Social innovation

Boyan Slat's plastic catching system


In the era of digital start-ups and large organisations, innovation is the crucial foundation of many successful business strategies. In fact all companies keep innovation as part of their documentations . But to succeed, practice and promote it as a policy.  Whether healthcare, or manufacturing, Social Innovation is playing a vital role in the process of transformation of the company, its culture and its ways of doing things.

Innovation can be in any format. It can be a new technical process that solves a huge problem. It can about introducing new products or services, new sources of raw materials, new service delivery or new models of work organization. The innovations are known for their impact on the users/ society. It can be a radical innovation - major and incremental innovation - minor. Innovation can happen out of necessity. Boyan, a 19-year-old Dutch boy, has just invented a viable solution for cleaning the oceans of the millions of tonnes of plastic in it, but note, he is not the only young spirit engaged in this kind of task. This new generation is committed, they care about their environment and wish to build a lasting heritage for the community.

Social innovation has become a necessity:

    For investors who measure the positive or negative impacts since climatic and societal constraints have become a risk factor.
    For the company, which makes profits by meeting the expectations of consumers who are turning massively to ecological, social and sustainable solutions.
    For customers, by offering consumption experiences with economic, social and environmental benefits.
    For employees, whose employee experience is improved: personal satisfaction, compensation for the individual and collective performance, more collaboration and more respect for work-life balances.

Organizations must hold innovation in high esteem and values ​​its significance.  Social innovation, therefore, requires going beyond the framework and rethinking conventional models, integrating social and environmental considerations at the heart of economic issues.