Final Report Summary - INNOSERV (Innovative Social Services platform) Executive Summary:The INNOSERV project responds to the FP7-Cooperation call FP7-SSH-2011-3 for a support action concerning a social platform on innovative social services. The main aim of the project consisted in the production of an integrated research agenda outlining trends and decisive elements for innovation in social services in Europe and identifying the gaps in our knowledge. The project fully achieved its objectives and as a result of the work completed during the period of the project a final research agenda Promoting Innovation in Social Services – An Agenda for Future Research and Development was published by the end of January 2014. In order to bring together the experiences and knowledge of diverse stakeholders, INNOSERV involved researchers and policy communities as well as civil society participants. The project started with a broad review of existing research, including scientific as well as practice-oriented literature focusing on innovation in social services. The second main part of the project aimed to identify and evaluate models of innovative practice using a bottom-up process which was realized by the organization of workshops and roadshows to collect feedback on innovative practices. An important feature of the project was the use of innovative, low-threshold communication means, such as films, to overcome the communication gaps between the different stakeholders and reach out to a wide audience of scholars, practitioners, policy makers and service users. Therefore, the key instrument was a set of 20 examples of innovative services, identified through stakeholder networks and portrayed in videos so that virtual and real discussions were facilitated. The innovative practices were presented to the audience through the videos and written case studies which had both been produced during phase I and II of the project. The national and international workshops (phase III) showed that visual sociology has an enormous impact on the diverse stakeholders (the workshops as well as the roadshow geared at different audiences, including user groups, professionals, policy makers, lobbying organizations, service providers) in stimulating them to participate in the discussion on social services innovation and in evaluating the findings of the INNOSERV project. This phase of the project has turned out to be very important, primarily in showing that the collected feedback of the different stakeholders on the findings of the INNOSERV project fed perfectly into the research agenda. The consortium meeting in June 2013 was therefore held earlier than originally planned, in order to have more time for the different roadshow events, which represented a significant part of the project’s various dissemination activities and contributed to the finalization of the research agenda. In the last consortium meeting, January 28th to 29th in Paris, France, the participants reflected on the findings of the INNOSERV project as well as on the successful moments of the project and on the “lessons learned”. Apart from the delay caused by difficulties in finding an appropriate project logo and by setting up the INNOSERV website, the members concluded that feedback through social media and responses to the online questionnaire failed to live up to the expectations even though a large number of users visited the INNOSERV website. An important phase of the project was dedicated to the various dissemination activities, especially the organization of the workshops and roadshow events. The attention shown to the dissemination activities paid off, with high and active participation in the project’s workshops and roadshow events which constitute in their integrative nature the core of the INNOSERV project.During the period of the project several scientific papers on innovation in social services have been published in journals and anthologies. More publications and presentations on this topic and on the project’s findings as well as a TV documentary on the INNOSERV project are planned for the near future. Project Context and Objectives:ObjectivesThe INNOSERV project responds to the FP7-Cooperation call FP7-SSH-2011-3 for a support action concerning a social platform on innovative social services. It stresses the participation of research and the policy communities as well as of civil society participants. A systematic search process was established that brings together the knowledge of these diverse stakeholders. In order to produce an integrated research agenda, key trends and decisive elements for innovation in social services were identified. This project pursues several objectives:• Highly communicable ‘innovative service examples’: to present a solid picture of recently developed innovative practices meeting differentiated needs in the sectors of health, education and welfare by producing short visual films representing key aspects of innovative service delivery and outcomes.• Dialogue on and evaluation of trends of policy making by involving a wide range of different stakeholders throughout Europe. The scientific community shall analyse and systematise the theoretical discussion on innovation in health, education and welfare services in order to present its findings to policy makers, professionals and users. A multi-level dialogue and evaluation process between the stakeholders is to be installed by the use of new media.• Substantial input for further research activities in the EU 2020 strategy: To identify future scenarios for social services in Europe with regard to the sectors of health, education, and welfare. New perspectives on innovative social services are to be unclosed by combining insights from practical models of innovation with the theoretical analysis carried out by researchers.• Concentrated activities – sustainable structures: In order to meet the requirements of the call the platform structures established during the project period will be sustainable in a way that they are suited to enrich the work on social services beyond this platform. Project context and conceptThe project was driven by a consortium that brought together key representatives of research, practice and policy communities in the field of social service planning and delivery to mutually assess recent trends in science, practice and policy, identify knowledge gaps and propose research questions and agendas to address them. An important feature of the project was the use of innovative, low-threshold communication means, such as films to overcome the communication gaps between these worlds and reach out to a wide audience of scholars, practitioners, policy makers and service users. Therefore, the key instrument was a set of 20 examples of innovative services, identified through stakeholder networks and be portrayed in videos so that virtual discussions were facilitated. They were discussed with stakeholders throughout Europe on web-based platforms, video conferences and regional workshops. The INNOSERV platform took a wide vision to reflect the complexity of the different perspectives on social services and how they work together in today’s social/health/care systems (e.g. the division of work between formal and informal care). It looked at services as a process of socialisation by which (i) responsibility is accepted by societal institutions to support individuals in their daily life and (ii) seeing individuals not as isolated beings but as part and parcel of social entities of different kinds. More recently social services have been defined as economic ‘goods’ which can be traded. This has challenged some more traditional views of social change to promote greater social equality, though the two perspectives are not necessarily incompatible. This project therefore recognised that social services systems have developed as specific services and as a wider function of society as they develop in different member state economies in relation to social change and our understanding of society. They also clearly relate to the various models of ‘social protection’ in place across the EU4, and more recently have been defined in relation to the ‘active Inclusion of people excluded from the labour market’. This wide scope on social services was then focused on key developments through empirical and analytical work of the consortium members. Innovation in social services were investigated in the fields of health, education, and welfare and across these fields by focusing on: (1) the practical cooperation and networking of actors across different service fields, (2) the emergence of hybrid organizations which combine features of NPOs/NGOs, profit-organizations, and volunteer associations; (3) the collaboration of professionals from different disciplines with policy makers, users, and volunteers. The consortium did not only focus on highly differentiated service sectors but also sought innovation across sector boundaries (‘blurring boundaries’). Crossing the sectors can reveal new ways for increasing access to services and better adjustment to users needs, reduced costs and increased effectiveness (including wider social costs/benefits in terms of transaction costs), the quality of provision and the reduction of individual/household risk. The approach was therefore based on the three following criteria:• Diagnosis of the current trends and directions from literature research about social services in the fields of health, education, and welfare and the analysis of policy documents concerning social services in Europe. • The study and communication of innovative practice was managed through case studies which combine theoretical insights of the literature research with practical aspects of innovative service ideas already put into practice. The case studies were used to initiate discussions among and with stakeholders about innovative services in many different contexts in Europe. Each case displayed at least one innovative service aspect or principle or a combination of several aspects. The cases were disseminated using new information technologies.• Using methodological tools to facilitate and guide the discussion, the reflection with diverse stakeholder groups identified key issues, gaps, demands, and give indications for further research. A wide range of varying stakeholders (professionals, users, policy makers) at different levels (local, regional, national, European) discussed examples of innovation provided in the case studies. Overall objectiveThe project had the overall objective of establishing a social platform in order to suggest innovative research agendas to evaluate different and innovative approaches used to tackle difficulties and the increasing and differentiated needs social services are actually facing in Europe. The project then reflected a number of different purposes to which the methodological approach needed to be sensitive. The project also had a descriptive purpose – to map, and make sense of, the ways in which innovation can underpin social services design and implementation. More importantly, however, the project had an analytical and exploratory purpose: creating knowledge and improving understanding about. Finally, the study had a prescriptive purpose meaning that its methodological approach needed to be able to apply what has been learned to support the next research agendas on social services.Within this context, the following are the project’s specific impacts, which will be further examined in section 4.1.4:1) Increase knowledge on what can be considered innovative in social services2) Increase the chances for discussion3) Increase participation and empowerment of different stakeholders involved in the project in the design and managing of innovative social services on different communities and sectors.4) Increase the possibility of disseminating excellence and exchanging innovative practices and enhance the transferability of innovation and mutual learning between different social economies.5) Increase the use of new technologies for sharing knowledge and increase stakeholders and users participation.To reach all the impacts identified above, the importance of a European approach was paramount. The European approach reveals similarities and helps to better understand what works under what conditions and how