Trajectories of Social Innovation

Abstract

The basis of this chapter is a comprehensive case study on freshwater supply in European countries from the nineteenth century to the present. First, the chapter introduces the different phases of freshwater supply during that time span as well as various modes of provision (self-provision, informal provision, market provision, public provision, and professional provision). Then, the chapter turns to a change in cognitive framing, and the important achievement of framing water provision as a social challenge in the nineteenth century, as well as the role civic participation played for this. Next the analysis concentrates on the central question of provision as it is visible in the debate on market versus public provision. How can civic involvement help keep the institutionalized innovation on target so as to ensure clean and affordable water for all? The issues of knowledge, path dependency, and niche modes of provision are also discussed.

Innovation and societal transformation – what changes when the ‘social’ comes in?

“…However, social innovation is not a new phenomenon. Historical examples comprise social housing and public freshwater supply (Schimpf and Ziegler 2020), or mutual and co-operative movements (Tischer et al 2016). Also, explicit references to social innovation in the social sciences date at least back to the late 1980s (Zapf 1989).…”