Social innovation theory

Question 1

What are the obstacles to social change?

Answer 1

Interest
Inertia and routine
Lack of resources

Question 2

What is social innovation?

Answer 2

Set up a novel solution to a social problem that is better than existing solutions

Question 3

Apart from finding better solutions, what else should be taken into account when talking about social innovation?

Answer 3

That social innovation should help to empower people

Question 4

What is the difference between innovation and invention?

Answer 4

Invention is the creation of something new

Innovation is the real-world dissemination of what has been invented

Question 5

What types of social innovation do exist?

Answer 5

1) Product-based social innovation
2) Process-based social innovation
3) Socially transformative social innovation

Question 6

What is product-based social innovation?

Answer 6

Creating a new program or service (e.g. a new treatment)

Question 7

What is process-based social innovation?

Answer 7

Change the way things are done (e.g.setting up a participatory process to find out the opinion of the users of a service)

Question 8

What is socially transformative social innovation?

Answer 8

Addressing systemic issues like oppression or inequality (e.g.a new policy reinforcing the empowerment of homeless groups)

Question 9

What is macro social innovation?

Answer 9

Large-scale social innovation (wide-ranging projects, related to major societal change…)

Question 10

What is micro social innovation?

Answer 10

Small-scale social innovation (local or small projects…)

Question 11

How can we classify social innovation according to its intensity?

Answer 11

1) Incremental social innovation
2) Radical social innovation

Question 12

What is incremental social innovation?

Answer 12

Minor and gradual innovations

Question 13

What is radical social innovation?

Answer 13

Totally new game-changing innovations

Question 14

Is social cooperation important for social innovation?

Answer 14

Yes.
Social Innovation is not just an individual work it is a collective task.

Question 15

What is social experimentation?

Answer 15

Doing small scale innovation projects to test them.

Question 16

What is the relationship between social experimentation and social innovation?

Answer 16

Social innovation usually requires social experimentation through small scale projects designed to test innovations.

Question 17

What does it mean to scale up a social innovation project?

Answer 17

to shift to a larger scale (i.e. from local to nacional) and to a broader audience

Question 18

What does it mean to transfer a social innovation?

Answer 18

Implementing it in another context by adapting it

Question 19

Does the transfer of a project to another place or context mean just replicating it?

Answer 19

No. It implies adapting it to the new context.

Question 20

What metaphor can we use to understand how the transfer of a social innovation to another context works?

Answer 20

Translation from one language to another
(when we translate something to another language the content is adapted and cannot be replicated identically).

Question 21

How can we graphically represent the stages of social innovation?

Answer 21

Through a spiral (as stages not linear)

Question 22

What are pain points in the field of social innovation?

Answer 22

The problems, frustrations, or troublesome issues that concern people.

Question 23

Why pain points are important for social innovation?

Answer 23

Because social innovation requires to understand and identify the ‘pain points’ of a community, social group or individual beneficiary.

Question 24

What are top-down social innovations?

Answer 24

Innovations driven by governments or organizational management without the participation of the beneficiary groups (e.g: a change in the degree curriculum by the university management)

Question 25

What are bottom-up social innovations?

Answer 25

Innovations driven in a participatory manner by the beneficiary communities or social groups themselves (e.g. a new leisure program for teenagers in a poor community, co-designed by them in a social organization).

Question 26

What stages can be identified in social innovation?

Answer 26

1) Inspiration (Finding what is needed) 2) Ideation (Finding the best possible idea) 3) Implementation (Turning ideas into reality)

Question 27

What is a social innovation lab?

Answer 27

An organization that engages diverse participants with different professional backgrounds to think social innovation proposals on a long-term basis.

Question 28

Do people working in innovation labs deal with day-to-day intervention problems?

Answer 28

No. Members of an innovation lab deal with long-term solutions, without the pressure of day-to-day intervention.

Question 29

What is design thinking?

Answer 29

Is a mindset and approach to innovation that focuses on the solution to a problem instead of the problem itself and is based on emphatizing with the needs of users. It is inspired by the way a designer searches for solutions and solves problems.

Question 30

What are the 5 steps in design thinking?

Answer 30

Step 1: Empathize Step 2: Define the Problem Step 3: Ideate Step 4: Prototype Step 5: Test