Nearly all innovation policy is tailored to the needs of traditional for-profit science and technology-based innovation. However, meeting the economic and social challenges of the coming decades will increasingly require fundamental improvements in public services. Social innovation is critical to this process.
Currently, the field of social innovation is poorly understood. New research by NESTA and the Young Foundation draws on practical examples from the UK and abroad to show how localities can use innovative approaches to transform public services. In each case study, innovation was a response to underperformance, whether the economic dislocation of a declining industry or the external pressure of a failing service.
Published
January 2008
Author
NESTA and the Young Foundation
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