Welcome to the Social Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship section. This page will help you understand the fundamentals of Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. This section is not meant to be exhaustive about everything ‘social’ but rather an overview of what we see in the space. 

We are open to suggestions and feedback!

Social entrepreneurship’s primary goal is to create better conditions for people both locally and globally, while profit is merely a means to achieve financial goals. Profit does not necessarily have to be the guiding goal. But as Michael Porter explains, solving a problem always means finding a better solution than the current status. The improvement creates a type of profit that can benefit companies, employees and other stakeholders.

What is Social Innovation?

(Image credit: Noémi Macavei-Katócz on Unsplash)   

• ‘Social innovation is the process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systemic social and environmental issues in support of social progress […] Solutions often require the active collaboration of constituents across government, business, and the nonprofit world’ (Clavier et. al., Stanford Centre for Social Innovation).

• Inspired by natural ecosystems, the Canadian Social Innovation Generation (2014) group believes that a healthy system must be resilient and adaptable. As such, social innovation arises from acknowledging the world in all its complexity and can be understood as ‘an alignment of circumstances that make action possible’.

• They define social innovation as ’a process, product or program that profoundly changes the way a given system operates, changing it in such a way that reduces the vulnerability of the people and the environment in that system. As a consequence of a positive social innovation, a system grows more resilient’.

• The Medium page Social TrendSpotter (2018) offers good simple definitions of these concepts. Social innovation is about creating ideas for change; social enterprise is about the business model (for-profit or nonprofit); finally, social entrepreneurship is all about the mindset.


• In the article Social Innovation vs Social Enterprise (2014), Kayla Kurin states that ‘while a social entrepreneur is focused on solving a problem through business, a social innovator could be looking to solve the problem through a number of different mediums’.


• In one of its publications, the Stanford Social Innovation Review (2008) raises a provocation by stating that social enterprises are lacking a full understanding of all the manifestations of social change. The article claims for cross-contamination between nonprofits, governments and businesses. 


• A good example of social innovation is how an organisation like Doctors without Borders have used telemedicine to provide access to healthcare in dangerous, underserved areas and efficient training through education by remote experts, in places where the cost of delivering similar programmes in person was much higher. 


• TOMS Shoes business model is quite a classical example of social entrepreneurship: for every pair of shoes sold, they give one third of the profit towards funding grassroots mental health services. 

• Generally speaking, social innovation can be positioned within three different levels, namely product-based, process-based and socially transformative (Social Innovation and Social Work, 2018).


• The Dutch philosopher, Herman Dooyeweerd, identified ten different types of social innovation: socio-juridical, socio-cultural, socio-political, socio-ideological, socio-ethical, socio-economic, socio-organisational, socio-technical, socio-ecological and socio-analytical. Initiatives within the social innovation sphere can include one or more of these typologies as one might lead or require another one to exist. (Wigboldus, S., 2016). 

Social impact means any significant net positive changes that solve or at least address social injustice and challenges. Businesses or organisations achieve these goals through conscious and deliberate efforts or activities in their operations and administrations. Social impact, however, concentrates on the direct positive consequences these parties offer to society.   

Social value is the quantification and understanding of the relative importance that people place on the changes to their well-being and other experiences in their lives. Some, but not all, of this value is captured in market prices. It is important to consider and measure this social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s work. Examples of social value might be the value we experience from increasing our confidence, or from living next to a community park. These things are important to humans but are not commonly expressed or measured by the usual financial indicators. This is why it is important to have specific metrics to measure the social value delivered by a product, a service or an organisation. However, it is also important to make sure that the solution that’s improving these specific metrics isn’t creating another bigger problem on other metrics that are less visible. the Social Value Portal is a useful resource for exploring this topic further.

Intrapreneurship covers the phenomenon of entrepreneurship within the context of an existing business. Within this context, new opportunities are explored and can lead to new organisational units, strategic reorientation or innovations within the existing organisation. The driving force is still, as with starting up an independent organisation, based on a single individual or a group of people. 

