Examining the Impact of Local Developments and Effective Governance to Foster Social Innovation Practices

Abstract

Social innovation grassroots initiatives play a pivotal role in addressing locally occurring problems - such as aging population, high unemployment, and inequality of disadvantaged groups - by recognizing them and responding with adequate answers that are in harmony with the needs of the local community. Therefore, focusing on the even more urgent difficulties of sustainable, bottom-up initiatives of social innovation, the balance of effective governance and locals has an enormous role in fostering real solutions. However, the process to solve these challenges is multifaceted, based on the renewal capacity of the local community that is rooted in the volume of involvement, effort and willingness to adapt and learn, including on the one hand the local inhabitants, and on the other hand the decision-makers, politicians and administrations. By examining the impacts of local developments and effective governance in the context of social innovation the authors seek answers how local developments and effective governance can contribute to enhance social innovation and what are the biggest challenges of local communities they are facing? What kind of instruments can contribute to create a positive change?  With respect to the research question, the methodology contains qualitative focus group discussions, where professionals from business, academia, government, and civil organizations were asked. In conclusion, the results and novelty of the research show that local developments supporting the partnerships between the stakeholders, have a massive goal to jointly support the progress of public goods and life-quality, sustain and increase local wealth, knowledge transfer, strengthen the cohesion among locals, and support prosperity in a determined local territory. By drawing attention into real cases the authors introduce how to support social innovation in diverse areas of life through effective governance and local developments. The research emphasizes the importance of modern forms of local governance to establish an ecosystem that supports the processes of social innovation with appropriate instruments, including the capability, attitude, talent, and commitment of local governance leaders, role of cooperation culture among quadruple helix members and the necessity of knowledge transfer and adaptation between stakeholders.