“Social Innovation – Driving Force of Social Change” (SI-DRIVE) is a research project aimed at extending knowledge about social innovation (SI) by:
- Integrating theories and research methodologies to advance understanding of SI, leading to a comprehensive new paradigm of innovation;
- Undertaking European and global mapping of SI, thereby addressing different social, economic, cultural, historical and religious contexts in eight major regions in the world;
- Providing in-depth analyses and case studies in seven policy fields, targeted by the project, namely education, employment, environment and climate change, energy, transport and mobility, health and social care, poverty reduction and sustainable development, as well as by undertaking comparative research on European and global level, organising foresight activities and policy round tables, thus ensuring relevance for policy-makers and practitioners.
Since there is lack of a sustained and systematic analysis of social innovation and its relationship to transformative social change, SI-DRIVE will contribute to the conceptualisation of the SI field as a means to empower people, reduce poverty gaps and influence ongoing societal changes towards achieving ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ (Europe 2020 Strategy) as well as UN objectives such as the Millennium Development Goals. This aim will be accomplished by the development of a comprehensive and integrated theory of social innovation through the execution of the following activities:
- Determining the nature, characteristics and impact of social innovation as key elements of a new paradigm of innovation (strengthen the theoretical and empirical base of social innovation as part of a wider concept of innovation that thoroughly integrates social dimensions);
- Mapping, analysing and promoting social innovations in Europe and other regions in the world to better understand and enable social innovations and their capacity for changing societies;
- Identifying and assessing success factors of SI in the target seven policy areas, supporting reciprocal empowerment in various countries and social groups to engage in SI in order to achieve Europe 2020 targets and sustainable development goals;
- Undertaking future-oriented policy-driven research, analysing barriers and drivers for SI; developing tools and instruments for policy interventions.
SI-DRIVE a large-scale research project funded in the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme and will run for 48 months in the period January 2014-December 2017.
SI-DRIVE involves the following 15 EU and 11 non-EU partners:
Technische Universität Dortmund (Coordinator; TUDO/sfs, Germany)
Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund, Bulgaria)
Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT, Austria)
Brunel University (UBRUN, United Kingdom)
Center for Research on Social Innovation, University of Quebec in Montreal (CRISES, Canada)
Centro de Innovación Social, Agencia Nacional para la Superación de la Pobreza Extrema (ANSPE, Colombia)
European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA, Belgium)
Heliopolis University Cairo (HU, Egypt)
Institut Arbeit und Technik, Westfälische Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen (IAT, Germany)
Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISEDT RAS, Russia)
International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED, Sweden) Istanbul Teknik Universitesi (ITU, Turkey )
Kazimiero Simonavičiaus Universitetas (KSU, Lithuania)
Lama Development and Cooperation Agency (LAMA, Italy)
social innovation lab (SIL, Croatia)
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, India)
Australian Centre for Innovation, University of Sydney (ACIIC, Australia)
TNO (The Netherlands)
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, Chile)
University of Deusto (UDEUSTO, Spain)
University Danubius Galati (UDG, Romania)
University of Cape Town, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (UCT, South Africa)
The Young Foundation (YF, United Kingdom)
Zhejiang University (ZJU, China)
Zentrum für Soziale Innovation (ZSI, Austria)Technische Universität Dortmund (Coordinator; TUDO/sfs, Germany)
Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund, Bulgaria)
Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT, Austria)
Brunel University (UBRUN, United Kingdom)
Center for Research on Social Innovation, University of Quebec in Montreal (CRISES, Canada)
Centro de Innovación Social, Agencia Nacional para la Superación de la Pobreza Extrema (ANSPE, Colombia)
European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA, Belgium)
Heliopolis University Cairo (HU, Egypt)
Institut Arbeit und Technik, Westfälische Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen (IAT, Germany)
Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISEDT RAS, Russia)
International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED, Sweden) Istanbul Teknik Universitesi (ITU, Turkey )
Kazimiero Simonavičiaus Universitetas (KSU, Lithuania)
Lama Development and Cooperation Agency (LAMA, Italy)
social innovation lab (SIL, Croatia)
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, India)
Australian Centre for Innovation, University of Sydney (ACIIC, Australia)
TNO (The Netherlands)
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, Chile)
University of Deusto (UDEUSTO, Spain)
University Danubius Galati (UDG, Romania)
University of Cape Town, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (UCT, South Africa)
The Young Foundation (YF, United Kingdom)
Zhejiang University (ZJU, China)
Zentrum für Soziale Innovation (ZSI, Austria)
For additional information, please visit the website of the project at www.si-drive.eu or contact:
Zoya Damianova, zoya.damianova@online.bg |
