ABSTRACT
This chapter examines experiments for social innovation in smart city initiatives and the components of social innovation as they appear in smart city environments. It focuses on social innovation by digital means in the domains of economic development, city governance, and environmental sustainability. The chapter discusses the linkages between digital spaces, applications and platforms, user engagement, and collective objectives, the mechanisms of intelligence actualised by applications of social innovation, and the drivers that determine the effectiveness of digital applications for social innovation. The effectiveness of digital or smart environments relies on the creation of communities of interest and communities of practice, which set in motion initiatives for social innovation. In smart cities, social innovation appears in multiple forms, involving users and communities, addressing social rather than business challenges, and having social rather than individual aims.
