A study of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) presents how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can enable social innovation initiatives to promote social investment through integrated approaches to social services delivery. The study presents the analysis of the 2015 Mapping of the project “ICT-enabled Social Innovation to support the Implementation of the Social Investment Package” (IESI). It shows how the success of such initiatives relies on the catalytic effect of technology to unleash the potential of social innovation. Participation of the public sector at different levels and its capacity to create partnerships across sectors are described as instrumental in achieving profound changes in how services are provided.
The JRC’s current mapping of ICT–enabled social innovation initiatives provides details on 210 initiatives which could be scaled-up, replicated or transferred cross the EU. The report also discusses their impact -in particular in terms of social and economic investments- and analyses the contributing factors.
The JRC has just started its new mapping of initiatives and is collecting examples of ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives from Europe and all over the world. All contributions received will be analysed to consolidate the knowledge database.
The full text of the study is available here (EN).
The new mapping survey is available here (EN).
For more information about the IESI project click here (EN).