Local authorities – in their modern form, from 1835 onwards – were set up by citizens to do things collectively that either could not be done, or could not be done cost effectively, by households. Alongside co-operatives, police forces, board schools and the National Health Service, local councils must count as one of the greatest social innovations in the last 200 years? During the course of their existence, councils have either promoted or managed all of the other social innovations listed and many more. People might not think of ‘the council’ as a particularly innovative organisation; but history suggests otherwise.
Civic and Social Entrepreneurs
Alongside councils, other public services – the police, NHS and training and employment bodies – have been sources of social innovation over the years. When we think about innovation being driven by entrepreneurs, let’s not forget the ‘civic entrepreneurs’ – the officers and managers who lead and enable innovation of public services from within?
Then there are the ‘social entrepreneurs’ – people in wider civil society (community groups, social enterprises, voluntary organisations, faith communities and others) who create social innovation. Civil society groups have probably been responsible for as much, or more, social innovation as have public sector organisations. Service users and the communities around them are natural innovators.
‘Thinkers’ and ‘Doers’
Universities, academics, thinktanks, learned academies, professional bodies, researchers and thinkers can all play a part in social innovation. They are not, however, enough on their own: the social profit produced by public services depends on primarily on ‘doers’. The point of engaging ‘thinkers’ isn’t to lead the process of innovation but to learn better: from what has worked elsewhere; and what works in your locality. ‘Resident experts’ – people who have a critical understanding of how things work where you are – are likely to be more useful than people from very academic backgrounds, who don’t know much about your area, or places like it? (Having a critical understanding means being able to understand how something works and also being able to see that it might be improved).
Business and Digital Technology
Although social innovation is to do with finding ways of increasing ‘social profit’, organisations which operate for private profit also play a part in it. Businesses, for example, have developed the digital technologies on which a significant proportion of social innovation is based. The significance of digital technology is so great that sometimes we talk as if all social innovation depended on it. Other ideas and ways of working from the private sector, however, influence and enable social innovation.
Local Leaders as Catalysts
Local leaders can act as catalysts in social innovation. That is: enabling improvements by bringing different partners (including the sorts of people and organisations listed above) together; and providing direction and accountability to the process. In doing so, local leaders can make use of things like Social Innovation Zones or social innovation hubs and networks. Three points local leaders might want to bear in mind when doing so:
- social innovation usually works when people with different skills are able to work together – the best hubs and networks draw together people from different backgrounds
- ‘thinkers’ can help you learn from what you do and apply the learning from what other people have done, but local social innovation works on the basis of understanding your area – experts work best ‘on tap, not on top’
- digital technology creates a lot of opportunities for doing things differently, but it isn’t the only enabler; or necessarily the most important enabler (and not everything technology enables is an improvement).
What would you like to look into –
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What catalysts are and how they work
Where does Social Innovation happen?
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