Revealing the social face of innovation

Abstract

Despite the introduction of social innovation in the 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology, the concept of social innovation has not been actively implemented or even diffused outside of the policy arena in South Africa. Perceptions about what the concept of social innovation should encompass are contested and range from ideas of social welfare outcomes, public goods and a primary focus on the poor. More recently, the emphasis has been on inclusive development that embraces and supports the poor as innovators and which incorporates elements of social and economic development. While contestation in terminology persists, evidence from South Africa’s rural areas suggests that although there may be limited state intervention, hampered by structural constraints, and limited understanding of contemporary ideas about innovation and social innovation, local actors practise a variety of forms of social innovation. In most instances, the purpose is to improve social and economic well-being of the poor. Such innovation activities occur almost as widely and as often as strictly commercially oriented innovation activities. However, it is unclear from observed social innovation practices who should benefit from these practices (the poor or everyone), how (directly or indirectly) and when (immediately or gradually). It is suggested that extensive use of the actor-oriented sociological approach to understanding social dynamics in both science and development can provide a means of understanding the subtleties involved in innovation practices and its use should be adopted to address structural challenges within the National System of Innovation that mediate against the contribution of innovations to the poor for inclusive development.

Towards radical innovations in a mature company: an empirical study on the UX-FFE model

“…Our original approach in this study on radical innovation at the FFE stage in a mature company consists in addressing the social side of innovation rather than focusing only on the economic aspects; hence, including the employees' experience of their innovation process in order to assess the social side of innovation. Quite often innovation processes simply focus on economic factors while ignoring social factors (Hart et al ., 2015); in fact, the social side of innovation considers the social settings within enterprises' innovation process, either as informal or formal organizations and arrangements (Hart et al ., 2012). Pallot et al .…”

Facilitating Local Social Innovation by appreciating Glocal Community–Higher Education Partnerships

“…According to Hart, Ramoroka, Jacobs and Letty (2015), social innovations are new products, services models and practices that meet social requirements and involve new social collaborations. They furthermore state that there are three lenses through which social innovation is adopted.…”

“…Despite the legislation and introduction of social innovation (RSA, 2017), the concept has not been actively implemented outside of the policy realm in South Africa. According to Hart et al, (2015), the emphasis has shifted to inclusive develop-ment, which also supports the underserved people in society as innovators and allows for social and economic development. The trends of social innovation in South Africa were highlighted by Junge (2015) from the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) initiative.…”

Reflections on demonstrating development-oriented innovations in South Africa

“…The importance of human agency must be emphasised. 16 The poor are not simply observers or passive recipients but are rather the 'shapers' of change through 'bottom-up' participation. 15 The September 2018 Draft White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation provides little assurance of what inclusiveness means and how it can be practised, although it does mention users and grassroots innovators.…”