The challenges we face as a nation are complex and recalcitrant; to address them, we need to be equipped with multifaceted and resilient solutions. Yet, substantial pressures – such as significant fiscal constraints, growing citizen expectations, and the rapid pace of technology – prevent the U.S. Government from efficiently and effectively solving the nation’s ills alone. The public, private, and nonprofit sectors must partner and collaborate to create lasting social change and the best solutions to address our nation’s most pressing social issues lie in the power of social innovation. Drawing from nearly thirty years of scholarship, the views of leading experts in the field of social innovation, and three case studies of social innovation offices in the United States, this paper addresses the case for social innovation in the United States by answering four key questions: what is social innovation; why does the U.S. need it; what has the U.S. government done to support social innovation; and what is the future of social innovation in this United States.

Neoliberal ideologies have been adopted through most of the developed world. In North America, they dominate and provide the backdrop for the way decisions are made, organisations are governed, and policies are considered and implemented. Universities have not been exempt from the pressures of neoliberalism and increasingly are becoming what is being referred to as ‘corporatised’. Using a multi-institutional ethnographic case study, drawing on elements of institutional ethnography and using discourse analysis and interviews, this research focused on these topics with four research intensive universities in British Columbia: UBC, UNBC, UVic and SFU. This research sought to answer the question: In what ways is corporatisation visible in the practices and discourses related to university research in British Columbia, and, in turn, what impacts are being felt? The findings from the research indicated that there is, as might be expected, strong support for post-secondary education. The rhetoric in the documents from the universities and governments shows a ‘grand vision’ for education as the cornerstone of a successful society. The findings confirm that universities are viewed internally and externally as important and that, in turn, research and discovery is paramount. However, what the research also showed was that there are differing views among those in power regarding how that vision plays out. Those differences can be summarized as: citizen preparation versus job training; social innovation versus commercial innovation; targeted research (both in the type of research carried out and to what ends); and the level of autonomy of the university. These tensions can be considered through the theoretical frameworks that guided the research: commodification (i.e., of education and research); resource dependence theory; and institutional theory. Universities are increasingly being corporatised and this is visible in: increased oversight and control by governments with regard to the direction of the university, both from an educational and research perspective; an emphasis on the fiscal bottom line; increased accountability requirements (in complexity and frequency) related to funding for educational programs and research; increased demands for, and focus on, demonstrable impacts and quantifiable measures from research; a reduced amount of collegial governance; increased bureaucracy; and pressures to adopt business models, practices, and processes from the private sector. / Graduate

