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Social Innovation: Buzz Word Or Enduring Term?, Eduardo Pol, Simon Ville Apr 2012

Social Innovation: Buzz Word Or Enduring Term?, Eduardo Pol, Simon Ville

Simon Ville

The term 'social innovation' has come into common parlance in recent years. Some analysts consider social innovation no more than a buzz word or passing fad that is too vague to be usefully applied to academic scholarship. Some social scientists, however, see significant value in the concept of social innovation because it identifies a critical type of innovation. In this paper, we suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance. We distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that requires …


Social Innovation: Buzz Word Or Enduring Term?, Eduardo Pol, Simon Ville Jan 2009

Social Innovation: Buzz Word Or Enduring Term?, Eduardo Pol, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The term 'social innovation' has come into common parlance in recent years. Some analysts consider social innovation no more than a buzz word or passing fad that is too vague to be usefully applied to academic scholarship. Some social scientists, however, see significant value in the concept of social innovation because it identifies a critical type of innovation. In this paper, we suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance. We distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that requires …