Governance of Social Innovation in Forestry

Abstract

Over the last decade, the term social innovation has received increased attention as a potential solution to address complex global social problems and to add collective values to society. The forest sector has great potential for fostering employment, community development and reducing increased emigration from rural to urban areas. This potential is not always realised, especially in economically weak and remote rural areas. Hence, this paper tackles the question of how social innovations in forestry are able to succeed under adverse circumstances and contribute to respond to some of the before mentioned challenges? To answer this question, we first identified four very different cases across Europe that are compatible with the criteria of social innovation. Proceeding from this starting point, comparative research was undertaken with the aim to identify the cases´ specific features and key criteria for success. In the cases considered, it is evident that the sheer determination and voluntary investment of time and effort by key individuals, who were convinced of the value of the idea for the community, provided indispensable impetus to all four social innovations. In drawing its conclusions, this paper highlights the principal areas that need consideration and that hence have implications when developing supportive policies. Furthermore, we provide some insight into future research topics that would allow us to better understand the positive impacts of social innovation in the forest-based sector.

Social Innovation, Societal Change, and the Role of Policies

“…While examining how social innovations and policies interact, we discover mutual relationships and interdependencies that vary across cases and change over time in relation to the evolution of policies and in relation to the stages of social innovations [7,15]. The main hindering and furthering influences from policies and political frameworks on social innovation have been analyzed by the SIMRA project but have already been mentioned in earlier works [15,17,18,48,49].…”

“…In recognition of the seminal role of the SIMRA project in the theoretical framing [8] and the development of analytical tools to evaluate and understand social innovation in rural areas [9][10][11], exemplified by means of eleven in-depth case studies [12,13], we briefly recall the conclusions on the role of policies regarding social innovation [14,15]. The authors of this article have been responsible for this analysis in the SIMRA project [7,[16][17][18] and for according policy recommendations for the support of social innovation in rural areas [19][20][21]. In the attempt to give policy makers and advisers practical orientation, in this paper the authors condense these previous conclusions into a heuristic model of three interrelated factors, which they term the "triad of actors".…”

“…According to this model, the social innovation process occurs in phases: (1-2) the need for change is perceived by a group of people, maybe as an uneasiness that becomes manifest in the course of events that trigger agency (3-4), leading to reconfiguring social practices (5), eventually routinizing into reconfigured practices, which in turn result in new activities, outputs, outcomes, impacts, learning, and multiplier effects, albeit not always and at different scales (6-9) ( Figure 1). According to this model, the social innovation process occurs in phases: (1-2) the need for change is perceived by a group of people, maybe as an uneasiness that becomes manifest in the course of events that trigger agency (3-4), leading to reconfiguring social practices (5), eventually routinizing into reconfigured practices, which in turn result in new activities, outputs, outcomes, impacts, learning, and multiplier effects, albeit not always and at different scales (6)(7)(8)(9) (Figure 1).…”

“…Based on the assumption that social innovation is both a formative influence on policy and social change and a response to it [7], this article focuses on the following specific questions:…”

Correction: Ludvig, A.; et al. Governance of Social Innovation in Forestry. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1065

“…The authors and the Editorial Office would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused to the readers by these changes. The changes do not affect the scientific results of the original paper [1]. The manuscript will be updated, and the original will remain online on the article webpage.…”