Boosting Social Innovation-in European Cities
The network will enable public administrations to play a new role as public boosters and brokers of social innovation, by driving social innovation in, through and out the public sector, will scale up the urban social innovation ecosystem with the concrete ambition to help public authorities to become European hubs and deliverers of public and private social innovation models. On the Pan European level we will try to connect local ecosystems to transnational networks and build international public brokerages to expand the social innovation ecosystem. With new forms of organization and new interactions to tackle social issues, especially in the direction of the most vulnerable groups, the cities will improve the way they tackle changes in city administration for collaboration with citizens. This will be achieved by an appropriately adapted and developed Open Innovation methodology and within that, the Quadruple Helix approach, giving a large scope for innovation to the creative user, and adapting the ways of thinking and doing of the local authorities, to this new paradigm. An improved version of the living labs type of innovation approach could bridge the innovation gap between technology development and the uptake of new products and services involving all relevant players of the value network via partnerships between business, citizens, and government. We are convinced that's it's through deeper relationships that trust and social innovation will develop.