Social innovations for social challenges

Detail Sustainability is one of the most important megatrends of our time and is integrated by companies in very different ways. Innovations are the key to implementing sustainability in companies. For example, sustainability can succeed through social innovation. But what exactly are social innovations? Where and how can they be applied? About that Anja Birke reports. She is project manager in the field of technology and innovation management at Bayern Innovativ.

Anja, what do you understand by social innovations?

Anja Birke: Social innovations are a special form of innovations. They can still be incremental or even disruptive and they are special new developments, technologies, services, processes, products, but also business models. Thereby, social innovations are extremely important for a society, because they the reactions to social challenges, such as availabe high-quality education, climate change or also social injustices. Social innovations focus on maximizing social value, i.e. they are really the social impact for a society and they aim to create systematic change. This system perspective denotes economic, but also technical aspects and refers to both social well-being and sustainable development. All these dimensions interact with each other. Social innovations want to look at exactly these interactions and all related aspects.

Do you have an example of social innovations to illustrate this?

Anja Birke: A prime example, even on the governmental side, is the social security system. It was introduced at the end of the 19th century and represented the first creation of conditions of existence and human rights for a broad mass. Before its introduction, only certain people had this privilege of enjoying social insurance. Social insurance has transformed entire social structures and has had a very big impact on our values and on our attitudes. This shows that we don't just see social innovations today, but that they, and therefore social challenges, have been around since the 19th century and earlier. Another example is multigenerational houses. As you can see: Social innovations are more important today than ever before, because they can also be found in the context of current trends, such as digitization or sustainability. Because wherever trends emerge, they are always accompanied by social challenges. And that's exactly where social innovations come in.

There are certainly also social innovations that have been implemented thanks to digitization or digital technologies, aren't there?

Anja Birke: Yes, one example comes from the sharing economy. There are various sharing models that are spread via digitalization, i.e. via apps, digital applications and all the interconnectedness that has taken place. This is a current example of social innovation, because the business model of sharing models focuses on the use of goods as a service. People use a service and do not buy the product. Carsharing companies, for example, satisfy the need for mobility . We want to get from A to B, but not necessarily own a car. This allows us to address the societal challenge behind it, in this case the energy and resource consumption we currently see in mass production, throwaway mentality and in the context of climate change. Another catchy example when talking about the topic of digitalization is the voice recognition software and speech recognition that is found, for example, in cell phones or smartphones as well as in navigation systems. Especially also in the area of accessibility in the city. Digitalization has made it possible to open up precisely these areas for people with disabilities, making life easier.

In addition to social innovations, there is also a special form of sustainable entrepreneurship: social entrepreneurship. What is meant by this and how does it differ from the 'normal' entrepreneur?

Anja Birke: Social entrepreneurs have a very strong social mission. Like other entrepreneurs, they have a vision and a mission, that is, a goal towards which they are working. In the case of social entrepreneurs, it is above all the strong social focus. They also make use of social innovations, among other things, to overcome social challenges and thus create positive impact in society. In principle, a society benefits from their services and products. To explain in more detail, the business models generate revenue, just like other companies. Thus, they are already economic in a certain way, i.e. profit-oriented. But the costs are fully covered. In other words, every euro of costs incurred, e.g., by employees, is also covered by the revenue, and everything that remains as profit at the end is completely reinvested in the intensification or scaling of the business model. Social entrepreneurs then expand their product or service portfolio to generate even more social impact. It is a complete flow of profits back into the business model. Social entrepreneurs are not philanthropists, civil society organizations or NGOs (non-governmental organizations), but they are also really interested in corporate profitability. So they are business enterprises with a different focus. Social entrepreneurs have a broad scope of impact. We also have social in the whole term, so social entrepreneur or social entrepreneurship, but it is a very broad field of action. The areas of impact always have an influence on society, which is why social is the focus of the term. But in principle, the social impact pays into at least one of the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). And they are, after all, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. In the social sphere, for example, it can pay towards combating poverty or towards better health systems or even high-quality education. And likewise also in the ecological area, there are exemplary the points life on land, life in the water, just as well as renewable energies to mention.

Can social innovations also be high-tech driven?

Anja Birke: Social innovations can also be high-tech or highly technologized, because the focus is on the social impact and how this is generated does not matter at first. An example from the medical field: Artificial intelligences analyze large amounts of data; for example, Artificial intelligences are fed with medical screenings and diagnoses can be supported by pattern recognition. While they do not replace the doctor, they are highly technological and can assist in diagnosis, provide guidance and help the doctor. This makes the detection of diseases much more efficient and thus benefits a large part of society. Social innovation lies in making the data available to a broad mass as open source. This can be for hospitals - even across several countries - or individual doctors' practices, but also in research. As the example shows, social innovations incorporate current trends and megatrends, such as digitalization and sustainability. Particularly in the area of urbanization, there is still a lot that can be achieved with high-tech. We live in urban areas, so we have growing cities and an expansion of urban-rural infrastructure. For this, we urgently need, for example, alternative mobility concepts, where high-tech applications are also needed, which in the end benefits life in the city.

What can companies, start-ups or SMEs learn from social innovations and from social entrepreneurship?

Anja Birke: A basic sensitization to the topic is the most important thing and involves education in companies. The companies that are currently only for-profit oriented, do not have to completely change and only generate social innovations. It's just a matter of clarifying that there is more than what you are confronted with on a daily basis, i.e. the classic for-profit or nonprofit organizations. There are also variants in between that look at both directions. It is the mindset towards social and environmental sustainability that can be strengthened by raising awareness. The services and products should keep these aspects in mind and integrate them.

Is there actually only a positive impact that a product, service or technology can have?

Anja Birke: No, there is also a negative impact, which should always be considered. A negative impact means that non-intended negative effects on society can arise. This means, for example, that I had no idea beforehand or could not foresee what negative consequences a technology would have. Therefore, the first step is to go beyond awareness and to become aware that certain products and technologies can also have a negative impact. Through this holistic view, the positive as well as negative impact can be considered. One way to do this is to get the different types of companies around the table. In other words, bringing them together so that they can exchange ideas and learn from each other. In this way, they can help each other through synergies.