Testing a Framework to Co-Construct Social Innovation Actions: Insights from Seven Marginalized Rural Areas

Innovation actions within European Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects aim at testing research results in practice. When supporting social innovations in rural areas, such testing requires the alignment of several rural actors in order to entail behavioral changes beyond the individual level. Recently, so...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2020-02, Vol.12 (4), p.1441
Main Authors: Marini Govigli, Valentino, Alkhaled, Sophie, Arnesen, Tor, Barlagne, Carla, Bjerck, Mari, Burlando, Catie, Melnykovych, Mariana, Rodríguez Fernandez-Blanco, Carmen, Sfeir, Patricia, Górriz-Mifsud, Elena
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural development
Agricultural management
Agricultural sciences
Agriculture, economy and politics
Civil society
Climate change
Collaboration
Community
Decision making
Financial management
Forest management
Forestry
Innovations
Knowledge sharing
Life Sciences
Living conditions
Participation
Rural areas
Rural development
Social innovation
Social networks
Social organization
Sustainability
Technological change
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Summary:Innovation actions within European Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects aim at testing research results in practice. When supporting social innovations in rural areas, such testing requires the alignment of several rural actors in order to entail behavioral changes beyond the individual level. Recently, social innovation has been recognized as an important tool for rural areas, developing new solutions to respond to wicked problems for improving local living conditions at the grassroots level. In this study, we analyzed the use of an operational framework to support the early governance of social innovation actions. This framework was applied to co-construct seven innovation actions across Europe and the Mediterranean basin applied to forestry, agriculture, and rural development. Our results showed that supporting social innovators and local actors at the early stage of social innovation processes is key for efficiently addressing and tackling challenges and opportunities. Additionally, we showed that the process of defining a social innovation is complex and requires recursive engagement, which might lead to evolution through time, especially in the first phases of the process. Lastly, conducting the feasibility assessment enabled strategic thinking on crucial dimensions for designing a promising social innovation action, such as social networks management, financial sustainability, and know-how. Such findings helped us to draw general lessons for the development and governance of social innovation actions in rural areas, potentially applicable to any rural sector.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12041441