Connecting entrepreneurship with policy experimentation? The EU framework for social innovation

Abstract

This article investigates how “social innovation” made its way onto the European Union (EU) agenda and how this notion has been creatively used to advance distinct policy goals. It does so by analysing the resources the EU provided to promote social innovation over the period 2006–2014. Three main conclusions arise. First, between 2006 and 2010 the label social innovation was rarely used, although several EU instruments and processes supported it. Second, throughout 2009–2010, the European Commission’s Bureau of European Policy Advisers played a key agenda setting role in flagging social innovation on the eve of the Europe 2020 Strategy. Consequently, and third, since 2010 social innovation has been explicitly mainstreamed into the EUs new growth strategy. This phase is characterized by a stronger emphasis on “social entrepreneurship” and “social experimentation”. As a result, social innovation has become an important tool in the European Semester’s focus on the reform of the welfare state.

Keywords:

• social innovation
• social entrepreneurship
• Europe 2020
• welfare state reform
• social policy experimentation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Yuri Kazepov (University of Vienna), Andreas Novy (University of Vienna and Stijn Oosterlynck (University of Antwerp) and an anonymous reviewer for the useful comments on an earlier draft of this article. The usual disclaimer applies.

Notes

1. For an overview, see Borzaga and Bodini (2014); Grimm et al. (2013); Sabato, Vanhercke, and Verschraegen (2015).

2. Made up of experts in various policy fields, the task of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers was to provide policy and political advice to the President of the European Commission and to Commission services on issues relevant to the President's agenda and the future EU policies. Since 2014, the Bureau was renamed European Political Strategy Centre.

3. For an assessment of the implementation of the Platform, see Sabato and Vanhercke (2014).

4. As noted by Daly (2012, 276), “The rhetoric around the Platform emphasizes especially innovation and experimentation in social policy – ‘innovative social protection intervention’ […].”

5. An amount significantly higher than the € 2–4 million of the period 2007-2014 (data reported by EC 2013d).

6. This provision is important insofar as it somehow put social innovation on the same footing as technology-based innovation, thus contributing to the development of a wider concept of innovation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Commission - FP7 programme - ImPRovE project [grant number 290613].