Paper short abstract:

Amidst the vagueness surrounding the definition, conceptualisation and interpretation of the concept of social innovation, the paper suggests a typology of social innovation. This is then refined through a systematic examination of cases of social innovations mapped under the EC funded CASI project.

Paper long abstract:

Social innovation has been intensely debated in academic and policy cycles in the last years, not least due to the shift of European research and innovation policies towards societal challenges. Equally, positioning social innovation in the arena of innovation conceptualisations has attracted significant attention. Howaldt et al. (2014) argue that the new paradigm of innovation calls for social innovation to be considered an independent field and going even further, Haxeltine, et al. (2013) attempt to develop a theory for transformative social innovation, while Hochgerner (2011) argues that all innovations are socially relevant, and suggests the notion of an extended paradigm of innovation.

This diversity of perspectives on what constitutes social innovation lends itself to a thorough examination of similarities and differences. This then leads to a typology of social innovations based on the role of society in the innovation process and social values underpinning this engagement. Thus, the focus of the paper lies at the heart of STS and the aim is to advance our understanding of the role of social aspects in the innovation process in a process of rethinking innovation beyond the conventional boundaries of S&T, which is exactly the focus of the track theme 'rethinking innovation and governance'.

The resulting typology is then refined through a systematic examination of cases of social innovations mapped under the EC funded CASI project (http://www.casi2020.eu/). A pool of 48 cases are studied in terms of their practices, players and outcomes, thus leading to a critical analysis of the typology developed.