How to Use Social Innovation for Eco-Friendly Projects

Environmental issues tend to be constantly changing and evolving, requiring adaptive and dynamic approaches that are provided by social innovation.

The European Commission (EC) recently released a report on Social Innovation and the Environment. The study outlines samples of community projects that use Social Innovation techniques and strategys to creat eco-friendly services in various locations in the EU. Which brings us to the following questions:

1.What is so unique about Social Innovation that it gives us the tools we need to build more sustainable communities?

**2. How can you use this information to improve the eco-friendliness of services and products that you provide to your customers and communities? **

The processes of Social Innovation are structured to utilize the creativity of the croud by using;

collaboration, participation, co-production, grassroots approaches and cross-sectoral working. As such, social innovation is often intrinsically more effective at providing solutions to environmental issues than more traditional top-down policy approaches.

Organisations, policies, and communities can all harness the power of social innovation, but the tools are most effective when all three sectors are working together towards the same goal.

Which brings us to our second question, how can you use this information to create eco-friendly products and services?

Social innovation cannot be meticulously planned, but it can be stimulated by creating the enabling conditions for it to emerge (Biggs, Westley and Carpenter, 2010).

By creating the atmosphere and providing the tools for innovation, you can allow your employees, customers, and constituents to use their insider knowledge to make suggestions and solve problems. In the past this may have been a near impossible concept, but thanks to new technology, smartphones, and wifi connections in the farthest corners of the world, it is easier than ever to connect with people who can, and want, to help.

What challenges have you faced in making your organisation more eco-friendly? What can organisations do to allot more resources to eco-friendly socially innovative projects?