Une transition globale vers la soutenabilité est un défi urgent dans un contexte actuel de dégradation rapide de la biosphère et d'accroissement des inégalités socio-économiques qui génèrent de multiples vulnérabilités. Des enquêtes qualitatives et quantitatives ont montré que des principes et des valeurs soutenables semblent émerger à l'échelle mondiale. Dans le même temps, divers mouvements sociaux revendiquent une telle transition. Le mouvement No TAV, dans la partie inférieure de la vallée de Suse en Italie, en est un exemple. Depuis les années 1990, cette zone est le théâtre d'un conflit opposant les habitants à l'Etat italien autour d’un projet de tunnel ferroviaire de 54 km sous les Alpes, reliant la vallée de Suse à la vallée française de la Maurienne. En rejetant fortement ce projet et en participant collectivement à de nombreux mouvements de résistance, les Bas-Valsusains ont progressivement donné naissance à une communauté territorialisée. Les membres sont liés par de forts liens de co-obligation et semblent partager un ensemble de principes et de valeurs soutenables. Dans cette thèse, nous interrogeons l'impact de ce contexte très particulier sur l’engagement des petits et moyens entrepreneurs locaux en faveur d’un développement soutenable à l'échelle de leur territoire. Pour ce faire, nous mettons en œuvre une démarche pragmatique, attentive à l’auto-réflexivité des acteurs.La participation à une communauté territorialisée soutenable favorise-t-elle l’engagement solidaire des entrepreneurs - en tant que tels - en faveur d’un développement soutenable ? La première partie de cette thèse interroge la pertinence et les conditions nécessaires à la mise en œuvre d’un développement soutenable. Nous y proposons la notion de communauté territorialisée, articulant le principe politique de commun et la notion de territoire. La seconde partie a pour objet la caractérisation de la communauté territorialisée bas-valsusaine. Nous y questionnons son ancrage spatial, ses principes et valeurs, ainsi que la trajectoire à travers laquelle elle a émergé. Cette communauté s’est cristallisée à travers plusieurs décennies de luttes, Elle est ancrée dans la partie basse de la vallée entre les villages d’Exilles et d’Avigliana et ses membres semblent partager des principes et valeurs soutenables. Enfin, la troisième et dernière partie de cette thèse caractérise un processus d’innovation sociale à travers lequel a émergé et s’est diffusé en basse vallée de Suse un engagement solidaire des entrepreneurs en faveur d’un développement soutenable. / A global transition towards sustainability is a pressing challenge in the current context of fast degradation of the biosphere and of rising socio-economic inequalities which generate multiple vulnerabilities. Qualitative and quantitative surveys have shown that sustainable principles and values appears to be emerging on a global scale. Various social movements have laid claim to such a transition. The No TAV movement in the lower part of the Susa valley in Italy is an example. Since the 1990’s, this area has been the scene of a territorial conflict pitting the local inhabitants against the Italian state on a 54km long railway tunnel project under the Alps, linking the Susa Valley to the French Maurienne Valley. By strongly rejecting this project and collective participation in numerous resistance movements, the Low-Valsusans have gradually become a territorialized community who’s members are linked by strong bonds of co-obligation to each other and seem to share a set of sustainable principles and values. In this thesis, we question the impact of this very peculiar context on the local small and medium entrepreneurs’ involvement into the sustainable development of their territory, trying to find out whether it influences their activities. We have conducted our investigation in a pragmatic style, paying attention to the actors’ self-reflexivity.Does the participation to a sustainable territorialized community favor the involvement of the entrepreneurs into a solidarity economy oriented towards a sustainable development? The first part of this thesis questions the relevance and the conditions necessary for the implementation of a sustainable development. We propose the notion of territorialized community, articulating the political principle of the common and the notion of territory. The second part deals with the characterization of the Low-Valsusan territorialized community. We question its spatial anchoring, its principles and values, as well as the trajectory through which it emerged. This community has crystallized through several decades of struggles. It is anchored in the lower part of the valley between the villages of Exilles and Avigliana and its members seem to share sustainable principles and values. Finally, the third part of this thesis characterizes a process of social innovation through which a solidarity involvement of the local entrepreneurs in favor of a sustainable development has emerged and spread in the lower Susa Valley.

The human social system is facing complex social issues and (new) initiatives coming from different social actors are born to try to tackle these complex social issues. Social innovation is the field where these initiatives function, so it is also a complex field to identify and frame. Thus a new theory, the Transformative Social Innovation Theory (TSI), was developed in order to frame and bring more clarification on the social innovation field to contribute to societal transition and transformation. The five TSI tools were developed from the TSI theory and they are training tools. All the TSI tools aim to (dis)empower the social innovation initiatives, actors and networks in the process of transformative social innovation. Transformative Social Innovation is the process of changes in social relations involving challenging, altering and/or replacing dominant institutions and structures which are considered to be the roots of systemic errors. This study sought to explore the Transformative Social Innovation tools from the perspective of the Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD). In this regard, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) was adopted as it provides a principle-based and scientifically-proved definition of sustainability as well as a systems thinking approach regarding the complexity of global sustainability challenges. This research project tried to identify the potential contributions of the TSI tools to sustainability and the entry points of the tools where relevant SSD features could complement them so that they can contribute to strategically move the society towards sustainability. A qualitative research approach was selected. The methodology included four research methods, namely document content analysis, interviews, the FSSD analysis and prototyping. The results of this research indicated three main contributions of the TSI tools that could help to strategically move the society towards sustainability. Five entry points where the tools could be complemented with SSD features and a set of add-ins from SSD that could complement the current TSI tools were identified. The add-ins were sent to the TSI theory authors for the expert consultation.

