ABSTRACT
Social innovation is a form of innovation driven by social demands rather than by the market and/or autonomous techno-scientific research, and generated more by the actors involved than by professional researchers. A more articulate one could be the following: social innovation is a process of change emerging from the creative re-combination of existing assets, which aims to achieve socially recognised goals in a new way. A first, simple, polarity is between incremental vs. radical innovation. A second polarity is top-down vs. bottom-up. A third polarity is social problems vs. sustainable changes. The chapter concludes with the DESIS Network itself can be seen as an example of social innovation: an original, highly distributed organisation where the existing social resource of students' enthusiasm and teachers' experience is catalysed—where scenarios and solutions, conceptual frameworks and practical tools are generated and offered as an open contribution to the transition towards sustainability.
