Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

While there are many emerging perspectives on social innovation, most generally a social innovation can be understood as an intentional, positive, creative shift in systemic social-ecological patterns. Many social innovations have global ambitions, but even when pursued primarily at the local level, social innovations go beyond simply providing a needed service or remediation. They challenge and experiment with a given system’s underlying building blocks: its rules, policies, technologies, structures, beliefs, habits, values, etc. Social innovation can be pursued from any organisational platform, from businesses to not-for-profits to government agencies. Businesses and other types of organisations are increasingly being called upon to act as innovative agents of social benefit. This call is particularly strong in emerging markets.