innovative social services can cope with changes (at demographic and socio-economic level). In addition, it is important to underline the fact that Member States face common challenges such as demographic change, women’s decreasing potential to care due to their increasing participation in paid work (part or full time), and migration or, more recently, economic recession all requiring coordinated responses. These challenges inform innovation in social services but also require new and innovative ways in which services should be organised, resourced and delivered. The involvement of 9 partners coming from different countries which represent different welfare approaches and different implementation levels of innovative social services in the field of health, education and welfare represented a high European added value the project brought in. In addition to that, project’s team members actively work in European universities and research centres and are personally involved in social research and in collaboration with social service practitioners. This strongly contributed to get a wide understanding of what is currently going on in these fields and to directly involve national/regional stakeholders on specific issues/themes.To overcome elements and external factors which may condition impacts, the project had been designed in a flexible way keeping in mind that research should be continuously updated and that media technology used in communication could change as well during the project.An important motivation of the Social Platform was to create synergies and explore complementarities within the whole European space. This requirement was based on the fact that strengthening research capacities thanks to an improved access to knowledge had to be considered not only from regional, but also trans-regional and European points of view. Project Results:The project delivered an innovative research agenda to evaluate the plurality of approaches to meet new demands and changes challenging social services. The main strategy of the project therefore connected learning from existing innovative practices across countries as well as learning from research that has already been done in this field.The project was therefore structured in three main sections which belonged to two different project periods:1) Identifying and systemizing the theoretical discussion on innovation in 13 languages EU-wide2) Investigating, identifying, evaluating and reflecting innovative practice in the fields of health, welfare services and education3) Combining these two approaches to identify innovation opportunities in theoretical and practical service delivery contexts.Process strategyThe project delivers an innovative research agenda to evaluate the plurality of approaches to meet new demands and changes challenging social services. The main strategy of the project therefore connects learning from existing innovative practices across countries as well as learning from research that has already been done in this field.The project is therefore structured in three main parts, whereas the first two parts belong mainly to project period 1 and the third part to period 2:4) Identifying and systemizing the theoretical discussion on innovation in 13 languages EU-wide5) Investigating, identifying, evaluating and reflecting innovative practice in the fields of health, welfare services and education6) Combining these two approaches to identify innovation opportunities in theoretical and practical service delivery contexts.Part 1): Innovation from Science – Literature Review (has been carried out in period 1)The project started with a broad review of existing research. The review includes scientific as well as practice-oriented literature focusing on innovation in social services.WP 1 is subdivided in two phases:Phase I) Since most of the literature published throughout Europe is written in either English, French or German, the review starts with these three languages in the first phase. Results from this first review have been presented and discussed in a consortium meeting. They were focused to identify criteria for innovation which then was used for the further research including other European languages. Phase II) After an initial meeting, the first set of criteria for innovation in social services was used to guide the further research in literature published in other languages (13 European languages).The research in Part 1) was intentionally an open heuristic process without a fixed set of criteria. WP 2 focused on first results and identified theoretical criteria for analyzing ‘innovative service practices’.Part 2): Innovation from Practice – Review of Models of Good Practice (has been carried out in period 1)Starting alongside Part I, the second main part of the project aimed to identify and evaluate models of innovative practice using a bottom-up process.WP 3: Varieties of stakeholders as well as members of the consortium and the advisory board were involved in a ‘peer recommendation’ and in a ‘snowball sampling’ process in order to guarantee a broad basis of practical approaches making use of various networks. Similarly to Part I, the second part started as an open heuristic process without a fixed set of criteria.WP 4: Out of the expected range of more than 160 innovative projects, 20 examples were chosen in accordance with the preliminary criteria of innovation gained in part I.WP 5-7: The 20 examples were examined by a twofold method. In an initial step the main characteristics of the projects were demonstrated through visual portrayals of the innovative ideas developed in conjunction with a specialist media agency. The visualization aims to provide easy access to models for practitioners in order to involve as many stakeholders as possible in the evaluation process and to transfer innovation across countries without language barriers. This visual material will then be used for further examination and accompanied by case studies of the examples.WP 8: Visual material was discussed using a wide range of communication media; attending national workshops, regional meetings of professional or user groups, spreading the examples through the internet and social networks. The reactions have been documented by our feedback method.At the end of Part II the consortium started to develop findings from practice with theory in order to identify commonly held understandings as well as clear differences in methods or ideas.Part 3): Innovation in Research – Research Agenda (has been carried out in reporting period 2)WP 9: Two international workshops were held in Budapest (8 May 2013) and Brussels (17 May 2013) in order to discuss the results from theory and practice that have been identified in Part 1) and Part 2). The aim was to summarize the status quo and the future challenges facing social services in Europe and to propose an agenda of research problems and strategies for finding solutions. In order to reach these aims and to debate the future scenario of innovation in social services, a participative approach was chosen. At the beginning of the workshop a presentation was hold that described the first results as well as the next steps of the INNOSERV project. During the workshop discussion, barriers and main trends regarding innovation in social services have been identified and desirable and undesirable scenarios related to the development of innovative social services have been assessed.The findings and open questions resulting from the discussion during the two workshops fed in the process of elaboration of a Research Agenda (which was the task of Work package 10). WP 10: Again researchers as well as stakeholders and the advisory board were involved in the process of transforming findings and open questions into a draft research agenda. Based on the comprehensive WP 10 report carried out by Roskilde University and as a result of the Consortium Workshop held in Roskilde, decisions on knowledge were made and a draft research agenda was prepared. WP 11: Finally a road show opened the room for stakeholders (practitioners and especially policy makers on transnational level) to discuss the results, the agenda and complete the research agenda with their approach to EU-policy (). On the basis of the draft research agenda three different Stakeholder briefs (for policy makers, researchers and practitioners) were prepared. In these targeted documents key themes that affect a range of stakeholders were identified. The stakeholder briefs generated thereby inputs on the future development of social services and provided valuable stimuli for an engaged and collaborative discussion of the practical, policy and research issues that affect potentials and threats of innovation in social services and how these would have to be managed and governed under consideration of varying contexts and the influence of new technologies. Considering the results of various discussions (i.e. skype conference with Advisory Board) a revised version of the research agenda and an executive summary translated in the EUs working languages (English, French, German) were produced. In a final conference that took place in Paris at the end of January the final results of the INNOSERV project were discussed and evaluated within the consortium and other participants. The following four work packages were running throughout the entire project lifetime and have been supporting the single activities continuously.WP 14: One of the aspects of the project that helped and currently still promotes its visibility and awareness to the wider public is the set of dissemination activities, which, for this project, were part of work package 14. Work package 14 is part of the external management work packages and covered almost all the duration of the project. Its main objectives were to disseminate the INNOSERV Social Platform in order to increase the value of innovative service delivery practices in Europe and to increase interest and knowledge in these practices among policy makers and service providers; to promote the project outputs and the exchange of information amongst the community. In order to realise those results, special attention has been dedicated to the promotion and the presentation of the project through various tools and activities.The dissemination strategy was designed to address different types of stakeholders through different tools and means. The target groups were international/national/regional players who have a relevant role in the implementation of social services, such as public administrations, innovation agencies, practitioners, researchers, but also potential users of social services. Aside to ad-hoc events, mailings and distribution of (e)-material which facilitate a passive awareness of the subjects treated, also some proactive involvement of stakeholders has been searched for, notably through lobby activities at national/regional and transnational level (WP 8, 9, 11) and direct exchange with European organizations and agencies in order to get feedbacks and inputs from key decision makers.In total the following reports were produced within this work-package: • A dissemination strategy • A mailing list for promotion and dissemination purposes • Scientific publications • Templates for reporting purposes. WP 12: WP aimed at the concept, development and continuous improvement of a web based platform. The use of new media technologies embedded in an online platform was one of the central elements of the INNOSERV project. Using these innovative technologies, the consortium tends to strengthen:• Communication within the consortium• Providing software tools for collecting and structuring information and supplying decision processes• Presenting visual material• Involving stakeholders• Dissemination of resultsThe interactive website has the objective to empower the end user of the platform and to provide user-friendly interface and easy access to storage facilities all through a simple browser. The INNOSERV platform hosts translation tools for the ‘core’-languages of the EU. The empirical visualized material is hosted on the website with a two-tiered access, one only for consortium members and one for the public. The Website is linked with social networks like Facebook or Twitter and provides voting tools for evaluating the case studies