Social innovations are innovations that are social both in their means and in their ends. At the core of the thinking about social innovation is the innovation spiral. It inquires how new ideas that respond to new social needs are generated, identified, developed, tested, upscaled and transferred.

A main issue of debate is how public actors can foster ecosystems that generate new responses. The task is how to nurture new ways of caring for people’s needs at all levels, from small-scale community-based innovations to public policies. 

If you want to learn about the EU definition and what the Commission does on social innovation, click the link below.