Under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), Social innovation (SI) covers innovative activities that are social both in terms of their ends and their means. Thus, it is acknowledged that social innovation: • is a collective social process, involving the distinctive participation of civil society actors and building new relationships between public, private and third sector organisations; • generates social output and impact in terms of improved services, products, models, social relationships, standards, or policies that create greater social impact than current practice and are therefore more effective in achieving the objectives of the ESF+ and the European Pillar of Social Rights. Such activities are linked to the development, testing, validation and implementation, and scaling-up of new (combinations of) products, services, models or practices that meet social needs and resolve societal challenges. Thereby, social innovations aim at changing the social context, empowering civil society actors and boosting their capacity to act, as well as developing new policy approaches. The concept of social innovation allows public authorities, private and third sector organisations to enter into new relationships and to tailor innovative actions to the specific needs and opportunities or to experiment in a transnational context at the European Union (EU) level. What is an established good practice in one country or region can serve as a source of innovation elsewhere.

Social experimentation is defined in the ESF+ Regulation as ‘a policy intervention that aims to provide an innovative response to social needs, implemented on a small scale and in conditions that enable its impact to be measured, prior to being implemented in other contexts including geographical and sectorial ones, or implemented on a larger scale, if the results prove to be positive’. It should provide valuable information for policymakers, avoiding the costs of launching large-scale programmes before the suitability, feasibility, acceptance and outcomes of critical components are tested. Even if not every social experimentation reveals possible improvements of support services or public policies, or results in a better product, they still serve as an important source of learning for policymakers and implementing organisations.

The social innovation ecosystem refers to: • actors that provide human, intellectual, material, or financial resources for social innovation initiatives, including citizens, civil society organisations, social enterprises, academia, businesses, financial institutions, and authorities of all levels; • framework conditions, such as institutions, legislation, policy programmes, funding schemes, standard and established practices in support services, curricula, and civic participation culture. The notion of the ecosystem helps to explain how social innovation initiatives are embedded and co-evolve in a network of mutually beneficial relationships built on trust, common values and shared principles.

In essence, the [National Competence Centres for Social Innovation] can contribute to more favourable environment for social innovation by inspiring, assisting, empowering and connecting stakeholders to make better use of the available opportunities and success factors of social innovations. To this end, each [National Competence Centre for Social Innovation] shall: • function as a facilitator and a hub for new relationships and collaborations between practitioners and support organisations; • become a resource centre for the use of suitable tools, methods, examples, models and practices; • facilitate the mainstreaming of successfully tested innovative approaches (or partnerships) by: a) assisting social innovation initiatives in validating, documenting, communicating, and transferring their innovative approaches and facilitating access to funding (‘push’); b) identifying the needs and demand for innovative models specific to national/regional context (‘pull’). • contribute to the development and continuous improvement of policies and actions aimed at supporting social innovations, based on a shared understanding and analysis of the state of development of the national SI ecosystem. To fulfil these functions, the [National Competence Centres for Social Innovation] have to further build-up and develop professional capacities. • In the EU context, networking, mutual learning, and joint work with peers from other Member State is a prime opportunity to this end. • In the national context, the NCCs need to establish systematic cooperation and exchange with: ◦ ESF+ programme authorities responsible for implementing the ESF+ priorities for social innovative actions; ◦ social innovation promoters and practitioners, in particular multi-sector initiatives and community-based local initiatives; ◦ other organisations that can provide resources and support services to social innovation promoters and adopters.