and the visualized materials. For the consortium members, the website serves as a platform for records and transcription of meetings, blogs, chats, messages etc. WP 13: The production and analysis of visual examples of innovative practices was an essential part of the project. It therefore needed a special management for supervising the whole process, assuring the close cooperation between the consortium, the organizations and the subcontracted media company and guaranteeing the final visual material is of high quality. In order to guarantee a smooth process throughout the whole production, a tender document „Social Platform on Innovative Social Services – Innoserv Media Project“, was created in order to support the open call for subcontracting a professional film team. The document supplied in detail all relevant expectations of the contracting authority towards the final film-team. Interested film teams planning to participate in the open call were using this document as a guideline and created their budget, treatment and the visual references according to this strict outlines.WP 15: WP 15 aimed at managing the whole project according to time schedule and budget. WP 15 ensured to run the project under Quality assurance and to ensure proper Knowledge Management and communication of the project results. In addition, the management task included the mediation of the decision-making process and to solve problems in conflicts and different interests. To ensure the dissemination of the results was also part of WP 15. Work progress and achievements during the project WP1 – Literature review in English, French, German (sectors of health, education and welfare)The main aim of the literature review was to answer the question “What does innovation in social services in Europe mean?” Based upon empirical evidence and theoretical information available – the status quo of research and the input from practitioners – the literature review was aimed at detecting current trends and directions. The information had these objectives to identify:1. concepts and definition (dimension and sub-dimension) of innovation and innovative approaches in the field of social services on one hand, and on the other hand research fields and themes to investigate innovation for social services provision. 2. factors driving innovation, types of innovation prevalent in each sector, new forms of social services, innovative practices and fields, new targets, demands and social needs as determined by the current demographic, economic and political situation in Europe3. practical cooperation and networking of actors across different service fields and governance level but also the role of competition in the social services sector; the emergence of hybrid organizations, and volunteer associations; the role and collaboration of different actors (users, beneficiaries, volunteers, paid staff and professionals, policy shapers and mangers, social and organizational representatives controlling social services organizations, financiers and directors investing in and controlling commercial enterprises);4. key issues and challenges in researching and analysing innovation in social services considering a methodological level, a practical level and a political level The definition of social services of general interest used was that proposed by the European Commission (2006), based on which a working definition of innovation in social services was proposed: “innovations are those social services that meet individuals’ needs in the areas of health, education and care living in wider society through the promotion of social interaction for mutual support and the delivery of organisational arrangements for the provision of directed support to individuals or groups.”The review was carried out to identify and analyse the concept and state of the art, the contents (and impacts) of Innovation in Social Services for each chosen field including practical examples of significant innovative forms and trends, and demand for further research. The aim was to obtain an idea of key innovative aspects and to identify the main trends for social service provision, their logic, problematic aspects, socio-economic impact of these innovations, new capacity of services to be more inclusive, and gaps within our scientific knowledge.A bibliography was compiled using a variety of methods and two Group Libraries were created in Zotero to collect and to collaboratively manage bibliographic data.The Final Literature Report presents the main findings from the review dividing the literature into themes. A definition, concepts of innovation and a state of the art of literature - with its strengths and limitations are provided. The report clarifies the terminology used and analyses the links and overlaps between the topic reviewed and other ones such as social innovation, service innovation and social change. It further shows what the literature tells us about innovation in each field and in cross-sectoral services. Finally, it includes a section on the criteria (and key words) to identify innovation in social services in Europe, as they arise from the literature. A table summarising the results of the literature review can be found in the Appendix (p. 1). WP2 – Literature based criteria for innovation in social servicesThis work package drew on the results of the literature review plus the work undertaken to identify innovative social services to detect theoretical trends and criteria for innovative service development practices. Following the review of these work packages, the key elements of innovation for the INNOSERV project were identified as:• relevance to current and future societal challenges• type of innovation response• novelty• improvement• sustainability• context of innovation These inputs have been formed into a criteria framework used to show key links between innovation and the pressures for change and development in social services to identify future developmental trends, and to link key aspects of innovation with current and future challenges which are driving innovation and social change.In addition, key societal changes were identified and developed as drivers of innovation, including:• demographic change• citizen aspirations• lifestyle• technology• continued inequalities• independent living philosophy• changing social roles• organizational changesThe framework assists in identifying the innovation phenomena, potential and processes important to future research in this area. It interlinks aspects of innovation (novelty, type, context, improvement, sustainability) with analysis of challenges and changes which are acting as driving forces of innovation in social services. As the project is future facing, it is proposed that key social challenges and changes are likely to inform the development of new change paradigms for the delivery of social services across Europe.A draft of a graph visualising the factors that influence Social Services Innovation had been developed during WP2, which was supposed to be finalised at the end of WP 8. WP 3 – Local collection of innovative practiceThe partners of the INNOSERV project assembled 167 innovative practices in health, education and welfare from 20 European countries and about 750 service providers have been contacted. A structured template has been used to describe each practice and to gather information on its innovative character, the origins of the innovation and its impact (see Appendix, p. 7-11). Some partners integrated this template with interviews with chosen professionals and stakeholders taking into account the representativeness of the different service fields of the project. Those project partners who are membership-based organisations used their networks to distribute the template. Of the innovative examples collected, 74 are in the field of welfare, 23 in the field of health and 23 in that of education. 47 examples are so-called blurring examples overlapping several of the service fields. Only 4 combine services from education and health. This means that approximately 45% of all examples deal with welfare issues which are understandable bearing in mind that welfare covers a whole range of services. Education and health are more regulated service fields leaving less room for innovation.The sample of innovative practices illustrated the need and efficiency of innovation in social services for the user and the service provider addressing actual evolutions in society.In work package 3, the different types of innovation in social services were described: innovation can deal with new services and/or co-operation across different service fields and new forms of organisations in cooperation with authorities, the stakeholders and/or citizens. New ways of financial resourcing may enable the start of new services. Also the delivery of the service can be innovative being based on targeted actions or on new target groups. Secondly, possible origins for innovation, such as increased professionalism in service management in form of new working methods or new managerial models, were identified. Innovation can grow from within the organisation of the service provider with the objective to address unmet social needs. Thirdly, this work package offered an overview of broader factors and drivers in society that may have positive influence on innovative projects, including:• aspirations and rising expectations of users• establishment of social rights as alternative to charity• changing social roles• demographic changes• innovative developments in political and social policies• scientific and technological advances• new medical knowledge and improved health provision• development in social economy• corporate social responsibility• new models borrowed from other countriesFinally, the results of this work package gave an overview of the possible impact of the projects on the user, the service provider and society (for more detailed information, refer to the pages 12- 21 of the Appendix). The sample of innovative practices showed, that new services mostly mean integrated services from different sectors, e.g. social care is added to health care. However, some innovative social services are country specific: In Eastern Europe more new practices deal with out-migration and multi-culturalism whereas in Germany and the UK a greater health marketization influences innovations in social services. Despite those differences, in all service fields providers search for responses to the same evolutions in society: aspirations of users, demographic change, decrease of social networks, inequalities, changed lifestyles and social roles, management and managerial models, technology. WP 4 – European compared selection of innovative practice and clustering of examplesThe aim of this work phase was to select 20 European innovative practice examples out of all the projects sampled across Europe. The intention was not to carry out a selection of best practice examples. Rather, the selection considered the wide coverage of the three fields analysed within INNOSERV and the widest possible geographical spread. The examples were evaluated according to theoretical knowledge gathered in the first work packages that led to the framework of innovation criteria. The selection process started by selecting a pilot project, the Norwegian project ‘Ammerudjhemmet’ (a nursing home that works as a hub for local community interaction), which was considered to be eligible for the following reasons:• cross generational and community aspects• integrated approach 8local community, volunteers, civil society, public sector working together)• language criteria (testing the video agency)• addressing different kinds of societal challenges (unemployment, elderly, nursing services)• in line with the EC intention to support social innovation to improve the quality of care services for the elderlyIn a next step, the remaining service examples were clustered and analysed by expert groups, which were chosen in accordance with the specific expertise of the Consortium partners. The aim of the selection process was to collect detailed information about the selected illustrative practice examples including various means of media. The collection of the European service examples was clustered into 6 service fields. In addition to the categories education, health and welfare, the cross sectoral fields of education and health, education and welfare as well as health and welfare were added. After a pre-selection, the consortium went through the results from WP 1 to 3. Therefore, the set of criteria used for the selection of innovative social services examples is mainly a result of the discussions within this selection process. Based on the information and discoveries from the sampled examples and criteria identified in WP3, the reports from the language based literature review (WP1) as well as the identification of drivers for innovation (WP2) the INNOSERV Consortium came to the criteria model which you can find in the Appendix (p. 6). This criteria model is based on the draft developed during WP 2 and includes the findings of WP1-4, which had been discussed during a consortium meeting in March 2013 in Budapest. Therefore, the evaluation of the service examples was guided by the following questions, which were raised with the aim of understanding what innovation in social services really means:• Does the reason for starting the innovative social service match with one of the drivers identified in the relevant service field?