Social innovation: powering corporate competitiveness in an increasingly uncertain landscape

In a global landscape characterized by ever faster change and an upsurge in social and environmental issues, social innovation has emerged as a crucial tool for enabling companies to adapt, make an impact and improve their competitive edge. This was core message of today’s session in the Esade-Fundación SERES Lecture Series, entitled ‘Innovación social: cuando la empresa impulsa el bien común’ (Social innovation: business as a driving force for the common good).

During this event, executives from Konecta Foundation, Merck and Fundación Telefónica analyzed how companies incorporate social purpose into the core of their strategy, promote new ways of doing things, adopt innovative business models and create alliances enabling them to address social issues more effectively.

Purposeful innovation in a world of change

Ana Sainz, director general of Fundación SERES, underlined that “we live in a highly volatile world with shorter and shorter cycles of change, often less than a year, whilst social issues are higher than ever on the business agenda. To be able to deal with this acceleration, companies need flexibility, resource optimization and social innovation. Competitiveness and social commitment must, therefore, always go hand in hand. Purposeful innovation is now the only way to keep pace with the future, whilst promoting the common good.”

Ignasi Carreras, professor and head of Management Training Programs for NGOs at the Esade Institute for Social Innovation, explained that social innovation means “new ideas, new initiatives and new ways of doing things, including using technology in response to social and environmental issues.” In this respect, he sought to distinguish it from traditional social action, emphasizing that “social innovation seeks to produce specific, tangible results, move beyond experimenting, and achieve other better solutions.”

He also pointed out that ESG has evolved over the last decade, with companies shifting away from responsibility-oriented approaches towards models focused on social innovation, mainly as a result of tech developments and AI acting as driving forces for change.

From innovating to creating shared value

The participants in this session agreed that social innovation not only enables them to respond to social issues, but also gives companies a competitive edge by bolstering their ability to adapt, their relationship with stakeholders, and their market position.

Graciela de la Morena, director general of Konecta Foundation, said in this respect that “as the director of the Foundation, my vision is for Konecta to be a bridge. A bridge between the most advanced technology and the most vulnerable people. A bridge that connects solutions operative on one side of the world with needs that exist on the other. This is what we mean by real global social innovation.”

Irene Rodríguez Álvarez, head of Sustainability in Spain at Merck, highlighted that “our day-to-day business and vision as a company are intrinsically linked to making a positive social impact because we work with people and for people: we help create, enhance and extend people’s lives.” She also stressed that “innovation is pointless unless it’s available to people”, with an emphasis on the importance of humanizing innovation in order to ensure first-rate, relatable, accessible healthcare.

Inés Temes, head of the Social Innovation, Employment, Education and Volunteering Division at Fundación Telefónica, declared that her company “is people-focused and uses technology and innovation to enlarge their capabilities and create better opportunities with a view to reducing inequality.” She also highlighted the need to address the role of technology in a complex geopolitical scenario in which issues such as ethics, responsibility and tech sovereignty are increasingly important.

Applied social innovation: impactful projects

During the conference, the participants discussed specific ventures that show how social innovation can result in projects that make a real impact, including some that have won SERES Awards for Corporate Social Commitment and Innovation.

In the case of the Konecta Foundation, its noteworthy programs include the Green Employment Hub designed to encourage employment for young people in the shift towards the green economy, by connecting young people with new job opportunities in this sphere. This ecosystem has partnerships with 430 companies in Madrid and Andalusia and 140 social entities to ensure real job contracts in the new sustainable economy. To date, 236 such contracts have been signed.

Programs promoted by Merck include Genera Talento, created in response to the demographic challenge and the gradual ageing of the workforce, which aims to bolster the connection between different generations and raise awareness of this situation inside companies, and SPARK, a program to channel the company’s in-house knowledge into education, and bring science closer to young people through corporate volunteering.

Fundación Telefónica has highlighted projects such as their Campus 42, an innovative method to teach programming in response to the new demands of the job market, featuring a disruptive approach, without classrooms or teachers, aimed at autonomous, collaborative learning.

Since 2011, the Esade-Fundación SERES Lecture Series has gathered 150 speakers together at more than 50 meetings to discuss trends, experiences and good business practices related to social issues, and bolster the position of companies as key agents in economic and social progress.