The existing corporate environment often means there is stricter framing at the beginning of the project and/or an alignment with the company’s strategy. At the same time, the intrapreneur positively draws on the many diverse resources and networks that are present in the existing business. If an innovation proves to be successful it can be scaled much faster with the help of a corporation.

According to the magazine Entrepreneur, bigger, well-established companies have a more difficult time innovating, as they are afraid of taking risks that could cost them their market. This is why several successful institutions have started cultivating intrapreneurship to strike that balance and take calculated risks that will benefit their company. 

(Image credit: Aditya Saxena on Unsplash)

Research conducted by Sideways6 says that 82% of the employees have ideas on how to improve the business, but very few act on them.  To cultivate intrapreneurship in its work culture, MIT Sloan highlights the benefits of hosting streamlined programmes that encourage innovations. Some of its suggestions include companies hosting the following programmes: 

• Idea fairs 
• Hackathons
• Sandbox funds 
• Innovation time

MIT Sloan, in the article Social Intrapreneurship: Unleashing Social Innovation From Within (2023) gives insight into the multifaceted benefits of social intrapreneurship, as an applied concept.

This can be a catalyst to turn Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) priorities into concrete actions, by involving passionate and committed employees in the process. Including them in the brainstorming and innovation process can be a great way for companies to benefit from new ideas for holistic projects. 

In the same area, McKinsey’s report Shifting from why to how, tells the story of some companies that are great examples of this transition. The McKinsey report identifies key steps in the process:

1. Get real: Create a baseline from your stakeholders’ perspectives
2. Connect purpose with your company’s ‘superpower’
3. Organize to keep purpose at the top of everyone’s mind, every day
4. Measure what you can, and learn from what you measure

• Ford - In a company where employees are encouraged to share their innovations, Doug Martin’s idea of turning condensation from the car’s air conditioning to drinking water has the potential to reduce water scarcity and cut down on the sales of plastic water bottles.

• Xerox - In order to become more sustainable, Xerox held an ‘Earth Awards’ programme that gave rise to many ideas that were implemented, including recycled packaging for a coloured ink, handling wastewater, and adjusting the amount of ink released onto the paper while printing to reduce wastage. 

• Airbnb - By letting people offer refugees shelter in their homes, Airbnb hopes to break prejudices and foster empathy in the community while also adding more hosts to its system. 

• Decathlon - The French sporting goods retailer experimented with renting sports equipment to their customers in order to reduce the amount of unused equipment that goes to waste, as well as making sport more accessible and affordable to many. 

 (Image credit – Christina – wocintechchat on Unsplash)

Corporate incubators are specialised organisations within a corporation that offer space for innovation and experimentation for entrepreneurial ideas and talent, while simultaneously offering funding and guidance. They invest in the ideas of entrepreneurs and start-up companies through the corporation’s resources, knowledge and platform, and commercialise them to reach new markets. This comprehensive guide by Bundl details how companies and entrepreneurs can use corporate incubators to grow and find new customers. Bundl also offers a global list of corporate ventures.

• List of renewable, clean energy-focused accelerators
• List of green transportation-focused accelerators
• List of food-focused accelerators
• List of fashion-focused accelerators 
• List of architecture and construction-focused accelerators 

• Resource list with 550+ impact accelerators, incubators, investors and more by The Founder Institute (2023)
• List of 28 top sustainability accelerators and incubators around the world by Failory
• List of 8 startups and incubators that fund and support green businesses by The Uptide

The public sector operates under a number of conditions that are specific to it and it is important to be aware of these. Public organisations do not work in a free market but operate within a political context. This means that public organisations, in addition to economic considerations, must meet the ideals of the common good: human dignity, integrity, equal rights and equal access for citizens to the welfare services that are produced. On top of these ideals, public organisations are also expected, as holders of authority, to control and supervise public use of, or private companies’ production of, welfare services. This has to be achieved whilst at the same time being service-oriented, professional, responsible and democratic.

Public entrepreneurship is about bringing new services, models, or processes within the public sector, which is traditionally less innovative, and harder to change, due to its sheer size, inertia, and more numerous regulations (please see below for examples).

