Social Innovation Dictionary — What is Social Innovation?

Hello readers!!

We have decided to create a section called ‘Social Innovation Dictionary’ to explain the most commonly used expressions in this area. Therefore, let’s explain in today’s dictionary the title itself: What is Social Innovation?
In general, Social Innovation is developing and promoting solutions to existing problems within a society. In fact, there are many definitions about what social innovation is. We have chosen two to share with you:

“Social innovations are new strategies, concepts, ideas and organisations that meet social needs of all kinds — from working conditions and education to community development and health — that extend and strengthen civil society. Social innovation includes the social processes of innovation, such as open source methods and techniques and also the innovations which have a social purpose — like microcredit or distance learning”.- Wikipedia

“A social innovation is a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than present solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals”.- Stanford Business Centre for Social Innovation

A good example of a Social Innovation Service is CrashDetech, an application that automatically detects car accidents, indicates the location and immediately sends the nearest ambulance to provide relief. It seeks to reduce emergency response time and provide paramedics with access to vital medical information that can save many lives. This is how it works:

1- Monitor
Uses smart drive-detection technology to automatically monitor your trips.

2- Detect
Auto-detects serious car crashes and alerts the CrashDetech emergency contact centre of your location.

3- Respond
Immediately dispatches the nearest emergency medical services and supplies them with your medical information.

Source: CrashDetech

Author: Julia Bertoncello

Illustration: Valentina Vezzani

Originally published at www.pacollaborative.com on July 25, 2017.