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The Centre for Social Innovation in Vienna – Applying Social Science and Research to Improve Societal Development Print E-mail
bridges vol. 19, October 2008 / Feature Article

By Josef Hochgerner


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Introducing the concept of social innovation
 
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Josef Hochgerner
”Innovation” is considered to be any new product or process, based on superior technology or recombination of technologies, that leads to economic success in existing or new markets. In the wake of pioneering concepts developed by Joseph Schumpeter http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/schump.htm , innovation plays a major role in public debates and policies aiming at economic growth in contemporary society.
The present – and the future even more so – appears to be inundated with technical innovations whose social relevance and consequences are increasingly far-reaching. They affect a growing number of people at work, in business, in everyday life, and in leisure time. As a consequence, the quality of people’s lives, as well as the functioning of social institutions and governments, depends more than ever on technologies – more precisely, on “socio-technical systems.” The faster the progress of technology and its impact on society, the more social development necessitates social innovations, i.e., new concepts and measures to resolve societal challenges, adopted and utilized by social groups and institutions concerned.
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