LIST OF WORKSHOPS

Scientific Description - Context of the Topic 

The idea that innovative social action can create social value beyond the capability of existing systems (Adams and Hess, 2010) has become an object of huge policy interest in all parts of the world. As far back as the 1990s, state interventions have recognized social innovation as an option for simultaneously creating social benefits and economic opportunities. In recent years, social innovation has become an increasingly prominent concept employed by political leaders and administrations across the world. For instance, in 2003, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) supported a range of initiatives to promote inclusive entrepreneurship and improve social cohesion through the identification and dissemination of local innovations. In 2009, President Barack Obama established the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation to support cross-sectoral, bottom-up solutions to social problems in the USA. In Europe, social innovation has been equally conspicuous in European Union strategies and domestic policies (Nicholls and Edmiston, 2018). 

Despite this growing awareness and recognition that social innovations respond to societal needs that are not sufficiently addressed by market forces and governments, the social innovation sector continues to face significant challenges globally (Thurner, 2014). Schwab and Miner (2011) emphasize the institutional, legal, regulatory, and educational impediments that social innovators face in disseminating their approaches and solutions. Vasin (2017) asserts the need to develop new approaches for involving the public in solving social problems through collaboration and cooperation. Furthermore, Howaldt and Schwarz (2011) argue that social innovations are becoming increasingly important in the transition to a knowledge and service society, but they are often overlooked in discussions on national and regional innovation systems. In addition to the challenges faced by the sector, social innovators themselves are saddled with institutional, marketplace place, and educational impediments. Girling (2013) emphasizes the need for social innovators to meet evolving marketplace demands in addition to their social impact focus and Schwab (2007) concurs. Additionally, Vilarinho (2018) points out the lack of understanding and involvement of citizens in social innovation. Silva-Flores (2022) also points out that the biggest factors hindering social innovation and innovators are the lack of critical mass, fragmentation of efforts, and limited citizen participation in social change efforts. Overall, the social innovation sector faces challenges related to market dynamics, institutional barriers, and limited citizen engagement. 

Moreover, social innovation theorizes the process of innovation within the context of social relations, involving interaction between multiple players such as social entrepreneurs, civil society, government, enterprises, and research institutes (Vercher, 2022). According to Howaldt and Schröder (2016), two key factors are relevant to the effective action of social innovators. Firstly, the agency or personal capacity of individuals to take action and transform existing institutions and social systems. Secondly, the recognition that the agency is embedded in social structures and power relations that limit or encourage, to a greater or lesser extent, the possibilities to act and the scope of actions. This draws attention to the multi-actor perspective to building an entrepreneurial economy that Grimm (2009) posits and the importance of an ecosystem approach to resolving challenges, mobilizing support, and promoting collaboration among social innovation actors. Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that the ecosystems for social innovation are in different stages of development in various regions of the world. Similarly, though social innovations pop up in many areas and in many disguises, the conditions under which they emerge, develop, flourish, get sustained and finally lead to social change or social service reform are not yet fully understood in both academic and practice-oriented circles. This workshop aims to provide a platform for academics and practitioners to present their research on the role of public policy in fostering social innovation within existing ecosystems.

Scope 

The geographical scope of this workshop will be global as it aims to present the state of the art on the topic. Hence, no geographical parameters will be set. Contextually, the intersectionality of the topic of social innovation and public policy and related concepts of social entrepreneurship, innovation management, the economics of social innovation, entrepreneurial ecosystems, social movements, social economy, and social networks will be explored.

Research Questions 

How do social movements influence political processes? 
How can social innovation ecosystems strengthen state-society relations?
What is the role of public policy in institutionalizing social enterprises in various countries? 
What is the relationship between social innovation ecosystems and the welfare state?
What lessons can welfare states draw from social innovation ecosystems?
Under what conditions do social innovations emerge from social movements and advocacy coalitions? 
To what extent have movement-led social innovations led to changes in public policy in the past and recent times? 

Objectives

Primary:

To present the state-of-the-art on the role of public policy in fostering social innovation.

Secondary:

To understand how social movements influence political processes in various parts of the world and draw learnings from various contexts.
To share learnings on how social innovation ecosystems can strengthen state-society relations.
To collate lessons learned on the conditions under which social innovations emerged from social movements and advocacy coalitions.
To explore the extent to which movement-led social innovations have led to public policy changes in various parts of the world.

