Soziale Innovationen für Nachhaltigkeit

Innovations are often primarily associated with technological progress, disregarding the important role of social innovations to tackle ecological challenges. In collaboration with Yunus Environment Hub we have embarked on a three-year research and policy advisory mission for the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV). The overarching goal of the project is to develop policy recommendations that create an ecosystem for social innovations in Germany that enables them to leverage their transformational potential in ecological, social and economic terms. 

In an initial phase, we have developed a model to assess this threefold potential and applied it in an analysis on social innovation cases in selected sectors with large effects on our environment and climate. Through expert interviews and desktop research we validated our findings and developed first recommendations regarding measures that could leverage the identified potential of social innovations in Germany. 

In the second phase of the project, we are working with an advisory board and a network of experts examining social innovations in the sustainability sector with regards to seven thematic areas through regular workshops. Focusing on these different topics, we are collaboratively exploring how the impact of social innovations can be incentivized, scaled and measured. The results of the workshops are used, together with other intakes, to develop concrete policy papers and shape the future of social innovation support in Germany.

Find more information here: www.si-na.org