Rural areas depend on a wide range of economic engines for growth, as well as the quality of place to attract and retain people. Social innovation seeks new answers to social and environmental problems, using new solutions that improve the quality of life for individuals and communities. Social innovation can be a tool to create […]
Social Innovation: The Promise and the Reality in Marginalised Rural Areas in Europe
This paper by Bill Slee, Robert Lukesch and Elisa Ravazzoli explores the idea of social innovation as both a conceptual and practical means of delivering positive social, economic and environmental outcomes in marginal rural areas. Definitions are critically appraised, and the dual contemporary origins of the term social innovation (in management sciences and critical social […]
COP26: Social innovation and just transition to climate neutrality
How social innovation contributes to just transitions to climate neutrality A side event at the COP 26 in Glasgow, organised on 10.11.2021 by the James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland/UK The James Hutton Institute, UK, lead partner of the HORIZON 2020 research project SIMRA (Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas), seized the opportunity to emphasize the […]
URBACT Transfer Guide – Social Participative Model using Volunteerism
The network “Volunteering Cities” has decided to develop this Transfer Guide with the objective of giving support to other cities that need/wish to re-visit their Social Policy Governance Model in order to set-up: Co-creation policy making, and Action Plans design processes by incorporating the Volunteers directly and more intensively in these processes. The advantage of […]
LDnet lab on social innovation and local development: linking urban and rural approaches
This lab took take place on Thursday 20.2.2020 at Scotland House, Rond-point Robert Schuman 6, 1040 Brussels, after the SIMRA conference. It aimed to explore how local initiatives or local action groups working in the context of CLLD can act as a motor and platform for social innovation at grass roots level. There are many […]
LDnet special session at the Third Joint EU Cohesion Policy Conference in Zagreb
This event has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and will be rescheduled for early 2021. The Third Joint EU Cohesion Policy Conference 2020, “Maximising the Opportunities for Cohesion Policy in Challenging Times”, will take place on 11-13 May 2020 in Zagreb. LDnet has proposed a Special Session on “Social Innovation and Local Development […]
Report of SIMRA final conference
SIMRA, the Horizon 2020 project “Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas” has been at the forefront in promoting the contribution of social innovation to social, economic and environmental development in disadvantaged rural areas since 2016. The final two-day event of the project “From the implementation of local initiatives to the integration into public policies” was […]
Social innovation in LEADER areas in Austria
We present below the summaries of three case studies from the SILEA research project on social innovation in LEADER areas (2014-2020) in Austria. The first and second case studies are similar concerning the thematic field – local coordination of informal voluntary work – but different in their outcomes. Both have delivered successful and illustrative examples […]
Social Innovation Community Yearbook
The Social Innovation Community (SIC) project was funded under the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme over a three year period, from 2016 to 2019. During these three years, SIC ran a series of on and offline activities – including practical place-based experimentation, learning, policy and research. The project started from the premise that more open […]
The Lisbon declaration on social innovation
In this declaration the Social Innovation Community calls on the EU to build on the world-leading practices established over the last decade and make social innovation a core part of its strategy to achieve a “social triple A” for Europe. The Social Innovation Community has identified key priorities that Europe should address. Tackling these priorities […]
Social innovation and territorial development
In his contribution to the International Seminar Social Innovation in Public Policies in Brasilia, on 7 and 8 March 2018, Robert Lukesch discusses the essence of social innovation at the micro level and highlights the importance of governance (“the very notion of social innovation requires an institutional environment which is at least not punishing deviating […]
Social innovation, CLLD and the future of rural development
The debate on the future of EU policies and budgets post-2020 is hotting up. A new policy brief from SIMRA, makes a contribution in the context of the European Commission’s Communication on the Common Agricultural Policy post-2020, “The Future of Food and Farming”. The policy brief stresses that social innovation is a powerful manifestation of […]