There is no Social Innovation without citizens!

Building on the SEED mapping of Social Innovation in Italy, Greece, Romania and Slovenia, the webinar introduces the relevant role of citizens in the development of Social Innovation. Because citizens often generate networks made of weak and low-intensity ties and membership forms are impalpable or non-existent, their innovative projects and practices are more difficult to map. However, the map shows that most of the citizen movements were created during the years of crisis as an immediate response to the needs of society, and they operate at a very grass root level. They usually have a neighbourhood spread, their actions are often short in duration and magnitude, and they operate strictly voluntarily.

In any case, what is notable is that there cannot be any social innovation without citizens, even when the innovation is triggered and spread by public or private actors. Citizens and their well-being are always the core and involving them is not a choice.

Through the analysis of four different cases, the webinar focuses on the conditions and tools which favour the empowerment of citizens as social innovators. The speakers reflect on the potentiality of dialoguing with citizens and involving them for the development of even more efficient innovative solutions

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