A Journey into Social Innovation Incubation. The TRANSITION Project.

The paper discusses the emerging issues and challenges of using service and strategic design approaches to support social innovation. Reflecting on the on-going European project TRANSITION (Transnational Network for Social Innovation Incubation) and in particular on its implementation in Milan, the paper proposes an action format conceived as a journey into social innovation incubation. Named the Social Innovation Journey, it aims at systemizing the different stages of development of an innovation together with the support activities delivered. In conclusion, on the basis of the journey undertaken with and for a first group of social innovators, some considerations are made on the nature of the initiatives incubated and the role of service design in developing the process set in place to scale them out and up.