In this brief, we describe the transformative aims of 12 social innovation networks we have studied this far, including their models of change and the interactions with their context. Many of the networks have explicit transformative ambitions and aim to make a positive societal impact, for example through environmental sustainability, social equity and fairness, and economic resilience.

This TRANSIT brief addresses the governance and politics of transformative social innovation. Social innovation means new social relations, involving new ways of doing, organizing, knowing and framing. Social innovation is ‘transformative’, when it moves beyond a single local innovation towards significantly challenging the social context. In our research project, we study 20 social innovation networks and 40 related local initiatives, most of which have such explicit transformative ambitions.

http://www.eur.nl/fileadmin/ASSETS/ihs/Research/TRANSIT/FINAL_PB_2_30_10_2015_-_NO_BLEED.pdf