Technology & Innovation

Social Innovation Index 2016

September 29, 2016

Global

September 29, 2016

Global
Naka Kondo

Manager, Policy and insights

Naka is an editorial manager at Economist Impact, based in Tokyo. As the project lead of the Back to Blue initiative, her focus coverage range from sustainability, ocean health, and longevity, among other issues. Before joining The Economist Group, after a brief period sitting in the advisory committee for the Japan Cabinet Office, Naka dedicated seven years in the Japanese Equities business where she communicated closely with Japanese companies and institutional investors around the world. As a journalist, Naka's work appears in The Bungei Shunju, one of the largest publications in Japan, with more than 80 pieces published on topics ranging from economics, politics and culture. Naka's work has been featured in 3 Japanese national newspapers in 2021. Naka has studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science (BSc Maths&Philosophy transferring to BSc Sociology) and the University of Tokyo (BA Social Psychology). She is also a journalism graduate of the Undergraduate Research Program at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo.

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Policymakers, non-government organisations, charities and entrepreneurs across the world are showing increasing interest in “social innovation” as a means of addressing various problems, from poverty and homelessness to environmental degradation. What does the term actually mean?

As a relatively novel concept, it lacks an established definition. Most broadly, it can refer to new services and products, or new processes, rules and regulations, that help meet a social need--for instance reducing the number of homeless people on the streets, keeping children in school, or ensuring commodities are produced sustainably for fair wages. The benefits of social innovation, wherever it arises, accrue to society as a whole rather than individuals, although in some cases socially innovative projects can also produce profits and investment returns.

As the concept of social innovation has gained currency, more efforts have been made to bring rigour to the field by defining the term more clearly and analysing best practices in its application. So far there have been few attempts to examine how countries can encourage and enable social innovation. That is the aim of this Index and white paper, commissioned by The Nippon Foundation.

 

 

 

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