They will directly benefit our neighbours - from the
Western Balkans and Turkey to the countries around
the Black Sea and Caucasus. The potential market in
countries with similar historical background, language and
norms extends from Croatia to Azerbaijan.
According to political scientist Ivan Krastev, Europe`s main
role will be to tackle problems that others will face in the
future. Our role as leading social innovators would place
us at the very center of the European Union. If resolving
social problems is our main goal, we can form a core
group of countries to bring social innovation at the
forefront of European politics.
In the latest EU Innovation Union Scoreboard 2013
rankings Bulgaria occupies the same place as in the
previous edition – last. The reason is that innovation does
not happen in isolation. We don`t have sophisticated
research systems, hundreds of patents submitted every
year, global research centers, development of a large
number of advanced technologies, highly qualified
workforce or well-established funding mechanisms – the
main criteria for innovation potential according to EU
methodology. It is therefore important for us to focus on
social innovation, which is closest to our social
environment and has the potential to become a major
criterion for innovation throughout the European Union.
One of the greatest advantages of social innovation
solutions is that they have the potential to become global
without any prior planning or purposeful investment.
Our successful models can flourish and spread
everywhere. We could see the innovative solutions for
landfills in small Bulgarian villages being implemented in
communities in the United States, townships in India and
cities in China with a population of several millions. It is
social innovation that will play a key role in addressing the
major global challenges of our times and shifting people`s
attitude towards them – climate change, conflicts, poverty,
social inequality, diseases, access to education and food
resources.
How do we begin
To become the number one destination for social
innovation, our main task is to build capacity and create
assets. In short, we need the following:
21
/
Home
People who create positive change
in their social environments
with the help of different tools and
organizations in order to find solutions
for local, national and global problems
in a new and effective way.
Not quite clear? Let me explain what I mean.
People in the spotlight
Involvement
“The more miserable a society is, the more people exclude
each other socially. Citizens exclude socially the state and in
return, the state excludes the citizens. Everyone excludes
everybody else until they can. We have an urgent need for a
systematic policy for strengthening the relationships between
people.”
Rumen Petrov, psychiatrist
In the connection economy, human potential, not
technology, is the main driver of economic growth.
In order to become number one in social innovation we
need to put people in the spotlight. Our biggest
investment will be in people who know what is best for
them and their community; who can unite others using
their own ideas and those of others; who are able to put
them into practice and transform their social environment
for the better.
22
/
Home
A small number of people of that kind are currently
engaged with social change. Most of them are not involved
because they don`t see the point and prefer someone
else’s ready-made solutions. In a world where the
importance of personal qualities for achieving success is as
strong as ever, the deeply rooted belief that one cannot
succeed simply because of personal initiative and potential
is still quite strong in Bulgaria.
Social innovation won`t originate from some established
political, economic or intellectual elite. People who know
their social environment, have a good grasp of its
problems, find new ways of dealing with them, and are
ready to take action will be the ones who initiate the
process. People who have, maybe involuntarily, found
themselves in the epicenter of events and who realize
their potential as change makers. People, who have not
been appointed or elected, but instead have chosen to
become leaders themselves. People, who are ready to
solve problems stemming from their social context and
achieve success for themselves, their families and their
community.
According to Ulrike Reinhard, the only way to achieve
sustainable social change is to make people the main
stakeholders in the process – in short, to co-create Only
when people participate first hand and experience the
whole thing we can achieve transformation that they
would like, protect, commit to and continue working on.
We cannot expect success if we haven’t involved them in
a process, which affects them directly and if they don`t
have the sense of being part of the solution.
People don`t simply wish to be informed that a new
sports center is about to be built in their neighbourhood.
People wish to decide whether this is beneficial for them
and if they do so, to actively participate in the process in
order to ensure a coherent link with their social
environment. The difference between being informed and
being involved is huge.
There will always be people who will be isolated from
such processes – those who are not motivated,
enthusiastic or creative, simply because the stakes are too
high for them. Those are the people in the middle –
middle-aged, middle-ranked in a company or organization,
with middle income, credit, children and cars. People who
won`t be able to adapt quickly to the changing
environment. They will also need social innovations to
23
/
Home