• In which way does the service respond to the drivers?• How can we classify ‘novelty’ in this service?• What are the other hallmarks of the service?The main result of this work package is a list of 20 European social service innovations that have been selected through the criteria identified by WP2. A list containing the selected services can be found in the Appendix (p. 22). Praxis examples from different European regions had been considered, in order to produce case studies that take into account different welfare systems and their respective influence on innovation in social services. WP 5 – Language based regional cooperation with selected innovative practicesandWP 6 – Production of 20 visuals (short films about selected examples)Work packages 5 and 6 did not lead to results in form of a set of criteria or a list of innovative service examples as the preceding work packages did, but are nevertheless considered highly important tools for the coordination and production process of the 20 short films about the selected examples and should therefore be described in this final report. After the selection process, each National Team and the EU-wide umbrella organizations had approximately 2-3 organizations representing innovative practice examples. These organizations were selected for the visualization (filming) process. The aim of WP5 was to prepare the visualization process. Within that the following steps were to be made: • Contacting selected example organization and informing them on the aims of the project. • Identifying them for using different visual methods for documenting their activities. • Consider possible ethical issues connected to video filming and the use of individual-related data in Case Studies. • Getting an informed consent and a letter of intent online for every example. The special task of this work package, carried out by one of the Consortium members, consisted in providing guidance for the national partners about the preparation process and to assist the filming of the pilot case study. The visualization of the selected practice examples required careful preparation. First of all, the National Teams had to contact selected organizations, which had to sign a letter of intent for taking part in the INNOSERV project. Through a communication process, within which the innovative service examples were asked to take part actively, National Teams negotiated the timing, place and modes of filming. Then steps of the preparation for the filming process were identified in a guideline paper and disseminated to partners at a Consortium Meeting. The guideline for the national teams explaining the filming process can be found in the appendix (p. 23-27).Meanwhile, a pilot filming project was carried out in Oslo, Norway. The pre-final version of the film was watched and discussed at a consortium meeting, so that the partners had a closer view on the filming process and could raise question, make suggestions or recommendations. Having contacted the selected projects, and after having received sufficient (visual and written) information on them, such information had to be sent to the Media Team by the National Teams. The Media Team meanwhile prepared the schedule of the filming process. Work package 6 cared for the production of discussion materials on challenges, solutions and innovation in social services. Different methodologies, like visualising, and the methods of “visual sociology” as well as the usage of new media technical devices were used in order to present the selected examples. Together with the subcontracted film team, all consortium members were involved in the shooting of the videos and were supposed to provide background material for each case. The main tasks were as follows:• Cooperation and preparing of innovative examples by stakeholder, task force and media agency.• Producing 5-7 min media-material on the selected examples• Managing the feedback loops with different expert teams (national teams, WP leaders and film team) at several stages of the finalization processThe production was done in cooperation with the national teams, the subcontracted media team, Budapest Institute and the University of Hamburg. The production of visual examples took three phases: 1. Preparation and writing scripts;2. Shooting the films; 3. Editing and subtitling.The short films, all around 5-6 minutes, were being uploaded to YouTube and to the webpage of the INNOSERV consortium. The new media provides an excellent possibility for the dissemination of innovative examples. The films serve as “digests” to the case studies that have been written by the national teams about the selected and filmed project examples (WP7). Furthermore, they were used in national and international workshops to facilitate discussions over innovation in the field of social services all over Europe. A list containing detailed information about the different short films, including a link to the relevant website, can be found in the Appendix (p. 27). WP 7 – Theoretical case studiesThe objective of work package 7 was to produce background material on the visualized innovative practice example in form of theoretical case studies: • Connection of visual material with earlier theoretical work and the developed matrixes.• Systematic documentation (written case study) of activity of the selected, innovative projects/stake-holders.• Discussions on the collated information and visual material with the selected stakeholders, selected members of consortium and advisory board.The theoretically informed case studies point to a wide and differentiated range of factors that drive innovation in social services as well as a broad variety of responses. Despite all variation, a first observation is that most of the project examples focus on process innovation rather than on product innovation. Often this process innovation is accompanied by an increased professionalism in service delivery. But what stimulated these innovations? We can identify hard and soft drivers. Hard drivers mainly appear at macro or meso levels, often in the form of legal developments and regulations. On the contrary, soft drivers relate to ideas, attitudes and discourses. Very often a combination of different soft and hard drivers can be found in the selected innovative project examples. With regard to organisational responses, we can identify five approaches, which are often interlinked: inclusion, individualisation, informalisation, outreach and lowering thresholds to access, influencing public opinion and resource mobilisation or transformation. With a comparative analysis of the case studies, some main Incubators of innovation and interdependent factors in innovative processes could be found: Most important here are the agents of change. The described and analysed categories can be merged to three different clusters of innovation: A Nonprofit-Public Alliance, a Professional-Advocacy- Alliance and a cluster on Public Initiatives. Projects belonging to the Non-profit-Public Alliance generally have an agent of change at the organizational level (e. g. a manager). This agent of change often supports the conception of new innovative services on the basis of pilot projects. Innovative projects that are mainly initiated through organisational agents of change are usually financed through public resources. On the contrary, projects belonging to the Professional-Advocacy-Alliance are mainly pushed forward by agents of change at the professional level. They often seek for cooperation with users´ initiatives and are building advocacy coalitions to reach their objectives. The third cluster focuses on non-profit organisations. Projects of this category are generally driven by agents of change in the form of policy makers or framework setters. The focus on inclusion is one key aspect of this cluster. These projects often try to bring people back into society through providing them with specific knowledge, a specific level of education or similar resources. Within the official report for WP7, the visualizations are explained and re-embedded in their institutional and methodological framework by providing a theoretically orientated case study on each innovative practice example. The theoretical work completed in work packages 1 and 2 functions as helpful input for setting up these case studies. A case study is about 2 to 5 pages long and includes a short explanation of the specific framework, the innovativeness, the potential and the added value. For more detailed information about the production of theoretically formed case studies out of visualisations see the commented draft case study in the Appendix (p. 29). The role of different participants can be summed up as follows:• HAW Hamburg: Monitoring process, supporting national task forces• Consortium partners: gathering and recording information about the selected organization and its history as well as current social and economic circumstances, sharing this information with peers and advisory board• Stakeholders: taking part in the process of gathering information, critical review of the final material by specific online accessWP 8 – Feedback / response from stakeholder groups EU wideThe work package aimed to compare frameworks for innovative practice by evaluation of European service practices with regional participants. It was about setting up a workshop framework for the discussion of innovative examples that had been selected in WP4. Under the use of the videos and the theoretically informed case studies, the consortium used existing national networks for feedback. With various media (online discussion, new media and social networks, real workshops, visiting existing groups of professionals, experts or user groups) the central concept of comparisons of innovative practice and participation was drawn up. Detailed guidelines and a template for the national teams about the local workshop for discussion (see Appendix p. 36) were prepared and handed to the partners. The concept was implemented by direct comparison, and by presenting specific audiences in local and national fields of work with specific examples from different fields or different national backgrounds. Each partner organized one or more workshops involving a different range of actors, mostly professionals, but also users and/or students. During these events, the organizer showed a certain number of videos and facilitated discussion on the innovative practices presented through the focus group methodology. A total of 42 local workshops were held with 97 presentations of the videos. For each video presentation, feedback drafted in accordance with the WP8 guidelines was prepared. Involvement of local stakeholders and dissemination of the innovative practices identified within the project were the overall aims of the local workshops. Specifically, the focus groups had the following objectives:• to involve local stakeholder groups in discussion on and comparison of INNOSERV innovative practices;• to identify core elements of innovation, ways to improve and develop the innovative practices selected, and alternative ways to meet the same needs;• to discuss