What is the Social Innovation Community? Conceptualizing an Emergent Collaborative Organization. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Toivonen, Tuukka
• Is Part Of: Journal of social entrepreneurship. Volume 7:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 73
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Social innovation -- social entrepreneurship -- innovation community -- collaboration -- networks; Social entrepreneurship -- Periodicals; Social entrepreneurship; Periodicals; 361.76505
• DOI: 10.1080/19420676.2014.997779
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1942-0676

Abstract

Abstract: Although social innovation is stimulating tremendous interest among scholars and policy-makers, its emergent catalysts are insufficiently understood. This paper thus identifies and explores a relevant collaborative organization, the social innovation community (SIC). Found in cosmopolitan cities, SICs are held together by recognizable shared cultures and online/offline spaces. This account sets out a basic categorization of SICs, profiles their salient features, and offers an original definition. SICs support early-stage social entrepreneurship but may also help to introduce social innovation into new cultural settings, re-programme wider innovation circuits, and promote productive collaboration amid diversity.