Learnings from ESIA midterm meeting

In October 2022, we brought together 50 social innovators and policy makers from 11 different countries across Europe to exchange learning on how to best provide an infrastructure for social innovation. The participants, who represented ministries, civil society organisations, impact investment firms and foundations, were all part of, or connected to, one of the European Social Innovation Competence centre which have been established across member states over the last two years.
As well as providing opportunities to exchange experience on how the competence centres are run in different places, we also provided opportunities to look back at why we need these ‘centres’ at all, where the idea came from, and what the plans are for the future. Below we share some of the insights from the event.

‘Why social innovation? Why now?’

with Gerhard Bräunling, Policy Advisor, Belgium/ Germany

Gerhard Bräunling is an economist and sociologist with a professional focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Until 2012, he was policy coordinator for social innovation and social entrepreneurship in the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission. Gerhard played a pivotal role in driving social innovation up the EU agenda.

In this session, Gerhard shared his wisdom from his 20 years of experience working on the development of social innovation and in policy work supporting social innovation. He also gave some context and background as to how the national social innovation competence centre project was built. Here are some key points:

1. 1. Bringing together and forming an ecosystem - the rationale behind the social innovation competence centre

Gerhard shared the rationale behind the creation of this program by the European Commission, which was to broaden the programs so that they cover the varied complex challenges in a cross-sector way.
He notes that member states or the national administrations have sometimes focused on the very narrow responsibilities of their individual units in a ministry. A goal of this project would be that the competent centres would develop links to other ministries at different levels. They would then work together to formulate a national social innovation strategy based on a sound understanding of which activities are relevant.

1. 2. The importance of building intention in the roles of all actors involved

In the course of this social innovation competence centre project, many colleagues across Europe expressed their challenges in convincing the public sector to adopt social innovation in their work. Gerhard shared insights into the tension between social innovators and public service that he observed over his decades of work experience in the European Commission. Public servants are trained to monitor and ensure that rules are followed. When social innovators come up with new procedures, public servants may (naturally) feel their work criticised.
Social innovators who face difficulties successfully engaging with the public sector could tackle this by thinking about building intention in the roles of all actors involved. If we reframe the conversation away from replacing an existing system (which could feel threatening for those working in those systems) into co-creating a process as equal stakeholders, perhaps there would be greater success in getting the public sector on board.

1. 3. Understanding success in the context of the ecosystem

The popular definition of success is often tied to a new development applied on a large scale. When working on such a short project time scale (two years), it could be difficult to see success when measured in terms of scale. Gerhard reminds us that in the first phases of experimentation, success is often not about finding a new way that works but learning what works, what doesn’t and why. It helps to have a learning organisation rather than a top down directed activity in order to fully benefit from this process.
If we change our perspectives to think about impact in the context of the ecosystem, every learning during this social innovation competence centre project is contributing to the development of the social innovation ecosystem. We are taking time to learn about the ecosystem and to expand it beyond the usual suspects. There is equal value in this process so be patient.

1. 4. Framing social innovation with different words to create greater inclusivity

Each country has a different understanding of the terms “social” and “innovation”. Post Soviet countries may have a different relationship with the term “social”, more closely associated with communist influence. The term “innovation” in some other countries could be more widely understood as technological innovation, a legacy passed down by the industrial age. If using these specific terms could result in division or rejection of innovative processes, it is wise to use more inclusive words that work in your local contexts.
The term innovation is very often understood as inventing something new. However, it is more often the result of a combination and new combination of existing structures, procedures, models and more. Innovation is not just about the product but also about the process.
If you are facing challenges advocating for social innovation in your local ecosystem, what might be helpful in framing social innovation is the ESF plus regulation’s understanding of social innovation. It is a multi-stakeholder process, not primarily the initiative of an individual isolated champion. The process involves the distinctive participation of civil society organisations and committed citizens along the whole process with the focus also on the combination of models, approaches, practices for all societal challenges.

1. 5. Remember the power of five - 5% of budget, 5% of doing things differently, 5 years project run

We are slowly coming out of a global pandemic and have several global crises at hand to be dealt with. From the climate crisis to energy poverty, mass displacement to food insecurity, it is natural for us to feel the urgency of change - and equally, the frustration of change not happening fast enough. Gerhard stresses the power of five in his closing speech. If we have 5% of budgets allocated to social innovation, if we do 5% of our work differently from our ‘usual manual’, if we dedicate five years to each project run, we could actually change things at scale.

He summarises the five types of support that the social innovation competence centres would need:

1) Access to funding and finance

2) Strategic and operational assistance

3) Learning, networking and cooperation support

4) Provision of tools, training - how to use the tools, expertise and knowledge

5) Experience sharing, dissemination and mainstreaming to recognise that social innovation is something which is needed

“Time is important but innovations take time. If you are too pressing, you will not achieve anything.” - Gerhard Bräunling