potential barriers against engagement, obstacles, negative effects in implementing innovative practices;• to analyse to what extent a specific innovative service can be expected to work elsewhere (other contexts, fields or target groups);• to identify future challenges in social service innovation and provide input for the research agenda, discussing ‘cases’ that combine within-case analysis and comparisons across cases (and contexts) and are especially suited to move on from the nation to the European level.Feedbacks have been collected around the following four topics: 1. Core elements of innovation, Effective Principles, Changes, Processes2. Improvement and development3. Transferability, Adaptation and Innovation Spreads4. Issues and Future ChallengesThe work in WP 8 can be split into the following areas: • giving the examples from different countries back to the public with the background material and reflect the discussions• the crucial empirical data here are the videos/visual media• discussions down to the level of professional practitioners and users will be enabled by presenting the videos, the background information and the discussion in the national language.At the end of Part II/WP 8 the consortium started to develop findings from practice with theory in order to identify commonly held understandings as well as clear differences in methods or ideas.WP 9 – Cross national workshops on Innovative Social ServicesThe objective of INNOSERV Work Package 9 was to organise two international workshops bringing together academic researchers and high level experts of social services to assess the status quo and identify future challenges related to innovation in the social service sector in Europe (see Invitations International Workshops, Appendix p. 48 and Guidelines for Project Partners, Appendix p. 44)). The feedback collected about the identification of trends, gaps, future challenges, future drivers of innovation, agents of change were intended to be used to feed into the process of elaboration of the INNOSERV Research Agenda. With regards to the aim of feeding into a research agenda, the objectives of WP9 can be summarized as follows: • To summarise the status quo of and the future challenges facing social services of general interest in Europe.• To propose an agenda of research problems and strategies for finding solutions followed by a brief sum up of the knowledge that is already in place.In order to reach these aims and to debate the future scenario of innovation in social services, a participative approach was chosen. At the beginning of the workshop a presentation was hold that described the first results as well as the next steps of the INNOSERV project (see Appendix p. 50-80). During the workshop discussion, barriers and main trends regarding innovation in social services have been identified and desirable and undesirable scenarios related to the development of innovative social services have been assessed. Participants tried to look at a longer-term future of society. This provided a basis for developing future strategies and identifying research gaps. The approach required participants to take an active role in the whole project process of identifying bridges between the available knowledge and the future agenda for research on innovative social services. During the workshop four different topics were discussed; the questions were used by the moderators to guide the discussion: The EU and innovation in social services• What is the EU framework for innovation? • How are on-going activities financed if innovation is the “buzzword” for funding? • How to ensure continuity of services? • What should be the best environment to support innovation at local level? Possible barriers for innovation in social services• How can innovation serve the objective of sustainability? • How to prevent the “risk to fail”? • To what extent can social innovation serve purposes other than what the innovators have in mind? • What can actually be scaled up? • What innovation should be followed-up and mainstreamed? Innovation and the quality of services• Until when/to what point is a project or a service innovative? • How does innovation increase the quality of services? • How is quality measured? (linked to the more general topic of measuring social outcomes) • Innovation as a creative/destructive process: What might get lost in this process? What is replaced with new, innovative ideas? Territorial/functional/organisational aspects of innovation• Is there more innovation in cities than in rural circumstances? • Is innovation happening more in NGOs than in public organisations? What about for profit social services? • How is innovation different in Eastern and in Western Europe? Is there any specificity about post-socialist countries? Therefore, the two results of this work package consist in the 2 international workshops (one in Budapest and one in Brussels) and the 2 reports about these international workshops. Key issues related to the EU framework for innovation, possible barriers and specific aspects of innovation in social services have been identified by high level experts during the international workshops. These inputs fed into the preparation of the INNOSERV Research Agenda, which was the final objective of INNOSERV Work Package 10. WP 10 – Towards a research agendaThe main aim of the work package was to take the suggestions of researchers and stakeholders and to look at knowledge at hand and mapping of innovative practices all over the EU. Together with the consortium, it came to a decision on knowledge that will be needed in the near future. The result of WP10 is the composition of a draft research agenda, which was further examined and developed through WP 11, where the road show took place. The European welfare systems are under pressure to transform and adapt to the challenges of today and tomorrow in a globalizing world. This especially involves the comprehensive field of the services provided within health, welfare and informal education – services that we all use at one point or another in our lifetimes.Generally speaking, social services are changing. The changes refer to a diverse set of themes that have been identified in the research process of the INNOSERV project. The seven resulting themes and further sub-themes are not meant to cover the entire field of innovation in social services, not to speak of the broader field of social innovation. Social innovation includes the rather diffuse shifts and developments that affect societal attitudes, behaviours and compartment. It thereby has a strong relation to social change. It can be both its cause and its effect. Innovation in social services can of course have similar relations to broader societal change and the rather intangible factors surrounding it (including the influence of social movements for instance). However, it contains an emphasis on the “organizational” or “directed” aspects of innovation and thus far as it puts stress in innovation in service provision as a rather formalized embodiment of innovation ideas and streams. This will become evident in the description of themes and connected issues below. The brief portray of themes shall serve as a guide to readers on the comprehensive perspective of the research agenda developed in the INNOSERV project.Against this background short profiles of the most relevant issues and questions have been compiled to address key stakeholders in a targeted way. The main stakeholders identified are: practitioners and users of services, policy makers and researchers. The draft research agenda is therefore divided into three different parts. Each part contains a specific focus on selected aspects. The portraits are not meant to be exclusive. Literally every theme in itself contains vital questions which are of interest to all three stakeholder groups. However, for the sake of clarity we have chosen to provide specific spotlights by picking particular aspects from the following seven themes. The first theme, “User-centred services and approaches“, refers to personalization, cross-sector cooperation and the increasing interaction between professionals, users and volunteers. User-centeredness is about a paradigmatic shift towards the users: user-involvement (re)shaping process, shifting roles and functions of actors and rethinking and developing competences of actors, users and volunteers. Obviously this will not only come with beneficial aspects that are for instance often ascribed to phenomena like co-production, referring to the active involvement of users in the innovation or service provision process.The new interactions resulting from such scenarios also lead to new tensions, for instance between the ethos of professionals and their potential interest to preserve autonomy and their expert role and the wishes and needs of users. While there is a profound body of knowledge on interaction between professionals and users and also to some degree with volunteers, there is little knowledge on the beneficial and harmful effects with regard to the stimulation and diffusion of social service innovation.This is particularly the case when it comes to conditions and frameworks that are needed to enable successful interaction of actors as well as connected management and governance questions that are directly assessed in separate themes as portrayed below. Obviously this very theme will be of primary importance to practitioners and users but also to researchers which want to investigate their relation to provide valuable advice for practice.The second theme, “Innovations in institutional development”, is about engineering change in relation to innovation: resources, patterns of change, agents of change, inter-organizational relations and the management of development. It becomes evident that this will not only address organizational aspects such as resource mobilization for the realization of innovation, but also surrounding institutional frameworks that represent the conditions for organizations to operate in and innovations to emerge.This field is probably at closest proximity to the aspect of broader social change, since it tries to address questions surrounding aspects like who is responsible for initiating change, how can socially beneficially changed be incubated, harnessed and directed. It thereby is of central to researchers that analyse innovation in social services from the macro perspective as well as for policy makers in order to derive guidelines for standard setting, monitoring and promotion of innovation.A third theme, “Framing of social services in relation to innovation”, in close relation to the latter theme, is about key values and how innovation is framed in policy talk: definitions of social and political problems and key principles in framing social services. It thus represents the operationalization of broader institutional relations and how these affect eventual service provision. It puts a major emphasis on policy issues and how policy discourses affect the perception and legitimation of innovation.This theme does not stop short at the regulative aspect that policy making can have on innovation, but investigates on who actually decides how services should be designed and in which way this results in the stimulation or blocking of innovation. It is connected to values and the normative aspects of innovation in social services. The fourth theme, “The governance of innovation”, is changing and becoming more complex with new forms of provider organizations and new forms of (governmental) governance. Governance encompasses sub-themes such as marketization, privatization, standardization and local context, different political systems characterized by multi-level governance and service pillars and a cross-sector approach. In this the theme sheds light on organizational aspects and simultaneously contains a strong comparative dimension with respect to context. In this it pays tribute to the influence of different welfare state conceptions on innovation in social services.As such the theme does not only refer to inter-organizational aspects of network governance, but also to multi-level governance issues of political steering. Thereby it highlights potential conflicts between dominant streams such as the one of privatization and marketization on the one