Social Innovation for Knowledge Exchange

<< Background >>“Social innovations are new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs (more effectively than alternatives) and create new social relationships or collaborations.” (Murray, Caulier-Grice and Mulgan, March 2010). With the recent crises in democracy, the covid pandemic and the climate emergency, the need to understand the processes involved in transforming society at a systemic level is more urgent than ever.<< Objectives >>•Forge alliances between the stakeholders of the social innovation ecosystem, and develop Social Innovation through Knowledge Exchange (SIKE) Units that adapt knowledge exchange tools and processes to the needs of social innovators; •Stimulate social entrepreneurial skills within the University and the regional community.•Develop a training programme that will allow combine academic expertise and real-life know-how of social innovation professionals.<< Implementation >>The SIKE project has taken a co-creative approach in developing parallel initiatives within five partnering regions. The project has delivered its objectives through 9 work packages (WPs)implemented over three phases: i) Preparation and Contextualisation; ii) Implementation; and iii) Consolidation and Validation. Centred around the establishment of SIKE Units at each partner HEI the project was implemented through training and online tools for driving social innovation and measuring impact.<< Results >>The project has supported SI engagement for over 50 social innovations, over 400 individuals and 50 organisations and has helped drive 75 new SI projects through the work of each unit. The initiatives and tools have been specially designed to be inclusive and transferable to other organisations and will help to promote guidelines for social impact. In this sense the project aims to ensure that the outcomes and impact of the initiatives developed are demonstrable and measurable.