Until now, car ownership has been a symbol of wealth and personal freedom. The high value of the car in society has been enforced by the powerful automotive industry with their well-funded marketing budgets. Currently, there are one billion cars worldwide, possibly increasing to 2,8 billion by 2050. However, the awareness of the negative consequences of car ownership on the environment, cities, and individuals in terms of reduced personal and financial freedom is increasing. The trend towards collaborative consumption involving activities like sharing and trading is leading to a shift from ownership to the access of goods and services. In this context, carsharing is receiving more and more attention and the number of users for B2C carsharing models is increasing exponentially. The least-developed business model with the biggest opportunities in terms of environmental benefits is peer-to-peer carsharing (P2P carsharing). Providers face daunting problems in reaching critical mass, due to a lack of consumer acceptance. Academic contributions on the topic are rare. The goal of this dissertation is to capture the acceptance factors, barriers and success factors for P2P carsharing. Additionally, the phenomenon is explored within the perspective of disruptive technologies, including the connected car and autonomous vehicles. A comprehensive literature review including collaborative consumption, carsharing, and in particular P2P carsharing, has been conducted. A mixed-method approach has been used. Qualitative interviews with leading academic and industry experts in the field of collaborative consumption and shared mobility, as well as a focus group discussion, have been executed. In the quantitative survey, the identified factors have been integrated into the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM), the theoretical foundation of the work. A representative survey was conducted in Austria with 801 respondents. The results were generated by applying a partial least squares analysis. Results show that the TAM model, including the extensions, appeared to be applicable. In particular, people with an innovative mindset are open to the usage of the business model. The main motivational factors for participating are economic, utility and enjoyment. The personal attachment towards one's own car remains one of the main barriers, next to fear of sharing and loss of convenience. Success factors in increasing acceptance are - among others - trust, value-added services and keyless car exchange. The preferred usage model for autonomous vehicles tends to be ownership. Even though the awareness of P2P carsharing is rather low among the Austrian population, 13,6% state that they would use the service. Sharing one's privately owned autonomous vehicle with others met with even higher levels of approval from the respondents. The extension of the TAM, as well as its application to a new field outside information system (IS) research, can be viewed as the major academic contribution of this work. Practical implications for P2P carsharing providers and the automotive industry include strategic recommendations regarding the current disruptive trends within the automotive industry. In particular, concrete measures have been identified to scale the business model by addressing new customers and reducing the identified barriers by providing extensive knowledge of relevant success factors.

Notre recherche porte, pour l’essentiel, sur les entreprises familiales de taille intermédiaire (E.T.I.), du territoire breton. Dans le cadre de la sociologie des Professions nous avons rencontré plusieurs dirigeants d’entreprises, comprenant entre 250 à 5 000 salariés. Nous avons observé, ainsi, ce qui permet à ce concept dit d’« entreprise », à l’instar des « Mittelstand » en Allemagne, de mieux comprendre les facteurs clés de succès, fondés, notamment, sur la priorité absolue donnée au capital humain, à l’innovation, et au développement à l’international, et ce, tout en conservant un très fort ancrage « territorial ». Ainsi, nous avons interrogé des dirigeants, sur le territoire de la Bretagne historique comme « laboratoire social », pour mieux cerner le profil sociologique du chef d’entreprise familial dans les secteurs suivants : agro-alimentaire, restauration, santé, immobilier, textile, chaussure et transport. A partir de problématiques socio-économiques mais aussi sociologiques touchant le monde du travail et de l’emploi, il s’agissait aussi, d’appréhender la compétition mondiale, en particulier, dans le champ du travail : notre thèse poursuit, en fait, l’objectif d’éclairer un certain nombre de métamorphoses en rappelant, comme l’ont déjà dit de nombreux sociologues du travail, de l’organisation et des professions, que « le chômage est la cause causante de l’exclusion sociale / Our research is devoted mainly to family-owned medium-sized enterprises (MSEs) in Brittany. Working from the perspective of the sociology of professions, we met several heads of companies with between 250 and 5,000 employees. In doing so, we observed how this so-called “enterprise” concept, similar to that of “Mittelstands” in Germany, offers a better understanding of the key factors of success, based notably on human capital, innovation, and international growth beingabsolute priorities, with the business also retaining strong local roots. We interviewed company heads in the historical territory of Brittany, taken as a “social laboratory”, to acquire a better grasp of the sociological profile of family business leaders working in the following sectors: the food industry; food services; health; real estate; textiles; footwear; and transport. Taking as a starting-point various social, economic, and sociological issues affecting the world of work and employment, we also sought to shed light on global competition, in particular in the field of labour: this thesis aims to provide insights into a certain number of transformations, bearing in mind the assertion by a great many occupational sociologists that “unemployment is the root cause of social exclusion”

