onbotharisesandis
diffused(history,culture,socialrela6onsandembeddedness,ecologicalcondi6ons)
2.  Requires‘Enablers’(includenetworks,organisa6onandins6tu6ons)
•  Onprac6callevel,Enablersbecomeinvolvedover6meinchangingpolicy,crea6ngtax
incen6vesoropeningupcapitalmarketstoSIini6a6ves
•  Suchac6onshaveimplica6onsforstatesteering-theyopenupop6onsforgovernance
arrangements
•  Thislinkssocialinnova6onandnewformsofgovernance,par6cularlypar6cipatory
prac6cesandnetworkengagement
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SI is Wider
•  SIhaswiderremitanddeepersignificance,butcri6callydependent
upongenera6onofsocialcapitalandSIinturnhelpstofurther
promotethatcapitalform
•  SIini6a6vescanbecomesitesofsociallearningthatcan,inturn,
feedbacktofurtherstrengthensocialcapital
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Catch Up
•  SocialscienceinputintostudyofSIrevealssocialinnova6oninplacebasedcontext
•  Initsplace-basedmanifesta6on,SIcanservethreekey,mutuallyreinforcingfunc6ons:
1.  Sa6sfac6onofbasicindividualandcollec6veneeds
2.  Strengtheningofsocialrela6onsatplacebased,communitylevel
3.  Enhancementofsocio-poli6calcapabilityofindividualsandcommuni6estoinfluenceplacemaking
•  Thesefunc6onscanbringposi6ve,macrolevelchangethroughup-scaling,forexample,throughins6tu6onalinfluence
•  SIhasstrongtemporaldimension:iscreated,adoptedanddiffusedinpar6cularperiod
•  Exhibitsstrongspa6aldimension:rootedinplacebasedneedsandcontextsandemergencedependentuponpabernsofsocialcontactsand
ofcommunityrootedness
•  Requiresanenablingenvironment-weextendthisdependencetoincludeenvironmentalresourcebase
•  SIisogenreac6ve
•  Up-scaled/diffusedthroughenablersandthestate
•  MechanismsofSI,includingunderlyingsequencesofinterac6onsandevents,changeassocietyanditsins6tu6onsevolve
•  Byitsnature,SIalsocontainselementsofsocialtransforma6on:socialac6onsareconsideredinnova6onbyvirtueofimpacttheyhaveon
broadersocial,economicandpoli6calcontextwithinwhichsuchac6onsarise
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2. SI as Product
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Next Step
•  Considera6onofoutcomeofSI
•  ExplorethelinksbetweenSIandsustainability
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The Dynamics
SIisboth
1.  pathdependent:emergingwithinandreliantuponplacespecific
characteris6cs(cultural,socialandenvironmentalresourcesoflocality)
2.  Involvesnewformsofsocialac6onsandlearning
TheproductofSIover7me,namelysocialtransforma7on,takesplacewithin
contextofdynamicinterplaybetweenthatpathdependencyanddiffusionof
newprac7cesofplaceengagement
•  SIprac6cesthemselvesmaynotnecessarilyinfuseaposi6veplaceiden6ty
o  Posi6veroleofSI‘enablers’ine.g.buildingbridgesbetweenspa6allyfragmented
communi6es
o  But:pathdependencesofaplacecanexhibittendencytopersist
•  Wehavetotakeaccountofthisdynamicinterplay,whichbothconstrainsand
reformswaysinwhichSIhassignificance
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SI and Adap(ve Socio-Ecological Systems
•  UnderstandingSIcanhelpusunderstandadap6veprocessincomplex
socio-ecologicalsystems
•  SIpar6cularlyimportantinadap6veprocesses:systemsthatbeberableto
giverisetoanddiffusenovelty(e.gnewproducts,services,waysofdoing,
ideas,etc)moreresilient,beberabletowithstandandadapttoexternal
shock
•  CapacityofsocietytocreatesteadyflowofSIover6meisimportant
contributortooverallsocialandecologicalresilience
•  Example:LA21(adoptedatRioEarthSummit1992)
•  Despitedominanceofcountervailingideologies,itslegacyhasendured,including
over6meandacrosspolicydomains
•  LA21promotescollec6veac6onforsustainableplacemaking
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Nested Scale
NeedtobeawarethatSIisalso
embeddedofwiderspa6al
connec6ons
Theseconnec6onsexistwithinand
betweenplaces,includingathigher
scales
Connec6vitymakesitpossiblefor
disturbingforces(egdisease,
financialcrisis)tospread
throughoutsystematrapidpace
Connec6vitycanaccelerate
learningprocessesandpolicy
transfer,helpingspreadofbest
prac6ceupwardstohigherlevels
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The Role of the State
‘Topdown’contribu6onsfromstateviains6tu6onalinterven6onsalsoimportant
Interven6onscanoccurthroughspecificregula6ons,strategies,policies,plansandfundingmechanisms
Theyhelp:avoidinglocalismbiasopera6veatlowerlevels,whichcancauseproblemsathigherscale
Thestatethroughitsco-ordina6ngrole,can:
•  EnsurethatSIprac6cesinoneplaceorpolicyareadonotbringundesirableconsequencestoother
placesandpolicyareas
•  Addressproblemofspa6alortemporaldisplacementofnega6veexternali6esassociatedwithSIat
locallevel
•  Ensuremoreequitabledistribu6onofbenefitacrossspaceand6me
•  Stateneedstoengageinbobom-linkedstrategies:throughcrea6onofnew,orstrengtheningofexis6ng,
linksbetweenci6zens,civilsocietyorganisa6onsandvariouspublicandprivateactorsopera6ngatdifferent
spa6alscales
Thisinterfaceholdspoten7altotransformtradi7onalgovernance,bychangingexis7ngnormsandproducing
newprac7cesandpoliciesforsustainableplacemaking
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Combining Scales & Actors
Reciprocalrela6onship
1.  Tradi6onal,top-down,hierarchicalgovernancefromstatecan
facilitateSI,whileguardingagainstcoordina6onordistribu6on
failures
2.  SIcansupportnewgovernancepabernsthatstrengthenmul6-level
engagementandpar6cipatoryprac6ces
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Conclusion
•  SIclosely6edtocharacteris6csofaplace(social,economic,cultural&ecological)
•  Cancounteractsocialexclusionand,bysuppor6ngcollec6vewellbeing,promotemore
sustainableformsofdevelopmentatplacebasedlevel
•  Localiden66es,specifichistoriesandsocial-ecologicalinterac6onsactasvectorsforSI
whichinturncanhelpnurtureadap6vetransi6ons
•  Canbescaledupwardsandappliedtosimilarsystemsopera6ngatmacrolevel
•  Top-downsupportrequiredforfullrealisa6onofpoten6alofSI-thishasimplica6onsfor
typesofgovernancearrangementsthatbestsupportdiffusionofSIacrossscale
•  Cancontributetomorepar6cipatoryformsofsteeringsocialchange
•  Canleadtonewformsofinterac6onsandpartnershipsbetweenpublic,private,andcivil
societyorganisa6onsandci6zens
•  Carefulnottocelebratevirtuesofself-managedrisk,prudenceandself-responsibility
•  Need‘co-mingling’ofSIwithstateengagement
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