Examples of public intrapreneurship:  

• The GovTech agency in Singapore has encouraged public sector employees to develop innovative digital solutions. Through initiatives like the Innovation Challenge, they promote collaboration between public agencies, startups, and industry experts to co-create innovative solutions for various societal challenges. Among other things, they’ve developed the Smart Nation Sensor Platform (SNSP), a nationwide sensor network that collects real-time data to monitor environmental factors like air quality, water levels, and weather conditions. This platform helps the government make informed decisions, optimise resource allocation, and enhance public services based on data-driven insights.
• In France beta.gouv.fr encourages public sector employees to build digital new services that are useful, simple, and easy to use and most importantly solve real problems for people.

The process of social innovation

• In 2010, Robin Murray, Julie Caulier-Grice and Geoff Mulgan published The Open Book of Social Innovation, a useful toolkit emerging from the collaboration between Nesta and The Young Foundation. The volume offers tools and methods used across various sectors of social innovation - ranging from private and public -and provides insights on the process of social innovation: 

1. Prompts, inspirations and diagnoses: highlight the need for and inspiration behind innovation; 
2. Proposals and ideas: draw insights and generate ideas through creative methods
3. Prototyping and pilots: test and refine ideas;
4. Sustaining: sharpen your idea by identifying ways of sustaining it in the longer term (e.g.: income streams); 
5. Scaling and diffusion: expand your idea (e.g.: ‘organisational growth, through licensing and franchising to federations and looser diffusion’);
6. Systemic change: the ultimate goal of social innovation - the creation of new frameworks or architectures made up of many smaller innovations (e.g.: new technologies, supply chains, institutional forms, skills, and regulatory and fiscal frameworks). 

• The Five Stages of Social Innovation at Scale by Stanford Review (McLeod Grant, 2013) offers a strategy to help mature organisations increase their social impact. 
  • Diagnose the organisation or network holistically.
  • Identify a new vision and strategy for impact.
  • Realign the organisation around the strategy.
  • Design a system-wide change process. 
  • Lead, communicate, and engage. 

Social enterprises also use innovation in their own business models. There are plenty of ways a social enterprise can be structured. It doesn't have to be either 100% non-profit nor 100% for-profit.

More and more countries now offer legal frameworks for companies that are purpose-led. It allows them to clarify in their statuses their responsibility and purposes, and help them ensure their decisions are aligned with their purposes. It also gives clarity to investors and stakeholders on the mindset and ambition of the company. Some of them are simply about the recognition of the company’s goal, while others come with more regulated constraints on transparent reporting in relation to these goals. This is a rapidly changing landscape, with more countries increasingly adopting laws to offer flexible statuses for purposed-led for-profit (and non-profit) companies.

• In the US, Benefit Corporations, Social Purpose Corporations and Low-profit limited liability companies are the main two frameworks.


• Cooperative models exist in many countries, with a strong emphasis on democratic control by their members, which could be an interesting approach to make sure that the company serves all its members. They often have a stronger focus on social and community interests.


• Various models for purpose-led companies exist across the EU: Enterprise à mission (Mission-led companies) in France, Società Benefit in Italy, or Community interest companies in the UK.

There are various networks around the world that connect social entrepreneurs with each other in order to amplify their voices, foster collaboration and provide them a platform and support through which they can create an impact on their communities and the larger ecosystem. Linked here are some examples of social entrepreneurship networks around the world. 

• List of sustainability organisations for architects around the world

Films

• Demain (Tomorrow) : Filmmakers Mélanie Laurent and Cyril Dion travel worldwide to investigate concrete solutions to environmental and social challenges.

• Thank you for the rain is a collaborative film made by a Kenyan farmer and a Norwegian filmmaker and activist. It shows how the Kenyan farmer started to use his camera to capture the life of his family, his village and the damages of climate change. The film addresses a range of issues linked to climate change, including climate justice, urbanization, gender equality, education, access to water, climate refugees, and adaptation.

