4.Social Innovation -

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City Initiatives

Social innovation

Various nations in the EU and North America see social innovation as one of their governments’ important policy issues that will help to resolve complicated social problems.

The Young Foundation defines social innovation as the process of designing, exploring, and developing new ideas that meet social objectives and needs.
Social innovation resolves social problems in a new and effective way. It is achieved through cooperation between the government, businesses, and civil society.
The US Obama government established the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation in a bid to resolve community social problems in a new and innovative way.

In South Korea there have also been innovative attempts to resolve social problems.

Social innovation is the essential method for resolving South Korea’s complicated and challenging social problems.
Through the Hope Institute, Mayor Park Won Soon, actively developed and implemented social innovation programs, thereby producing significant outputs.
Through the public organization of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul intends to diffuse social innovation in order to turn Seoul into a world-class socially innovative capital.

Korean society, along with Seoul, have just begun to make social innovations. These efforts, which mainly have the aim of resolving social problems, can be seen in society’s civil roles, social enterprises, and community businesses.

Cases of efforts to bring about domestic social innovations

Seomisan Village, which formed a village economic ecosystem
The Hope Institute’s civil creative programs, which are aimed at turning citizens’ ideas into policies
Seoul Metropolitan Government’s consulting center, which has become the incubating center for young people’s businesses and social enterprises
The Hope Institute’s happy senior project, which helps professional retirees to find reemployment opportunities at non-profit institutions

Implementation of social innovation project

Direction

Exploring the social innovation agenda in terms of how closely it is related to the lives of citizens
Resolving chronic social problems and new social problems
Bolstering partnerships with society and corporations and applying new methods and technologies

Exploring an innovation agenda that enhances societal happiness and social values

① Constructing a system to regularly explore the social innovation agenda

Seoul explores its social innovation agenda by doing the following things: analyzing domestic and overseas cases of social innovation efforts;interviewing experts from various areas; contacting diverse channels such as the relevant departments, bureaus, and divisions; and receiving proposals from citizens.

② Creating jobs for baby boomer retirees, senior citizens, and young people

Innovating the distribution systems to address high prices, and to diffuse good-price consumption
Innovating life culture and space for citizens to empathize and share with
Creating jobs for baby boomer retirees, the elderly, and young people
Resolving residential problems and innovating the safety of citizens
Encouraging social engagement initiatives in which enterprises, universities, citizens, and religious groups take part in, and innovating public services

Planning the action measures for a highly practical innovation agenda

① Organizing the Social Innovation Officer, Office, Bureau, and Division according to the agenda

Agenda that is related to various departments or that is not clearly related to a specific department: Social Innovation Officer
Agenda that has been reflected in the business plan or that is directly related to current work: Department, Bureau, and Division

② The Seoul Institute operates a social innovation research group

Operates an advisory group that is made up of experts from academia, industries, the press, and NGOs
Serves as a think-tank for researching theories and cases and measures the results of Seoul’s pursuits to create new innovations

Practicing and diffusing the innovation agenda systematically

① Holding Seoul innovation workshops

Holding quarterly workshops in which public officials, experts, and NGOs participate
Exploring new agenda, discussing plans for the innovation agenda, inspecting the progress of such pursuits, and sharing results

② Internal and external diffusion of cases of innovation

Pursuing cooperative projects by establishing social innovation networks with domestic and overseas innovation organizations
Activating in-house learning meetings, and educating employees in an effort to bolstering innovation capabilities