In and Out of Sync
Author:
Geoff Mulgan with Rushanara Ali, Richard Halkett and Ben Sanders
Year published:
September 2007
Download:
In and Out of Sync 361KB
Description/aims
Social innovation describes the ways in which private companies and third sector organisations innovate in response to social needs, as well as innovation by public sector organisations.
Some social innovations grow, achieving significant impact, while others don't. In and Out of Sync examines social innovations in the private and third sectors to find out how they grow and spread, and what we can do to help more social innovations achieve scale.
Recommendations
The report identifies four conditions that are essential for developing innovative products, services and models on a large scale and in a sustainable way:
- demand for the innovation within society;
- good supply of ideas in workable forms;
- effective strategies to connect supply and demand, and to find the right organisational forms for putting the innovation into practice;
- ongoing learning and the ability to adapt to changes in the external environment.
When all of these elements are in place, the innovation is likely to succeed and reach significant scale. If elements are missing or ‘out of sync' then its potential may not be realised. Smart strategies can, however, compensate for weaknesses. For example, if there isn't a strong demand for the innovation, then the focus may be on campaigning rather than growth.
It's important that innovators make the right choices about organisational form, in order to maximise the social impact of their idea. Many innovations fail to scale-up due to a lack of support when it comes to making such choices, and also during periods of difficulty.
To improve the odds of success, we need to offer specialist sources of support – including flexible financing that can accommodate risk-taking when necessary. It's also important that we build a stronger knowledge and experience base in the field of social innovation.
Impact / Benefit
By putting in place strategies to support organisations in scaling up their social innovations, we'll be able to establish a more mature social innovation system that can compete with the many systems that exist to promote technological innovation.