E-Learning Platforms

• Acumen Academy: a school for social change, with a mission to unleash a new generation of social innovators and leaders to build a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world.
• Philanthropy University: a free online learning platform for social change that includes practical courses and knowledge-sharing communities.
• Efiko Academy: an impact management academy that aims to accelerate the pace at which pressing societal problems are addressed by equipping individuals and teams with the skills through interactive and personalised online courses delivered by thought leaders and experts in a practical way.
• Ideation Hub Africa: an immersive online education platform for African social innovators and changemakers. Each course involves real-time social innovators across the African continent sharing practical insights, key learnings, and gaps in their respective impact areas.
• Sustainability Academy: an affordable, specialised online academy in the field of sustainability and corporate responsibility.

Newsletters and blogs

• School of Social Entrepreneurs (SSE): their weekly newsletter provides resources, funding, support, courses, jobs and news for social entrepreneurs

• Cause Artist: The Social Enterprise Lifestyle Magazine. Discover brands, startups, and social entrepreneurs impacting the world through social enterprise.

• Center for Social Innovation: is a community of social innovators that provides weekly newsletters on social innovation projects, new funders or collaborators, capacity-building events and workshops.

• Stanford Social Innovation Review is a magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. SSIR is written for and by social change leaders in the nonprofit, business, and government sectors who view collaboration as key to solving environmental, social, and economic justice issues.

• TIIME Blog: The TIIME blog contains articles discussing key issues in Sustainability and Impact.

There are many examples of social entrepreneurs that have brought their innovative ideas to life. Rainer Höll from Ashoka takes us through some of his favourites in this inspiring TED talk. 

Books

• Building Social Business - Mohammad Yunus
• The Business of Changing the World - Raj Kumar
• Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship - Teresa Chahine
• Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation: International Case Studies and Practice - Ken Banks
• Getting Beyond Better: How Social Entrepreneurship Works - Roger L. Martin
• Social Entrepreneurship For Dummies - Mark B. Durieux
• The Business of Good: Social Entrepreneurship and the New Bottom Line - Jason Haber
• Social Entrepreneurship - Constant Beugré
• Lean Startups for Social Change - Michel Gelobter
• Start Something That Matters - Blake Mycoskie
• The Accidental Social Entrepreneur - Grant Smith
• Social Enterprise in Anytown - John Pearce
• The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur - Jonathan Lewis
• Brand the Change - Anne Miltenburg

TED Talks

• How to be a social entrepreneur, by Andy Stoll 

• How to create a successful social enterprise, by Marquis Cabrera

• Changing the world through social entrepreneurship, by Willemijn Verloop 

• Social Innovation in Business, by Tatjana Brkic Researcher and professor Tatjana Brkic, identified three main criteria to define a business as socially innovative and discovered that the worldwide network of social enterprises is greater than we thought. Her research focuses on Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 

• Social Innovation In the Real World - From Silos To Systems, by Indy Johar Institution designer Indy Johar defines the social innovation challenge as a ‘dark matter problem’ or one that revolves within the institutional infrastructure. Going beyond product/service innovation, Johar invites us to consider the opportunities that systems innovations, those happening within the policymaking sphere, can bring to the creation of a multi-stakeholder and sustainable future.  

• Social Innovation as a Trigger for Transformations - The Role of Research (European Commission, Sept 2017). This Policy Paper examines the role of Social Innovation in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) research: from history, approaches to opportunities and implementation.
  
  
• Seven Key Questions That All Social Entrepreneurs Should Ask Themselves to have a clearer idea, develop their project and maximise their impact (Ashoka, 2015)
  
  
• How Social Entrepreneurs Have Learned to Tip the World by Working in Global Teams (Ashoka, 2011)
  
  
• Scaling the impact of the social enterprise sector (McKinsey)

• Expert Impact is an organisation specifically for introducing social entrepreneurs to mentors for free mentoring and advice.


• UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs, also offer a mentoring service to social enterprises they award grants to.


• Membership body Social Enterprise UK has a dedicated events section on its website.


• Pioneers Post is a social enterprise magazine with a newsletter you can sign up to that often lists sector meetups.


• Business incubators and accelerators often match enterprises with mentors too.
  • Hatch is one that focuses on social enterprises and has a gallery of diverse mentors, many from blue chip companies.
  • Several corporates also provide support for social entrepreneurs, including PwC UK, who run a Social Entrepreneurs Club that promises mentoring opportunities.