 Relevance of Social Innovation to Public Policy Research and Practice

These papers collectively highlight the relevance of social innovation to public policy research and practice. Firstly, Ostling (2017) emphasizes that social innovation, characterized by civic engagement and novel interactions between government and citizens, can improve transparency and civic participation in the production and monitoring of public services. Adams (2010) argues that social innovation creates social benefit and economic opportunity, making it a significant option for addressing social challenges. Moulaert et al (2012) discuss the growing interest in social innovation among policy practitioners and the need for governments to support and foster social entrepreneurs and enterprises. Adams (2008) further explores social innovation as a strategy for public administration, emphasizing its potential for transformative thinking and action. Overall, the link between social innovation and public policy is a growing research field with increasing interest and publications (Weerakoon et al, 2016) as both are primarily concerned with addressing social problems and meeting social aspirations

References

Adams, D., & Hess, M. (2010). Social innovation and why it has policy significance. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 21(2), 139-155.
Girling, R. (2013). Global innovators: How open innovation serves humanity. In Small and Medium Enterprises: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1276-1292). IGI Global.
Grimm, H. (2009). Creating an entrepreneurial economy: The role of public policy. Entrepreneurship, growth, and public policy, 299-318.
Howaldt, J., & Schwarz, M. (2011). Social innovation–social challenges and future research fields. In Enabling Innovation: Innovative Capability-German and International Views (pp. 203-223). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Howaldt, J., Kaletka, C., & Schröder, A. (2016). Social entrepreneurs: Important actors within an ecosystem of social innovation. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 1(2).
Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A., & Hamdouch, A. (2013). General introduction: the return of social innovation as a scientific concept and a social practice. The international handbook on social innovation: Collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research, 1, 1-6.
Nicholls, A., & Edmiston, D. (2018). Social innovation policy in the European Union. Policy Design in the European Union: An Empire of Shopkeepers in the Making?, 161-190.
Ostling, A. (2017). Social innovation in practice: opportunities for citizens and governments. En, A. Paulin, LG Anthopoulus y CG Reddick, Beyond Bureaucracy.
Schwab, A. (2007). Incremental organizational learning from multilevel information sources: Evidence for cross-level interactions. Organization Science, 18(2), 233-251.
Silva-Flores, M. L., & Murillo, D. (2022). Ecosystems of Innovation: Factors of Social Innovation and its Role in Public Policies. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 35(4), 569-588.
Thurner, T. W. (2014). Challenge social innovation: potential for business, social entrepreneurship, welfare and civil society.
Vasin, S. M., Gamidullaeva, L. A., & Rostovskaya, T. K. (2017). The challenge of social innovation: Approaches and key mechanisms of development.
Vercher, N. (2022). The role of actors in social innovation in rural areas. Land, 11(5), 710.
Vilarinho, T., Floch, J., Oliveira, M., Dinant, I., Pappas, I. O., & Mora, S. (2018). Developing a social innovation methodology in the Web 2.0 era. In Internet Science: INSCI 2017 International Workshops, IFIN, DATA ECONOMY, DSI, and CONVERSATIONS, Thessaloniki, Greece, November 22, 2017, Revised Selected Papers 4 (pp. 168-183). Springer International Publishing.
Weerakoon, C., McMurray, A., Rametse, N., & Douglas, H. (2016). A preliminary bibliographic analysis of the social innovation literature. In Proceedings of the 3rd Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference (SIERC 2016) (pp. 345-360). New Zealand Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Centre.

Prospects for Publication

Springer Nature 
Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy (Emerald Publishing)

We are thrilled to announce the call for papers for a panel discussion on Social Innovation and Public Policy at the 2024 IPPA conference. The conference will provide a unique platform for academics, researchers, social innovation actors, and policymakers to present their work and engage in meaningful discussions about the role of public policy in fostering social innovation within ecosystems. 

