Research Seminar – Prof. Dr. Jürgen Howaldt

Nova School of Business and Economics, Room D-104 (floor-1)​

Nova SBE Research Unit invited Prof. Dr. Jürgen Howaldt from TU Dortmund University a Research Seminar.​

This Research Seminar was organized by Management & Organizations with ERA Chair in Social Innovation​

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Howaldt presented “Social Innovation – International Trends and Challenges”.

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.