ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the recent departure in United Nations utilization of knowledge and its application of resources to exploring innovation as a means to enhancing the public good. It examines the concept of social innovation itself and some of its many manifestations, both inside and outside the UN. Social innovation is a term that has been used with increasing frequency over the past decade to describe new and different approaches to development that cross sectors and combine actors and methods. The nature of bureaucracy, itself, presents numerous obstacles to creating the conditions under which innovation can thrive and produce. The global network of The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Innovation Labs works to stimulate and facilitate the application of innovative approaches to the agency's programming and policy efforts. Innovation is tricky to define. Life-changing examples of it like electricity, cars, planes, television, computers or the Internet are easy to point to and will likely generate widespread public agreement.
