Understanding social innovation in services industries

This paper puts forward a framework for understanding the relationship between service industries and social innovation. These are two, previously disconnected research areas. The paper explores ways in which innovation in services is increasingly becoming one of social innovation (in terms of social goals, social means, social roles and multi-agent provision) and how social innovation can be understood from a service innovation perspective. A taxonomy is proposed based on the mix between innovation nature and the locus of co-production. The paper additionally puts forward a theoretical framework for understanding social innovation in services, where the co-creation of innovation is the result of an interaction of competences and preferences of multiple providers, users/citizens, and policy makers. This provides the basis for a discussion of key avenues for future research in theory, measurement, organisation, appropriation, performance measurement, and public policy

Mapping Social Innovation Networks (Preliminary draft) *

International audienceContrary a widely shared opinion in the literature, this paper brings evidence that social innovations are getting more routinized. This process is not the result of a change in technological regimes in the social economy, but the result of the appearance of new type of actors: the knowledge intensive social services (KISS), which are equivalent to KIBS but for the social economy. Like KIBS, they provide their clients with specific knowledge assisting them in their (social) innovation efforts. A major difference with KIBS is that KISS are also connectors bridging public, private and social actors. We bring evidence that these connecting activities are generating increasingly sophisticated networks

Mapping Social Innovations: Konwledge Intensive Social Services (KISS) as Systems Builders

International audienceContrary a widely shared opinion in the literature, this paper brings evidence that social innovations are getting more routinized. This process is not the result of a change in technological regimes in the social economy, but the result of the appearance of new type of actors: the knowledge intensive social services (KISS), which are equivalent to KIBS but for the social economy. Like KIBS, they provide their clients with specific knowledge assisting them in their (social) innovation efforts. A major difference with KIBS is that KISS are also connectors bridging public, private and social actors. We bring evidence that these connecting activities are generating increasingly sophisticated networks