Vinnova has awarded funding for a collaborative project betweenForum for Social Innovation Sweden Forum for Social Innovation Sweden and five higher education institutions to describe the establishment and scaling up of a national knowledge platform with local and regional roots for social innovation in Sweden.
The sum of 1.5 million Swedish kronor will be used to conduct a feasibility study. The aim of the study is to develop guidelines for establishing and further developing a national knowledge platform for social innovation with local and regional roots.
The consortium consists of Forum for Social Innovation Sweden coordinator), the University of Gothenburg via GU Ventures, Jönköping University, Luleå University of Technology, Malmö University, and Umeå University.
“There has long been a great need for a coordinated effort to strengthen this area—particularly with a focus on knowledge development—across the country. Now we have the opportunity and resources to do so, which we at Forum for Social Innovation Sweden University are looking forward to,” says Charlotte Ahlgren Moritz, chair of Forum for Social Innovation Sweden vice president at Malmö University.
The knowledge platform will promote, initiate, and implement knowledge dissemination and sharing, as well as knowledge development, at the national, local, and regional levels; it will also establish links to research and create neutral platforms where stakeholders from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, as well as academia, can meet and share knowledge to advance the field.
As part of the feasibility study, the current situation will be assessed, including an examination of what is being done within and in collaboration with higher education institutions at the regional and national levels, as well as the initiatives and areas of strength in research, education, and innovation that these institutions are currently pursuing and developing.
Another important aspect is identifying international best practices and lessons learned, particularly by examining how similar initiatives have been developed in other countries.
“The six of us who will be conducting this preliminary study are already active players in this field at the national level. Together, we can further strengthen this area and identify what is needed for Sweden to be at the international forefront of knowledge development in social innovation,” says Hanna Sigsjö, Executive Director of Forum for Social Innovation Sweden.
In a 2016 survey, 22 percent of Northern European organizations in the field cited a lack of knowledge as a major barrier to the development of social innovations. This primarily included a lack of effective knowledge sharing, the dissemination of best practices, and the need to learn from previous initiatives.
– At Vinnova, we see a great need to strengthen the social innovation system by promoting the development and dissemination of knowledge and research, as well as by creating opportunities for current and potential practitioners in the social economy to meet and share experiences. “This work promotes the collaborative structure that characterizes social entrepreneurs and innovators, and helps spread knowledge and awareness to the general public, policymakers, and public sector actors about what social entrepreneurship and innovation are, as well as their positive effects and how the field can be developed,” says Andreas Netz, who works with social innovation at Vinnova.