As iniciativas econômicas locais de caráter coletivo representam para os segmentos sociais de baixa renda, uma importante opção estratégica, capaz de transformar ou modificar determinada realidade, um caminho viável e promotor de desenvolvimento econômico e social. O surgimento desses empreendimentos tem como principal estímulo, a emergência de combater o desemprego, baixa renda e as privações decorrentes. O CREDITAG - Sistema de Cooperativas de Crédito Rural da Agricultura Familiar e Economia Solidária, no Estado de Rondônia é uma dessas iniciativas, formada por agricultores familiares, para que possam ter acesso a crédito, financiamentos dos meios de produção e insumos, já que, nem o Estado e nem as empresas, oferecem soluções às suas necessidades, pelo menos no médio prazo. E, como estratégia de fortalecimento, as cooperativas de crédito do Sistema CREDITAG em Rondônia, incorporam em seu quadro de cooperados, quatro cooperativas de produção, com o propósito de fortalecer os dois ramos cooperativistas, por meio da intercooperação, o que pode favorecer os cooperados, no tocante a tecnologia, novos produtos e serviços, redução de custos, mais canais de comercialização, dentre outros. Essa relação de intercooperação constituiu-se no objeto de análise da presente tese, cuja proposição central exposta é que para a perspectiva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, os benefícios gerados por esses modelos organizacionais, devem superar o assistencialismo e promover a inclusão social e produtiva, fortalecendo os indivíduos para a autonomia. Neste sentido, a questão de pesquisa apresentada foi a seguinte: a relação de intercooperação, entre sistema CREDITAG e suas associadas, cooperativas de produção agrícola, está promovendo, de forma sustentável, empreendedorismo coletivo, inovação social e tecnologia social? A partir da definição da questão de pesquisa, definiu-se o objetivo geral, que consiste em: elaborar um framework que permita verificar a existência de desenvolvimento sustentável, empreendedorismo coletivo, inovação social e tecnologias sociais, na relação de intercooperação entre sistema CREDITAG e suas associadas, cooperativas de produção agrícola, de Rondônia. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório-descritivo-explicativo, utilizando-se o método de estudo de campo. A questão de pesquisa e os objetivos foram abordados, sob um enfoque qualitativo e quantitativo. A coleta de dados, na etapa qualitativa deu-se por meio de entrevista informal e em profundidade e, na etapa quantitativa, procedeu-se a aplicação de questionários. Participaram da pesquisa: 95 cooperados, 6 parceiros e 11 gestores das cooperativas de crédito e de produção e do Sistema CREDITAG/base/RO. Os resultados demostram que a relação de intercooperação, se faz acompanhar de boas médias de concordância para a presença do empreendedorismo, tecnologias sociais e inovação, com destaque para a inovação social. A relação de intercooperação pode ser tratada como uma inovação social que contribui para melhoria da qualidade de vida dos produtores, para o fortalecimento das organizações integrantes e para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Apesar das fragilidades identificadas, limites históricos e estrutrais, a relação de intercooperação apresenta potencial para proporcionar a inclusão social, produtiva e bancária, contribuir para o equacionamento de problemas de ordem econômica, financeira e social dos cooperados, geração de empregos e renda e para o desenvolvimento das comunidades locais. / The local economic initiatives of collective character are to represent the low-income segments of society, an important strategic option that can transform or modify certain realities, it´s a viable path and promoter of economic and social development. The emergence of these enterprises has as its main stimulus, the emergency to combat unemployment, low income and deprivation arising. The CREDITAG – The System of Rural Credit Cooperatives of the Agriculture Family and Economic Solidarity in the State of Rondônia, is one such initiative, formed by Agriculture families, so they can have access to credit, financing by means of production and inputs, since neither the state nor the companies offer solutions to their needs, at least in the medium term. And, as a strategy for strengthening the cooperative credit system CREDITAG in Rondônia, they incorporate in its framework for cooperative members, four production cooperatives, in order to strengthen the two cooperative branches, through inter-cooperation, which can promote the cooperative with regard to technology, new products and services, cost savings, more marketing channels, among others. This intercooperation relationship constituted the object of analysis of this thesis, whose central proposition is exposed to the prospect of sustainable development; the benefits generated by these organizational models must overcome welfare and promote social inclusion and production, strengthening individuals for independence. In this regard, the research question presented was as follows: Is the intercooperation relationship between the CREDITAG system and its associated agricultural cooperatives promoting a sustainable, collective entrepreneurship, social innovation and social technology? From the definition of the research question, we defined the overall goal, which is: to develop a framework to verify the existence of sustainable development, collective entrepreneurship, social innovation and social technologies, the intercooperation relationship between the CREDITAG system and its agricultural cooperative associates, Rondônia. This is an exploratory, descriptive, explicative study, using the method of field study. The research question and objectives were covered under a qualitative and quantitative approach. The data collection in the qualitative stage took place through an in depth informal interview, and in the quantitative stage, it proceeded with questionnaires. The participants were: 95 members, 6 partners and 11 managers of the credit unions and Production System CREDITAG / base / RO. The results show that the ratio of inter-cooperation is accompanied by good means of agreement for the presence of entrepreneurship, technology and social innovation, highlighting social innovation. The intercooperation relationship can be treated as a social innovation that contributes to improving the quality of life of the farmers, to strengthen organizations and members for Sustainable Development. Despite the weaknesses identified, structure and historical boundaries, the inter-cooperation relationship has potential to provide social inclusion, production and banking contribute to the solving of problems of the economic, financial and social members, generating jobs and income for the development of local communities.