hand side – and their potential adverse effects with regard to creating a tension between stable and steady service provision – and innovation on the other hand.The fifth theme, “Influence of regional and local context”, refers to the ‘embeddedness’ of innovation in cultural contexts, where local context is referring to nation states and local authorities/ municipalities. The sub-themes are cultural factors as barriers and facilitators, capacity of system and transferability. While cultural factors and their influence are of great importance to the needs and demands for services in particular areas and therefore for practitioners as designers of social services, the capacity of systems for realizing and maintaining innovations are mainly policy issues. Enabling conditions for the transferability of innovations is finally a central aspect for the academic investigation for innovation as it can enable a better understanding for aspects of diffusion, which are a vital component to innovation studies in the commercial field.The sixth theme, “New Technologies”, is about the impact of new technologies on the relationships between professionals and users: Accessibility of services, remote and assistive technologies as well as implementation and diffusion of new technologies. These affect not only the communication of innovative practices and the connection of individuals as users and service providers, but also some of the delivered services themselves.They are thus of central importance to practitioners not only as a promotional device but for the development of new kinds of services and innovation as such.The final and seventh theme, “Measuring Outcomes, Quality and Challenges”, encompasses questions about the improvement of social services and how to measure this improvement and possible unintended effects. These questions touch on technical as well as normative aspects and are those of central interest to researchers as a unique combination of capturing created value to inform decision making as well as political steering.Likewise they are of essential importance to practitioners, since these will eventually be the ones to execute such analyses and need at their disposal applicable and reliable instruments.In what follows, the themes are listed in accordance to their relevance for the different stakeholders. There is no priority in the sequence; each sub-theme is followed by some targeted research questions:Users and practitioners• User-centred services and approaches- Which approaches are used to reshape services to be more user-centred and what kind of impact do they have on practices? Do they lead to improved services?- What is the impact of user involvement on monitoring and the evaluation of social services and innovations as one of their potential results?- Does user involvement prompt new forms of coordination?- What do the new identities mean for how professionals are taught and execute their profession?• The influence of regional and local contexts- How can the capacity for innovation be developed locally?- What is the relationship between regional capabilities, service policy and the use of specific approaches and/or new technologies to create innovation?• New technologies- How do traditional providers use new technologies to create innovation?- What effect does the internet have on the various professionals as patients are more likely to questions their decisions?- Are there negative effects of remote technologies compared to the social services we currently know and use?• Measuring outcomes, quality and challenges- Are the basic concepts and tools used in the private sector relevant for innovation in social services? Which dimensions are not covered?- How can the unintended effects of measurement processes be avoided?Policy makers• Innovations in institutional development- Do new forms of cooperation function as incubators of innovation?- How can the transfer of innovations between competing institutions within the social services market be enabled?• The framing of social services in relation to innovation- Which key principles are framing social services? And how do these key principles combine with innovation?- Does the EU embody and voice multiple understandings of innovation?- Does the innovation strategy translate differently in various contexts stressing different solutions?• The governance of social service innovation- Which local market conditions for social services hinder or promote innovation?- How do new forms of organization play out in relation to marketization and standardization?- How can multi-level and other forms of governance analysis be employed to develop our understanding of governance particularities in the context of social service innovation?- Is there an uneven framework for innovation at the EU level concerning social services?• The influence of regional and local contexts- How is innovation transferred between cultures and contexts? And how can the transfer of innovation be facilitated?- Are there generic focuses on social service innovation, or does innovation have to address rapid social and economic challenges in cultures across Europe in different ways?- What can the government/external funding organizations do to foster innovative capacity?• New technologies- Which technology-related factors enable the transferability, diffusion, and scaling-up of innovative practices?- What are the opportunities and drawbacks of a widespread use of new technologies?• Measuring outcomes, quality and changes- Which instruments can help distinguish between potential projects and projects that will not improve with additional funding?- Can measures from the commercial sector be transferred to the field of social services?Researchers• User-centred services and approaches- Which new identities emerge in relation to the various forms of user involvement?- What do the new identities mean for both professionals and non-professionals and their work conditions?• Innovations in institutional development:- Which new identities emerge in relation to the various forms of user involvement?- What do the new identities mean for both professionals and non-professionals and their work conditions?• The governance of social service innovation:- What are the effects of hybridity?- How do marketization, standardization and innovation play out together?- Which forms of governance come with the cross-pillar cooperation as a trait of social innovation systems? And what are the effects on pillarization and cross-sector cooperation?• The influence of regional and local contexts- How can social service innovation be (1) interpreted in and (2) enhanced by different local cultures?- How can the capacity for innovation be developed locally?- How is innovation transferred between cultures and contexts? How can the transfer of innovation be facilitated? And in how far does this depend on regional capacity?• Measuring outcomes, quality and challenges- How can the benefits of the innovation process be measured?- How can approaches to quality improvement embrace and be informed by social and service innovation?The draft research agenda clearly underlines that the investigations of the INNOSERV project have produced valuable inputs on the future development of social service innovation and its nexus to the broader field of social innovation. However, it also becomes evident that more questions are evoked than can be answered at present.We believe to have identified key themes that affect a range of stakeholders, but do so in a very distinct way. We hope this targeted document could provide valuable stimuli for an engaged and collaborative discussion of the practical, policy and research issues that affect potentials and threats of innovation in social services and how these would have to be managed and governed under consideration of varying contexts and the influence of new technologies.The complete stakeholder briefs can be found in the Appendix (p. 81-129). WP 11: Is the research agenda valid and feasible?The objective of WP11 was to present the draft research agenda to researchers, stakeholders and umbrella organizations. This presentation through a so called road show tested whether the research agenda is valid (stakeholders) and feasible (researchers). This happened through 2 independent events in Brussels, Belgium and Sofia, Bulgaria, and several other occasions where we inserted our road show as a workshop package. All partners were invited to make suggestions for other events where the road show could be inserted. Furthermore, the work package was responsible for finalising the research agenda and to produce different versions for different audiences (policy makers, researchers and research funders, practitioners). The road show opened the room for stakeholders (practitioners and especially policy makers on transnational level) to discuss the results, the agenda and complete the research agenda with their approach to EU-policy. On the basis of the draft research agenda three different Stakeholder briefs (for policy makers, researchers and practitioners) were prepared. In these targeted documents key themes that affect a range of stakeholders were identified. The stakeholder briefs generated thereby inputs on the future development of social services and provided valuable stimuli for an engaged and collaborative discussion of the practical, policy and research issues that affect potentials and threats of innovation in social services and how these would have to be managed and governed under consideration of varying contexts and the influence of new technologies. Considering the results of various discussions (i.e. skype conference with Advisory Board) a revised and final version of the research agenda and an executive summary translated in the EUs working languages (English, French, German) were produced (s. Appendix p. 130-165). In a final conference that took place in Paris at the end of January the final results of the INNOSERV project were discussed and evaluated within the consortium and other participants. During this event the final research agenda has been presented to the audience and will be made available for public on the INNOSERV website. In addition the dissemination of knowledge through the findings of the final research agenda will be pushed forward through presentation of the agenda in international congresses and via publications about innovation in social services. The results of the INNOSERV project will therefore be disseminated in a sustainable way in order to enrich the work on social services beyond this platform.WP12 – External Management: Project Website (official platform and internal communication)A central element of the project was the use of new media technologies embedded in an online platform. Using these innovative technologies, we intended to strengthen:• Communication within the consortium: An area with restricted access for consortium members only (intranet) guarantees access to and distribution of working papers, minutes, project overviews etc.• providing software tools for collecting and structuring information and supplying decision processes • The online platform will offer a common database that will be used to structure information during the literature review. It will also provide a pre-clustering tool for the snowball sampling process. The databases will be open or confidential at different levels • Presenting visual material: Central element of the project is the production and analysis of visual material (WP 6). The webpage will make produced videos available online and allow discussing the material.• Involvement of stakeholders: The webpage will offer multiple ways of interaction with stakeholders by making use of blogs, chats and bulletin boards. RSS-Feeds will inform users about new results and features available at the webpage.