Social innovations are new ideas, approaches or forms of cooperation that contribute to solving social challenges more effectively than existing solutions. They change social practices, organisations or relationships and thus create sustainable added value for society.

Social innovations are often found at the interface between research, practice and civil society. They translate scientific findings into new services, participation formats, organisational models or co-operations that have a social impact.

The decisive factor here is not only the novelty of the idea, but also its social impact, scalability and sustainable anchoring in practice.

The term is emphasised differently depending on the field of research:

• Social innovations change social practices, institutions or forms of interaction and can initiate social transformation processes.
• They are seen as complementary to technological innovations and create new social or societal added value, often through new business or organisational models.
• Social innovations are seen as key levers for social transformation, for example in the context of sustainability, climate protection or social participation.

Social innovations expand the traditional concept of innovation from technology and patents to include socially effective solutions, new forms of cooperation and social value creation.

Social entrepreneurship describes entrepreneurial activity with the aim of finding sustainable solutions to social or ecological challenges. Social entrepreneurs develop innovative products, services or business models that create social added value and are economically viable.

What we offer in the Social Innovation Lab:

Design thinking workshops

In a design thinking workshop, participants work on developing user-centred solutions for complex problems. Using methods such as changing perspectives, generating ideas and rapid prototyping, ideas are developed, tested and further improved together.

LEGO®

With the LEGO® Serious Play® method, participants can visualise complex issues together by expressing their ideas, experiences and perspectives with LEGO® models. In the transfer context of universities, the method helps to visualise knowledge from research and practice, to develop a common understanding of problems and to develop new solutions for social challenges.

YES Workshops

The University of Oldenburg is a certified YES campus. YES - Young Entrepreneurs in Science, funded by the Falling Walls Foundation, is a training programme that supports doctoral students and postdocs in developing entrepreneurial thinking and innovation skills. In workshops, they learn how to test research ideas for application potential, develop business models and translate scientific findings into social or economic innovations.

Through this programme, various courses and workshops are offered throughout the year for those interested in starting a business from research and science.

How much social innovation is there in your research? We will be happy to advise you.