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Orientation map
for societal change

– factors influencing social innovation

The orientation map helps you navigate among factors that enable or hinder the development and realization of innovative solutions to societal challenges. It can be used by those who manage, support or study such processes. The map is based on research on ecosystems for social innovation and insights from Forum for Social Innovation Sweden. The model is based on Swedish and international research on social innovation ecosystems.

Actors and collaboration    

This includes the societal actors – in the public sector, civil society, business or academia – who develop, support or are otherwise affected by innovative solutions to a specific societal challenge, as well as their relationship and interaction with each other. 

Guiding questions: 

  • Which societal actors are affected by the societal challenge that you want to meet? 
  • How can you relate to and interact with the actors who can facilitate or hinder innovative solutions to the societal challenge? 

Support and resources  

This includes support and resources for the development and realization of innovative solutions to societal challenges, in the form of funding, counselling, knowledge, methods, meeting places etc. 

Guiding questions: 

  • What support and resources are needed to meet the societal challenge in an innovative way? 
  • Which of these do you already have access to, and which do you need to find elsewhere? 

Societal structures 

This includes the political, economic, legal and technical frameworks and regulations in organizations and society that affect the ability to develop and implement innovative solutions to a specific societal challenge. 

Guiding questions: 

  • What frameworks and regulations affect the possibility of developing and realizing innovative solutions to the societal challenge? 
  • How can you relate to the frameworks and regulations that facilitate or complicate this? 

Norms 

This includes social, ethical and professional values, attitudes and expectations in organizations and society that affect the possibility of developing and realizing innovative solutions to a particular societal challenge. 

Guiding questions: 

  • What norms affect the possibility of developing and realizing innovative solutions to the societal challenge? 
  • How can you relate to the norms that facilitate or complicate this? 

The various factors in the orientation map can occur both in one’s own organization and in the surrounding society. It can be rewarding to use the map at different stages of the process to gradually navigate among factors appearing along the way. 

Reference: The orientation map is developed by Forum for Social Innovation Sweden with inspiration from Hoffecker 2019, Kaletka et al. 2016, OECD 2021.