Klankbordgroep

Meer werk maken van innovatie voor

werkgelegenheid en arbeidsmarkt

ESF project 4895

6/5/2014

Muntpunt, Brussel

6/5/2014

Muntpunt, Brussel

Introduction

Louis VervloetGeneral Director

ESF Agency of Flanders

Agenda for the day

• 10h introduction • 10h30 innovation environment scans of Flanders,

Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic• 11h 45 coffee• 12h discussion relating to statements • 13h lunch• 14h00 discussions continued • 15h00 coffee• 15h discussions continued • 15h30 conclusions• 16h End of meeting

Why are we here today?

• To explore proposed key concepts / criteria that should be addressed in some way when engaging in “social innovation”

• To create a common framework of expectations regarding effective financing of social innovation efforts by the ESF

• To enable participants to situate and judge future proposals as to how ESF MA’s/IB’s can facilitate final beneficiaries/promotors engaged in social innovation

The rationale for the project

• In the Flemish ESF OP, the budget for innovation is reduced with 20% due to the shrinking of the overal OP (it remains at 5%)

• At the same time, there are some challenges to address, namely how to:– find, develop and fund innovative services that respond to policy

priorities– scaling up / mainstreaming across Flanders rather than stay

limited to only a few actors;– demonstrate the impact of this funding in Flanders over the

longer term;

The rationale for the project– increase the share of funding spent on successful innovations relative to

non-successful ones without becoming risk averse and having only

“incremental” innovations funded;

– balance flexibility (rather than rigid planning) with accountability;

– coordinate better with other actors in the innovation landscape;

– lower the threshold for good ideas without being submerged by average

ones.

• Therefore, the project aims to deliver a model for formulating

and implementing a social innovation strategy for ESF, incl.

how to organise practical support

We are here

February July2014 2015

Work programme

• Phase 1: february-April 2014: – literature review: what are key concepts and criteria

that any ESF social innovation support system must take into account

• Phase 2:– May-November 2014:

• study visits, training seminars, consult experts and users • focus on HOW to meet criteria and make concepts practical

– November-December 2014: pulling it all together in a manual

– January 2015: validation

Social innovation

• General: – “Innovations that are social both in their ends

and in their means” (BEPA, May 2010)– “Innovative services motivated by the goal of

meeting a social need and that are predominantly diffused through organisations whose primary purposes are social” (Mulgan, Young Foundation, 2006)

• But should the private sector be excluded?

Social innovation• Flanders:

– “We define social innovations as new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs (more effectively than alternatives) and create new social relationships or collaborations. In other words they are innovations that are both good for society and enhance society’s capacity to act.” (Eindrapport Innovatieregiegroep ‘Sociale innovatie’, VRWI, Maart 2011, drawing on BEPA)

• Innovation = create AND implement novel ideas that deliver value

• Social = the kind of value, namely well-being, quality of life , solidarity of citizens (BEPA)

Demarcating innovation• Three possibilities:

– Process/organisational: improvements in the process/organisation, NOT visible or of major consequence for the clients (usually for internal efficiency)

– Solutions: • dealing with issues, often local, that impede progress regarding an unsatisfactory situation• not necessarily an issue of more/new services but of reconfiguring how these services work

together

– Service oriented innovation: • clients should experience the difference (effectiveness)• the service is really a reproduceable service that will attract a sizeable amount of clients

over an extended period

• We are targeting service oriented innovation …– although there are always grey zones eg combining several

tools/services into one newly integrated service, as could happen in a locally driven solutions approach, is potentially also a new, reproduceable service

Services versus productsProduct delivery

Inboundlogistics

OperationsOutboundlogistics

Marketing and sales Service

Co-creation

Elicit tacitknowledge

Design experience

points

Offer service

Customer engagement

Service delivery

Source: Chesbrough

ESF in Flanders and innovation

• Innovativeness is NOT defined at the level of an individual service provider.

• It is not enough that having a service to address specific needs in a specific context is new for a single provider (unless it is the only provider in Flanders by decree).

• It must be new for a wider collection of providers in Flanders.

• It must also be related to the themes of the programme (labour market, social inclusion).

• Questions?

6/5/2014

Muntpunt, Brussel

Literature review

Benedict WautersProject leader

ESF Agency of Flanders

Themes for the literature review

• Innovation in general:– Strategy: scope, type of innovation

– Process: pipelines, gates,…

– Roles, incl. open innovation

– Competences, incl. leadership, culture…

– Tools

• Innovation in / supported by the public sector

• All we read is captured in “fiches” that will be put online in the coming weeks

Literature from the last 10 years

• General on innovation, creativity, …:– Harvard Business Review– Sloan Management Review– McKinsey Quarterly– Strategy and Business (Booz)– Others

• A range of publications oriented to innovation in/by the public sector

• A range oriented to social innovation

Larger publications

In total around 100 publications!

How we use the literature• We use it to distill a set of “concepts”, “criteria” that

may (or may not) be of importance for future support of social innovation with ESF

• We have discussed these statements with users (Flemish promotors)

• All of it is online (google docs) and evolves as we progress in the project

• You will today pick out the ones you think are most interesting to “dive into” and discuss them later on

• Key question for the next phase will then be: how to meet the criteria and use the concepts in practice

6/5/2014

Muntpunt, Brussel

Conclusions

Louis VervloetGeneral Director

ESF Agency of Flanders

Thank you for your engagement today!

Next steps…

Conclusions

Conclusions• Next steps:

– Study visits abroad:• Mindlab, Denmark• Nesta/Young Foundation, UK• Malmö Innovation centre, Sweden• 27e region, France• World Bank innovation market

– Interact with experts• Vlaamse Innovatiecentra• Flanders In Shape• Sociale Innovatiefabriek• Flanders DC• Experts from the partner countries