• Dissemination of results: Products and reports will be available to different publics online. By creating different levels of access, documents can be spread according to their dissemination levels.Special management of the whole process of creating and developing the web-based platform was needed in order to ensure that the online tools are available and able to fulfill their function for the project.The Coordinator will keep up the website for public use for the next two years.WP13 – External Management: Monitoring the filming processThe production and analysis of visual examples of innovative practices was an essential part of the project. It therefore needed a special management for supervising the whole process, assuring the close cooperation between the consortium, the organizations and the subcontracted media company and guaranteeing the final visual material is of high quality.Only carefully elaborated guidance ensured a smooth process throughout the whole production and finally guaranteed the timely delivery of 20 high quality visual products (films). In addition, thoughtful support and management during the completion in time secured staying in the preliminary budget and in all following timelines.A tender document, „Social Platform on Innovative Social Services – Innoserv Media Project“, was created in order to support the open call for subcontracting a professional film team. The document supplied in detail all relevant expectations of the contracting authority towards the final film-team. Interested film teams planning to participate in the open call were using this document as a guideline and created their budget, treatment and the visual references according to this strict outlines. (Deadline for incoming budgets and treatments : 30th of April 2012) The WP leader was responsible for leading the process of selecting the final film team. It took careful consideration to view and compare all budgets received. In addition, it was crucial to compare the different ideas and statements in regards to the visualisation of innovation in social services. A ranking chart system was created by HAW to allow a more precise selecting process. After interviewing different teams, the chosen film team then signed a subcontract (with EASPD as contractors on behalf of the INNOSERV Consortium). During the timespan of filming and cutting, the film team was communicating mainly with the leaders from WP6, 7, 13 and the Coordinator.WP14 – External Management: Dissemination activities The overall task of WP14 was to assure that the results of the project were disseminated to different publics. Especially the dissemination of the INNOSERV Social Platform in order to increase the value of innovative service delivery practices in Europe and to increase interest and knowledge in these practices among policy makers and service providers was of high importance. Other relevant tasks for the work package were:• to promote the project outputs and results (i.e. project reports, video materials and the research agenda) to the European Commission but also to the scientific community;• to foster exchange of experiences and best practice among partners, the research community and service providersThese objectives have been reached through several dissemination tools, including project leaflets and newsletter, which had been distributed electronically to identified stakeholder groups acrocc Europe (s. Appendix, Newsletter #1-#4, p. 177-201). The reports of the different Work packages as well as INNOSERV events and participation in external events have been made available via the website. This is also the case for the videos of the selected innovative practices, which were made available on the project web site and shown during dedicated events organised by the partnership. Articles based on the scientific reports were published in specialised journals, academic publications and open access is provided for most of them. As part of the bottom up approach the INNOSERV project was based on, the organization of workshops and roadshows to collect feedback on the innovative practices and on the research agenda were also an import part of the project’s dissemination activites. Representatives of the INNOSERV project also met with key stakeholders, often in conjunction with workshops or conferences, e.g. during the final conference. Moreover, members of the INNOSERV project regularly took part in key international conferences on Social services (for further information see list of dissemination activities). During the project period, the consortium emphasized the growing importance of the internet and the usage of social media. The project website therefore serves a central repository of all projects deliverables and videos while participation in the INNOSERV Platform was promoted through usage of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In addition an iPAD application was developed which showcases the selected practices and general information about the INNOSERV project (PDF leaflet). In order to strengthen the participation of the interested persons all over Europe an online rating tool is available on the project’s website which allows users to provide feedback to the videos. To promote visibility, the websites of all partner include information on INNOSERV as well as a link to the INNOSERV website.To assure all aims and tasks, a specific dissemination strategy paper has been produced. The dissemination strategy was designed to address different types of stakeholders through different tools and means. The target groups were international/national/regional players who have a relevant role in the implementation of social services, such as public administrations, innovation agencies, practitioners, researchers, but also potential users of social services. Aside to ad-hoc events, mailings and distribution of (e)-material which facilitate a passive awareness of the subjects treated, also some proactive involvement of stakeholders has been searched for, notably through lobby activities at national/regional and transnational level (WP 8, 9, 11) and direct exchange with European organizations and agencies in order to get feedbacks and inputs from key decision makers.In total the following reports were produced within this work-package: • A dissemination strategy • A mailing list for promotion and dissemination purposes • Scientific publications • Templates for reporting purposes. Potential Impact:The potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project)As previously defined, the project had the overall objective of establishing a social platform in order to suggest innovative research agendas to evaluate different and innovative approaches used to tackle difficulties and the increasing and differentiated needs social services are actually facing in Europe. The project reflected a number of different purposes to which the methodological approach needed to be sensitive. The project had a descriptive purpose – to map, and make sense of, the ways in which innovation can underpin social services design and implementation. More importantly, however, the project had an analytical and exploratory purpose: creating knowledge and improving understanding about. Finally, the study had a prescriptive purpose meaning that its methodological approach needs to be able to apply what has been learned to support the next research agendas on social services. Within this context, the following are the project’s specific impacts. All of them can be considered in a separate manner even if they are strictly inter-connected one to each other. 1) Increase knowledge on what can be considered innovative in social services: project provided definitions, matrixes and practical examples on several innovation typologies which are widespread around Europe with specific reference to the European quality principles.The entire project provided the steps needed to bring about this impact. In particular, WP1 Literature review allowed reflecting and identifying the main trends for social service provisions in Europe, increasing scientific knowledge on their logics, problematic aspects and gaps. The analysis provided especially increased knowledge main changes occurring with regard to the mix of sectors in which social services are provided taking into consideration cross boundary process within the different sub-field covered by the tender (social services for education, health and welfare) and the complexity related to innovative stakeholders roles.The increase of scientific knowledge ran parallel to the increase of knowledge on what is going on the ground. In this case, main steps to bring out this impact were related to the identification and selection of different innovative services practices which were collected and disseminated in order to produce “empirical discussion material” among all the people involved in the project and the community (WP3 and WP6).2) Increase the chances for discussion: project provided elaboration on innovative social services, identification of policy options and practical implementation.This impact was achieved through the development along the entire project of a different set of products: i) state of art of innovation on social services; ii) innovative practices and experiences as already implemented across Europe; iii) innovative research agendas. These three products were used to increase discussion among different stakeholders across Europe. To this end, the project envisaged the following steps: project website; organising local workshops and using several media instruments such as video production, blogs, social networks, online chats, virtual working groups, etc. (WP 8) as well as organising live cross-national workshops in order to summarise the state of art and the future challenges faced by social services in Europe and to discuss research agendas and strategies (WP 9).3) Increase participation and empowerment of different stakeholders involved in the project in the design and managing of innovative social services on different communities and sectors.The participation and empowerment process enabled individuals/groups to fully access personal/collective power, authority and influence, and to employ that strength when engaging with other people, institutions or society. In other words, it encouraged people to gain the skills and knowledge that allow them to overcome obstacles in life or work environment and ultimately, help them develop within themselves or in the society. Within the project, the empowerment process included the following, or similar, capabilities: i) the ability to make decisions about personal/collective circumstances; ii) the ability to access information and resources for decision-making; iii) the ability to consider a range of options from which to choose (not just yes/no, either/or); iv) the ability to exercise assertiveness in collective decision making; v) having positive thinking about the ability to make change; vi) the ability to learn and access skills for improving personal/collective circumstance; vii) the ability to inform others’ perceptions though exchange, education and engagement; viii) involving in the growth process and changes that is never ending and self-initiated; ix) increasing one's positive self-image and overcoming stigma; x) increasing one's ability in discreet thinking to sort out right and wrong.The project allowed to bring out these impacts through the following steps: use of the interactive project website, video conferences (WP4); build national/regional task forces with different partners organizations (WP3); work with several selected European organizations active in the three social services fields explored by the project (education, health and welfare) engaging them for discussion on innovative practices (WP5). The direct involvement of different organizations within the project allowed practitioners coming from different communities and social sectors to have a voice on the matters and to inform future research agendas (WP 10 and WP11). All project participants actively cooperated with a broad number of stakeholders in their ongoing arrangements on service provisions, quality control, process and products innovation. Thus the social platform on innovative services gave them all an additional opportunity to engage in a debate about improving quality and enhancing innovative process and practices within social services design and implementation. 