In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in, and awareness of, social innovation to address pressing social, economic and environment challenges, whilst also supporting improved well-being. This new wave of social innovation has ushered in a range of innovative and adaptable solutions across a range of policy areas including education, healthcare, employment, and environmental sustainability
The OECD has significantly advanced understanding of social innovation over the years, and, in doing so, has accelerated uptake and visibility in policymaking, including among local communities. The OECD first defined social innovation in 2000. The recent OECD 2022 Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation has built on and reinforced earlier efforts. This report goes further by identifying the dynamics and critical factors, at both the national and local levels, that contribute to the emergence and scaling of effective social innovation ecosystems and that can sustain their impact over time.
It does this by analysing the impact of the European Social Fund (ESF, the European Union’s primary tool for supporting social innovation) on facilitating and scaling social innovation in and across European countries. As one of the EU’s Structural and Investment Funds aimed at promoting cohesion, economic growth and social progress, as well as supporting the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the ESF provides funding to local, regional, national and transnational projects and organisations involved in areas such as employment, social welfare, education, skills and social cohesion.
As countries explore innovative solutions to address complex societal issues, the “3S Framework” – Start, Scale, Sustain – developed in this report, provides an approach for any country, region or local area to use social innovation. Based on an analysis of 96 ESF-funded projects from the ESF 2014-20 programming period, this framework identifies three steps, or phases, in the development of socially innovative projects: “Starting”, which focuses on the experimentation phase of social innovation: “Scaling” whether through organic growth or replication of successful social innovations’; and “Sustaining” which focuses on policies to support lasting social impact. For each phase, the report provides examples of existing levers in EU countries and policy orientations to further support social innovation and inform future ESF programming periods beyond 2027.
This report was developed by the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), as part of the Programme of Work and Budget of the OECD Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme with the support of the European Commission.