By Jenna Collins and Filippo Addarii, Euclid Network; and Louise Pulford, Social Innovation eXchange (SIX)

Lesson in Innovation #1 – if you have an idea and the right people, anything is possible

In the aftermath of the financial crisis and swift funding cuts for the sector, innovations from civil society to solve societies’ greatest problems is no longer a ‘buzz word’ or  just a ‘hot topic’, but a necessity. But with any fad or idea, often comes confusion from within the sector, European institutions and the general public. For Euclid Network (the European Network of civil society professionals) and Social Innovation eXchange (SIX – the global community for social innovation), this was a problem.

Social innovation is happening everywhere, but how do we communicate this amongst the European institutions that can turn this idea in to concrete policies and funding? And how can we communicate social innovation in a way that excites citizens and goes beyond Muhammad Yunus’ Nobel-prize winning Grameen Bank[1] – one of the most well-known examples of excellent social innovation. How and where can we find Europe’s Muhammad Yunus?

This initiative did not start with an action plan or strategy, but rather a combination of hunches. The idea came to life following the study on social innovation[2] that SIX prepared for the Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) at the European Commission earlier this year.  In this paper, SIX recommended that social innovation needs to become more of a ‘theme’ for Europe. The first step in doing this was to get those with an interest,a nd those with influence  around a table. And not just any table, but a virtual table. In partnership with Cisco, Euclid Network and SIX invited Europe’s top social entrepreneurs and the European Commission’s innovation policy makers from 6 European capitals (London, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid and Brussels) to a discussion on social innovation across Europe, using the recent report for BEPA as a starting point.

It was at this TelePresence discussion that Gorka Espiau, the driver behind the Bilbao Social Innovation Park[3], suggested running a competition, of sorts. The idea was to gather 10 stories from across Europe of successful examples of social innovation. Real projects with real impact. ‘This is European Social Innovation’ was born.

Lesson in Innovation #2 – just do it

The European Commission committed to back the initiative. No lengthy application process, extensive research or complex planning was required; our focus was on action and results.

Euclid Network and SIX got straight to work with little time, no money and scarce resource – a true test in innovation.

We were faced with several challenges. For example, we only had July and August to gather the stories, the months during which the continent goes on its summer holidays. We had no choice but to go viral with our message, using the power of the networks, and the networks of those networks. But what we discovered was remarkable, as a genuine enthusiasm for European social innovation grew across borders and boundaries.

The feedback we had exceeded our expectations. We were surprised when we received over 100 case studies from 25 countries. We had applications far beyond Euclid Network’s and SIX’s outreach, with an informal social innovation network starting to emerge. There was no financial incentive to submit, people in Europe wanted to tell their own stories.

What stopped us from receiving more applications? Many civil society organisations and social entrepreneurs ‘do’ social innovation but do not realise it. They don’t self identify as social innovators. Furthermore, the European Commission was backing our initiative. But isn’t the European Commission known to be an obstacle to innovation, intent on creating bureaucracy and processes rather than funding innovation to solve it? Maybe this is not necessarily the case.

Lesson in Innovation #3 – never underestimate the power of a good story

The BEPA policy paper started the discussion on social innovation. It then turned very quickly into an action. And with all the case studies and stories collected, we now find ourselves with an action policy paper. We have a practical collection of stories, of solutions, owned by Europe’s citizens.

The OECD[4] were so impressed, they have offered to host a workshop for all 100 social innovation entries.

From the 100 applications that we received, actions that the European institutions can do to support social innovation across Europe became evident:

1. Innovators need support to sell their stories, to measure and communicate the value of their initiatives
2. Peer support is needed to encourage, replicate and scale-up innovation projects.
3. The sector needs to understand European language to engage in policy and get access to funding and the EU needs to improve the  language they use to communicate to the innovators
4. The EU needs to help the sector to connect to social innovation agenda overcoming misunderstanding, suspects and fears. This means spending more time publically supporting innovative projects to grow and thrive

At the very least, what we have learnt is that you need stories from people to make social innovation visible.  Grameen Bank is anexample of social innovation, know by many all over the world. That is because we are all familiar with Mohammed Yunus’s story.  And within our 10 winners of the social innovation initiative, we are sure that Europe now has many of its own Mohammed Yunus’ and social innovation champions.

With an interesting story, involving real people, combined with measurable impact, there is no reason why social innovation cannot be at the heart of the European Innovation Agenda and at the heart of the wider European project. We welcome the announcement from the Innovation Union and are looking forward to working with the Commission to ensure that those with the imagination have the support to challenge existing structures and sell their own social innovation stories. After all, normal people ask ‘Why?’ Innovators ask ‘Why not?’

[1] Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit (small loans to poor people possessing no collateral) to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize.

[2] Available at http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org/node/4959

[3] http://www.euclidnetwork.eu/pages/en/social-innovation-park.html

[4] The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development www.oecd.org