On September 6, 2022, Professor Jürgen Howaldt from TU Dortmund University will give a presentation co-organized by the Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives and CRISES, the Centre de recherche sur les innovations sociales.
The presentation will be given at 10.30 a.m. EST at HEC Montréal at the Salle Serge Saucier, 3000 Chem. de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, QC H3T 2A7.
If you’d like to participate, please send an email to Nara Meli to attend in person or online.
Abstract
In numerous countries, initiatives have emerged in recent decades that aim to tackle growing social and environmental problems such as poverty, exclusion, climate change, etc. in new ways. An important role has been played by the discussion on social innovation. Whereas innovation has so far primarily been aimed at the creation of new products and processes driven by the natural sciences and engineering, social innovations will gain in importance in the future in connection with a growing dynamic of change. Social innovations are new social practices that aim to develop innovative solutions to existing social problems. Social innovations occur in various forms in our society and – just like technological innovations – are important drivers of social change: They change the way we live together, work, consume, distribute wealth or deal with crises. In this context, the cooperation of actors from different areas of society is of particular importance.
While many social innovation initiatives initially emerged from civil society and were supported by civil society actors, the topic has received increasing attention in politics, business and science in recent years. Increasingly, universities and research institutes are also getting involved in these initiatives. Against this background, the lecture will deal with the conceptual foundations and international trends in social innovation research as well as the contribution of social innovations to addressing major societal challenges for a transformation in direction of sustainability.
Biography
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Howaldt is the director of Social Research Centre Dortmund, TU Dortmund University, and professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is an internationally renowned expert in the field of social innovation and co-founder and chair of the European School of Social Innovation. He was the scientific coordinator of the global research project “SI-DRIVE – Social Innovation: Driving Force of Social Change”, funded within the 7th Framework Program of the European Union, and has co-edited the Atlas of Social Innovation. His research focuses on social sciences-based innovation research and social innovation.