4) Increase the possibility of disseminating excellence and exchanging innovative practices and enhance the transferability of innovation and mutual learning between different social economies. The entire project was aimed to identify, collect and disseminate both innovative social practices and approaches. The project thus increased the possibilities different social economies (represented by the different range of organizations represented within the project and by the research actually activated across Europe) have to spread their own excellence, learn from other countries and other range of stakeholders. The project allowed to pin up the innovative elements of the selected innovative practices and covered several types of innovation: i) Innovation in the content includes innovative topics being addressed which range from issues linked to globalisation, including gender and human rights and north-south relations, to different needs and different target groups to be covered by social services in Europe; ii) Innovation in the delivery method includes innovative ways to forge multi-stakeholder approaches and to create a sense of ownership among users, practitioners, decision makers and experts, and innovative ways of delivering the educational, health and welfare process by promoting participatory and interactive learning approaches and the use of new technology such as the internet, websites, electronic communication platforms and blogs; iii) Innovation in forging new partnerships and networks for the purpose of sharing knowledge and experience, fostering communication and exchange of experiences; iv) Innovation at the institutional level with social services quality principles being mainstreamed in the social services delivery or with activities aimed at raising awareness on the necessity to implement social services quality; and, v) Innovation in addressing social services quality with a focus on ensuring a strong interdisciplinary approach in addressing the interrelated social and economic dimensions. Main steps to achieve this impact were mainly present in WP3 to WP9 allowed, on the basis of the previous work packages for literature review, to identify and compare innovative practices and foster their exchange and learning among different stakeholders involved at national and local level across Europe. 5) Increase the use of new technologies for sharing knowledge and increase stakeholders and users participation. The project made great use of different new technologies ranging from the design and implementation of a strong interactive website to the use of blogs, social networks, and video production. This increased the easy share of knowledge, but also the use of new technologies for being in contact with different realities, different countries and different approaches. Main steps to achieve this impact were present in WP3 to WP9. To reach all the impacts identified above, the importance of an European approach was paramount. The project envisaged the involvement of 9 partners coming from different countries which represent different welfare approaches and different implementation levels of innovative social services in the field of health, education and training and welfare and this represent for sure a high European added value the project brought in. In addition to that, project’s team members actively work in European universities and research centres and are personally involved in social research and in collaboration with social service practitioners. This strongly contributed to get a wide understanding of what is currently going on these fields and to directly involve national/regional stakeholders on specific issues/themes. In addition, it is important to underline the fact that, despite each European countries has different legislative and institutional settings and significant differences between social welfare systems across Europe, Member States face common challenges such as demographic change, women’s decreasing potential to care due to their increasing participation in paid work (part or full time), migration or, more recently, economic recession all requiring coordinated responses. These challenges both inform innovation in social services but also require new and innovative ways in which services should be organised, resourced and delivered. On this basis, a European approach was useful to bring out similarities and to better understand what works at what conditions and how innovative social services can cope with changes (at demographic and socio-economic level). Different partners involved also contributed to bring out international/national research on the project specific field of interventions contributing to achieve a greater knowledge on practices from the ground. Each of the project partners is involved/has been involved in several research projects that strongly contributed to this project’s design. We believe we have put together a strong working team with complementary strengths and capabilities which allowed us to deliver the project to timetable and client expectations. All professionals have a well established reputation on the field covered by the project. They are also extremely experienced at working as part of European project teams and they have a long and consolidated experience in social research and methodological support. International and national researches were taken into account especially during project’s Phase 1 and Phase 2. As regard to Phase 1, they contributed to the starting of the WP1 and WP2 aimed to literature review at national and international level, to identify key trends and scenario and to reflect on the criteria for the identification of innovative service practices (WP3). International/national research knowledge also greatly impacted in the design of regional and international workshops (Project’s Phase II) in order to involve the “right” stakeholders on really innovative issues and practices. Innovative Social service Platform only succeeded because a wide variety of stakeholders took part, and actively commented on the work of the Consortium. To this end, we could show that the project was designed to promote and facilitate stakeholder dialogue and input to ensure that a wide variety of perspectives are taken on board. Part of the motivation of the stakeholders involved laid in the fact that the project coincided with recent and important changes social services and welfare systems are experiencing and provided a deliberative space for strategic discussion allowing for input from European colleagues, experts, practitioners and users.The involvement of stakeholders and users in the overall project’s activities was, of course, conditioned by:a) the different levels of innovation identified;b) the modalities stakeholders and users were contacted and involved;c) the methodologies and tools used for the project’s delivering;d) the high level of expertise the platform would be able to offer.While preparing the project, other elements and external factors that could have determined whether the impacts will be achieved had to be identified. Most of them were conditioned by the length of the project: in fact, many additional changes could have intervened during the four year term of the project. Changes could have been related to social and economic factors which could interfere on social services delivery and possibility to innovate the ways to reach quality in its different forms. Some of them had already emerged and were supposed to increase within the next four years: • the first factor referred to the shrinking of the financial resources devoted to social services that will be available in future years. There was the awareness that the cuts may affect welfare systems that underpins the social cohesion of the entire community. This necessitated discussion on all potential mechanisms ways to tackle this problem (for example, different way of allocating resources; a different way of prioritise services and target groups and so on). Shrinking financial resources might have differentially gendered effects, since reducing social services seems to have a negative impact upon women’s participation rates in paid work due to their dependency upon care services.• the second factors referred to the strong demographic changes that all Europe is facing: not only more immigrants and more elderly people reaching very advanced age but also a change in family networks (more people living alone and more women involved in part or full time paid work) and the cooperation and solidarity informal networks - both in family and in the community – that had/have a support role for public welfare. • the third factors referred to change in socio-economic population composition, with particular attention to the several disadvantaged cohorts at risk of further disadvantage in this phase of the crisis characterised by increasing unemployment rates, the number of people living only on social benefits and the number of families exposed to new forms of poverty). To overcome elements and external factors which might condition impacts, the project had been designed in a flexible way keeping in mind that research should be continuously updated and that media technology used in communication could change as well during the project. Flexibility was used also in order to identify different strategies of communication for different stakeholders groups as well as different research products. The use of triangulation allowed for the synthesis of evidence of different types and from different sources, drawn from research activities, in order to arrive at research conclusions. In practice, this meant: multiple sources of data, including secondary data (drawn from existing studies and researches – WP 1 and WP2), and primary data (acquired, for instance, through case studies and interviews with different organizations – WP4 and WP7). Dissemination activities and exploitation of results:In order to realize the potential impact described above, the project paid a special attention to maximizing effectiveness and scope of its dissemination activities. Of course, the dissemination addressed, via website, general public in order to create a positive awareness of the project and its goals. However, it also concentrated on target groups covering national/regional players who have a relevant role in the implementation of social services, such as public administrations, innovation agencies, practitioners, but also the potential users of services. Customised dissemination tools (website, research reports, guidelines, research agendas, videos, etc.) were arranged according to the different stakeholders which were involved during the project (for example, research reports and innovation research agenda were better addressed to research community, while guidelines were handed to practitioners and users). An important motivation of the Social Platform was to create synergies and explore complementarities within the whole European space. This requirement was based on the fact that strengthening research capacities thanks to an improved access to knowledge had to be considered not only from regional, but also trans-regional and European points of view. Therefore in order to maximize the operational scope of the Social Platform dissemination activities and to maximize the project impact through the engagement of stakeholders also outside the consortium and their respective regions, the following strategies had been pursued:• National and Regional collaboration platform strategy• The project envisaged the collaboration of different researchers based in different European countries which were involved in building regional task force, contacting local stakeholders and identified trends and gaps on the ground of the social services delivery and quality point of view.• Expert Advisory Board strategy• EU, national and local stakeholders involvement strategyTo guarantee that the expertise and the knowledge gained by network participants were of mutual benefit, the project organised a set of activities to spread excellence outside the network. The identification and dissemination of knowledge on innovative services in Europe was one of the main INNOSERV project’s objective. To this end, several measures had been envisaged by the project with specific reference to innovative techniques of communication (web-based Social Platform) and documentation (video, new media, animations). Generally speaking, our actions for spreading excellence were at 2 levels:• Targeted towards affiliated partners• Affiliated partners were not core members in the consortium, but actively contributed to the implementation of the project.• