Implementing social innovation in real contexts

Increasing attention is being paid towards the potential of social innovation in responding to society’s greatest challenges. While measures have been taken to support the flourishing of these innovations, they have thus far been made on ideal models of development, misaligned with what occurs in reality. This has led to the creation of supporting infrastructures that fail to respond to social innovators real needs. The paper seeks to provide a picture of the real social innovation development process through a case-based discussion coming from the results of, SIMPACT, a recently EU research project. The research demonstrates how SI actually takes place in constrained contexts and typically develops as a frugal answer to a social problem. The paper offers substantial empirical evidence that a support system is fundamental in making. SI thrive, thus providing relevant insights and guidance for policy making, with particular emphasis on the concept of SI ecosystems.