Submitted by Carlos Roberto Oliveira Cesar Fernandes (carlinhoscesar@yahoo.com) on 2014-03-24T20:30:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação 2013_final.pdf: 3318921 bytes, checksum: 294914c1562202790f756802db64cba8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2014-12-02T12:45:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação 2013_final.pdf: 3318921 bytes, checksum: 294914c1562202790f756802db64cba8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2014-12-15T11:29:24Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação 2013_final.pdf: 3318921 bytes, checksum: 294914c1562202790f756802db64cba8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-15T11:30:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação 2013_final.pdf: 3318921 bytes, checksum: 294914c1562202790f756802db64cba8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-12 / This work presents an investigation on the development of social technologies by the organizations of the Third Sector. The purpose is to analyze how the elements of participation, dialogue, innovation, knowledge and management are conducted by institutions that are not part of the State and market. Based on the concepts of citizenship and democracy, this work relates the social technologies to a dialogical and critical behavior according to the reality. The result, finally, repositions the Third Sector through a critical paradigm, emphasizing that the learning through social technologies, can be an instrument of transformation in different contexts, since the theory until the practice. / Este trabalho apresenta uma investigação sobre o fomento de tecnologias sociais através das organizações do Terceiro Setor. O propósito é analisar como os critérios de participação, diálogo, inovação, conhecimento e gestão são conduzidos por instituições que não fazem parte do Estado e mercado. Com base nos conceitos de cidadania e democracia, o trabalho relaciona as tecnologias sociais a um comportamento dialógico em função da realidade social. O resultado, enfim, reposiciona o Terceiro Setor diante de um paradigma crítico, enfatizando que a aprendizagem, por meio das tecnologias sociais, podem ser um meio de transformação em diferentes contextos, desde a concepção teórica até os resultados práticos.

Social Innovation Laboratories, or short, social labs, represent an emerging field of lab-based inquiry to sustainability transitions, which emphasize learning through experimentation to find new ways of addressing highly complex challenges. Yet, a key challenge for these initiatives is on one hand to know whether they are “on track”, on the other hand, to evaluate their contribution to addressing a complex challenge. Our hypothesis was that adaptive capacity could serve as a lens for the evaluation of a social labs impact to building social resilience and hence in building capacities necessary for a transition towards sustainability. The aim of this research was firstly to gain a better understanding of the evaluation practices of social labs and secondly to find out how the adaptive capacity of a social lab could be evaluated and might, more generally, point towards a novel approach of evaluating in complexity for strategic sustainable development. Our results suggest that adaptive capacity could support evaluations by providing a mirror for the essential features of a social lab to be resilient. We propose three key aspects to evaluate: systems thinking, trust and prototyping capacity. Yet, this is only a first stepping stone toward an evaluation framework, which will require field testing and further research.

Despite the increase of urban populations resulting in people living in close proximity to each other, society continues to operate with a focus on individual desire and hyper-consumption, at the expense of the earth’s ecologies and all that encompasses it. How can we begin to cultivate an alternative consumption model that not only focuses on the conservation of ecologies but also begins to break away from ways in which “habits, routines, social norms and cultural values lock us into unsustainable behaviours”? (Botsman, R., Rogers, R. 2010). Collaboration, through its many forms, be it ‘commons’ or modern-day ‘sharing economy’, continues to be a topic of discussion as a favourable solution to environmental, social and economic issues. This paper and design project explores the everyday practice of collaboration and its potential for activating a network in urban neighbourhoods, specifically in high-density housing. The project explores: how we can share, where we can share, and what we can share, using the sharing of household items as a seed for sustainable development. The resulting project presents methods and guidelines for cultivating collaboration in the form of a multipurpose toolkit. The toolkit “Collaboration is Cultivation” enables individuals to become activists and implement collaborative practices in their own neighbourhood. Through designerly research and a design project I shed light on the potential of the coming-together of neighbors through collaborative lifestyles that can incrementally transform neighborhoods into one’s that are socially and environmentally, sustainable, resilient and thriving.