Research

Social innovation has an essential part to play in overcoming the current and/or long-term social and environmental challenges. Social innovation brings new strategies, actions and projects which look to a future in which priority is given to the communal over the individual, where social impact is the principal objective, and personal gain is always a consequence of what has first been constructed collectively. ​

Social innovation comes from many actors and sectors that contribute to the search for solutions to social and environmental challenges, using their distinctive competencies to provide a response with a high social impact. They do not seek to replace the role of the State, nor is this an exercise of social responsibility on the part of companies. Their objective is to transform and their priority is to respond to some shared social challenges. At the Institute for Social Innovation, we set out to spread knowledge about social innovation and to help promote transformation for the common good and social justice.​

Academics, politicians and professionals from different fields have condemned the fact that dynamics of exclusion and precariousness have appeared in our societies and are becoming more acute. Increasing numbers of people are being driven away from their life project, the employment market and housing. Furthermore, gender, racial and digital inequalities are starting to show themselves under new guises. ​

In contrast to this harsh reality, we may also observe a large number of innovative initiatives which, in opposition to this structural violence, are demanding dignity, fighting to create more inclusive institutions and striving to build a more habitable world. The Institute for Social Innovation seeks to favor an ethnographic perspective in all its actions, and to focus its analysis on people and the social impact achieved by the actions of different players.

We live in an age in which there are many social challenges, and it is difficult for a single actor to tackle and resolve these. Cross-sector collaboration would appear to be crucial when facing certain problems in our society. Therefore, there are an increasing number of initiatives of this kind in which actors from different sectors join forces to work together, applying their different and complementary expertise with a common objective.​

At the Institute for Social Innovation, we aim to make an in-depth study of the scope of the collaborations between NGOs, companies and public administration, and to draw lessons from different innovative experiences that have had a high social impact. ​

Responsible and social leadership has become an essential lever that all organizations must take into consideration if they wish to achieve their aims. We understand leadership as the development of the personal and organizational capacities for driving a social or environmental project, presenting a shared vision of this project and promoting values and attitudes for transformation. ​

For this purpose, organizations need dynamic leaders with the capacity to manage crisis situations effectively and face new challenges, develop organizational capacities, foster innovation and continually rewrite the rules of the game. Through its actions, the Institute seeks to place the spotlight on people as agents of change from within organizations and civil society.

Applied ethics seeks to evaluate the humanistic background of the different traditions of thought, in order to provide a specific response to the question: How should we act? Unlike more abstract philosophy, applied ethics asks people questions and urges them to examine the consequences of their actions on society and on the planet.​

In its training programs, research work and social debate activities, the Institute for Social Innovation aims to stimulate reflection on how we may advance towards a model of society that is more inclusive and more respectful of our environment. The objective here is to question management models that view people and the environment as mere instruments for maximizing profit, and in this way open up paths that lead to the creation of proposals focused on the common good.