ABSTRACT
It is claimed in Havamal that ‘ … gold makes apes of many men’. The meaning of this claim is that accumulation of wealth may diminish a person’s intelligence. People are not evaluated in terms of their wealth, but in terms of their reputation which is eternal. It is well to keep this in mind when we observe social innovation and entrepreneurship. Motivations behind social innovations do not concern accumulation of wealth and maximisation of profits. In this chapter, we will discuss innovation activity that aims at social improvements. First we will discuss mainstream definitions of social innovation and offer a wider alternative definition that covers different levels of this kind of activity; that is, micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social innovation. Finally, we will observe the cases of Lord Nelson, Benjamin Franklin and Margaret Thatcher in order to illustrate processes at these different levels of social innovations.