We welcome original high-quality paper submissions exploring any of the following topics:

Social Innovation and Public Policy
Innovation Ecosystems and Public Policy
Public Policy and the Social Innovation Economy
Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and the Welfare State
Economics of Social Innovation 
Innovation Management and Policy Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Public Policy
Social Movements, Social Networks, and the Policy Process
Comparative Social Innovation Policies
Social Innovation Investment and Funding 

Submission Guidelines 

You will need to submit your abstract by email to the workshop chairs heike.grimm@uni-erfurt.de and priscilla.appiah@uni-erfurt.de with the title of the paper, authors, etc. by 31st January 2024.  Afterward, you will receive guidelines on how and when to submit the full manuscript. Our panel of esteemed reviewers will evaluate all submissions to ensure the highest quality of research is presented at the conference. 

Timelines for submission: 02 November 2023 - 31 January 2024

The idea that innovative social action can create social value beyond the capability of existing systems has become an object of huge policy interest in all parts of the world.  It is difficult to overlook the intrinsic relationship between social innovation and public policy as both are primarily concerned with effecting change. Hence, it makes sense to address the different ways in which public policy can stimulate, influence, and collaborate with social innovation to simultaneously create social benefits and economic opportunities. Despite this growing awareness, the social innovation sector continues to face significant challenges globally. Although several policy mechanisms have been proposed to this end, whether and to what extent those policy mechanisms may (re)shape the social innovation ecosystem of various countries has rarely been explored. This is why creating an enabling environment for social innovations to thrive in tackling complex socio-economic challenges is at the forefront of government policy agendas globally. It is in tandem with these global trends, that the topic of social innovation and public policy will be explored in a panel session at the 2024 IPPA conference. Academics, researchers, social innovation actors, and policymakers will explore questions centered on the role of public policy in fostering social innovation within ecosystems, how social innovation ecosystems can strengthen state-society relations, the relationship between social innovation ecosystems and the welfare state, among others, with the aim of presenting the state-of-the-art on the topic and drawing learnings. The session will feature high-quality research papers on the intersectionality of the topics of social innovation and public policy and related concepts of social entrepreneurship, innovation management, the economics of social innovation, entrepreneurial ecosystems, social movements, social economy, and social networks. 

1st Chair Biography - Prof. Dr. Heike Grimm

Heike Grimm holds the Aletta Haniel Professorship for Public Policy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Erfurt and served as Vice President for International Affairs at the University of Erfurt, from 2014 until 2020. Currently, she is the Deputy Director of the Brandt School while having served as the Director of the Policy from 2006 until 2008 and from 2015 until 2019. Prior, she was Professor in Policy Analysis and Public Management with the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy of the University of Malta. From 2002 until 2008, she held the Research Lectureship for Public funded by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

She worked as Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena joining the Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group lead by Professor David B. Audretsch, from 2004 until 2008. She was senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins University and the German American Centre for Visiting Scholars in Washington, D.C., visiting lecturer at the Higher School of Economics of the State University in Moscow and visiting professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs of Indiana University in Bloomington.

She accomplished diverse research projects focusing on the role of entrepreneurship, start-ups, small business promotion for sustainable development funded, among others, by the European Science Foundation, the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry of Economics, the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education, and the Haniel Foundation. Next to academic experience, she worked as consultant and policy analyst for local and national governments, and international as well as private organizations, among them, the OECD, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Washington D.C., the State Chancellery and Ministry of Economics of Lower Saxony, Hanover, Europe Unlimited SA, Brussels, or the European Union of Small and Medium-Sized Companies.  

2nd Chair Biography - Priscilla B. Appiah, MPP.

Priscilla Boatemaa Appiah is a Research Associate to the Aletta Haniel Professor for Public Policy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Erfurt. She is also the Founder and CEO of Education 360; a non-profit organization working to remove learning barriers for children with special learning needs in underserved rural schools in Ghana. Before joining the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, she worked as Head of Training in Education Leadership and Child Protection, Start-up Manager, Learning and Development Specialist, and, Research/Teaching Assistant, in Non-Profit Education Sectors both locally and internationally.  She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Economics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Currently, she is conducting Doctoral Research at the intersection of Social Innovation Management and Policy Entrepreneurship while teaching courses within the Social Entrepreneurship and Non-Profit Management Specialization of the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, MPP program. Priscilla’s contributions to the Social Innovation sector over the past eight (8) years have been recognized internationally through the Commitment Award and Social Impact Award, in Germany.