What is social innovation?
We define social innovation as pursuing novel approaches to tackle challenges facing people and planet.*
Social innovation is a broad and evolving concept encompassing diverse approaches to tackling challenges facing people and planet, collectively referred to as societal challenges. Its meaning and application vary widely, depending on the nature of the societal challenge(s), the actors involved, and the innovation pathway(s) pursued.
Four key aspects of our definition of social innovation merit attention:
Social innovation is a broad and evolving concept encompassing diverse approaches to tackling challenges facing people and planet, collectively referred to as societal challenges. Its meaning and application vary widely, depending on the nature of the societal challenge(s), the actors involved, and the innovation pathway(s) pursued.
Four key aspects of our definition of social innovation merit attention:
- Social innovation is directed at tackling challenges facing people and planet.
- Social innovation includes both the processes and outcomes involved in tackling these challenges.
- Novelty depends on the context. If an approach to tackling challenges facing people and planet is novel in the context in which it is adopted, it is social innovation.
- Tackling challenges facing people and planet can involve incremental or transformational changes. Both count as social innovation.
*This definition was first proposed in a working paper prepared by University of Oxford for the Government Council for Social Innovation and then adopted in the Luxembourg Declaration in April 2025.
