The role of design research in and for social innovation

While design tools and its methodologies - notably, co-design - have become widespread in innovation activities across sectors, there is a gap between expert design practice and the use of these tools by non-designers. The current chapter seeks to address this by exploring how design research and its tools can contribute to the growth and development of a particular form of innovation: social innovation. The promotion of these tools is evident in a wide variety of dedicated toolkits alluding to the utility of design in these pursuits, yet research is needed on how both fields need to and can evolve to better pursue the final goal of meeting pressing social challenges. Specifically, the chapter focuses on the unique characteristics of social innovation and design, and the need to adapt design tools and develop design practices in the contexts in which they occur and what this implies for both fields.