Social Innovation. What it is, why it matters, and how to accelerate it

The results of social innovation may be seen everywhere. Fair trade, restorative justice, education at a distance, nurseries and hospices, going from cognitive behavioral therapy for inmates to Wikipedia, these are all examples of processes of change that have moved from the periphery to the center of social transformations  

Social innovation does not belong exclusively to the non-profit sector. It may be carried out by politicians and governments, markets, movements, the academia, and social enterprises. According to Oxford University, many of the most successful innovators have learned to operate across the frontiers of these sectors, showing that innovation prospers when there are effective alliances between small organizations, individuals or groups with new ideas, fast, flexible - the bees - and large organizations, governments, companies, or NGO's - the trees - that may make ideas grow until they can be climbed.  

In this process, the role of the "connectors" - brokers, entrepreneurs - that connect people, ideas, money, and power, is as essential as that of the thinkers, creators, designers, activists, and community groups. 

Social innovation is becoming an important factor for economic growth, partly because the barriers for a lasting growth may only be overcome with their help, and partly due to the increasing demands for an economic development that improves and does not harm human relations and wellbeing. However, it is essential that adequate conditions exist so that ideas prosper, evolve, and disseminate. Therefore, creating new methods and structures is necessary to consolidate social innovation on a solid ground. 

In this respect, the expression "Social Silicon Valleys" describes how the future environments and institutions that will mobilize resources and energy to address social problems will be, in a manner that is equivalent to how technological research in the first Silicon Valley and its peers did it around the world.