Canada is falling behind other countries, such as Australia, the UK and the US in recognizing the value of social innovation (SI) for addressing complex public policy issues. This report highlights the urgency of the social challenges before us, such as climate change, sustainability, poverty and globalization, particularly in the midst of a global economic downturn, and points to the importance of fostering SI as a solution.
The report notes that while governments in Canada have acknowledged the importance of social capital and the social economy, and have been relatively active in these areas in recent years, Canada has missed opportunities to encourage SI by failing to develop adequate models for public support, engagement and funding. The report calls on Canadian leaders to establish a cross-sectoral national strategy to advance SI in this country.
Background
It has been five years since Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) Research Associate
Mark Goldenberg published his report Social Innovation in Canada – How the non-profit sector
serves Canadians … and how it can serve them better. It focused on the special role that nonprofit
organizations play in community-based social innovation. We were pleased that
Mr. Goldenberg’s report garnered much attention both in Canada and internationally. The
ensuing roundtable, convened by CPRN in 2005, articulated a vision and action plan for the
development of social innovation in the non-profit sector. Both the report and the roundtable
contributed to the creation of a higher profile for social innovation in Canada.
When the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) expressed an interest in
updating Goldenberg’s 2004 report, CPRN was pleased to take up the challenge. Little did we
know that the field of social innovation has evolved so that it is now in various stages of
emergence around the world.
This updated report provides a review of the current literature and input on the current state of
social innovation from social innovation leaders and experts across Canada. The purpose of the
update is to render an accurate overview of the trends, models, and developments in social
innovation, and to present at least a basic analysis of the reason for the rapid emergence of social
innovation in all sectors of society, not just the non-profit sector.
Findings
A major theme of this report is the urgency now evident for countries to address a wide range of
social challenges, including climate change, sustainability, the growing gap between rich and poor,
diversity, cohesion, the social and economic impacts of globalization, and the current worldwide
economic downturn. Innovation itself is evolving, mainly because of these challenges, but also
because of the complexity of the interrelationships among science, technology, media, and
knowledge transfer, and the very nature of collaboration.
non-profits are increasingly being called upon to fill gaps left by government
devolution or divestment of responsibilities. In the context of the recent economic downturn, the
financial situation of organizations is more precarious than ever.
Indeed, the role of the non-profit sector remains critically important, but social innovation is seen
today as a broader concept – one that cuts across the non-profit, for-profit, and public sectors and
that addresses a wider and more complex range of societal issues. This broadening in our
understanding of the concept and its expanding application to new sectors is helping to give
social innovation new impetus and energy.
The for-profit sector is now generally understood to play an important role in social innovation,
although not everyone agrees on the extent to which this is happening. The business sector, for
example, is starting to accept what is now referred to as the “triple bottom line” or “3BL”
(“people, planet, profit”) as a business strategy for sustainable growth. The shift from the
traditional business bottom line focused solely on profit is occurring for many reasons, including
the widespread effects of the current economic downturn that have shifted responsibility for
recovery from the private to the public sector.
New forms of collaboration, both within and across sectors, and new ways of working can be
observed, reflecting new media and new technologies, greater knowledge about the innovation
process itself, and new understanding about complex systems, about how people organize, and how
ideas move. These new ways of working involve different types of partnerships (public/private,
profit/non-profit, and public/profit/non-profit); the adoption of cross-sectoral strategies; and the
development of new networks and means of networking.
Through our research, we found that different models for social innovation are beginning to
emerge. They reflect a variety of strategies for collaboration and working with others, and for
tapping into different kinds and sources of financial and other resources. The confluence of
sectors in society involved in social innovation offers opportunities for exploring new ventures,
sharing models, and enhancing knowledge transfer.
Different models for government vis-ŕ-vis social innovation are also emerging. They involve
new roles for government – as initiator, facilitator, regulator, and funder. Relationships between
government and other sectors are beginning to change but remain far from true partnerships.
In view of these key findings, summarized above, the report makes the following recommendations:
- An overall strategy to advance social innovation in Canada should be developed by leaders
and experts from all sectors.
- Further research and study on social innovation needs to be encouraged by government and
other parties, and data sources and research infrastructure need to be established.
- Research on the social return on investment (SROI) is being undertaken in the United
Kingdom and Europe in order to understand the economic value of social benefits. To better
balance the focus between economic and social innovation, Canada needs to invest in work
to better understand the SROI of social innovation.
- In the short term, specific areas within social innovation that need to be examined include
cross-sectoral strategies and relationships; social financing; funding models and mechanisms;
governance issues; and accountability and evaluation in the social innovation field.
- A national event should be created to bring together leaders and experts from all sectors.
Practitioners and researchers across the field of social innovation would be able to connect
and to share effective practices, governance and collaboration processes, knowledge transfer,
and capacity-building.
- Knowledge transfer strategies and their adoption by social innovators need to be profiled and
shared. This would help build capacity for social innovation.
Download Social Innovation in Canada: An Update in PDF format.
- government relations, - management, voluntary sector research
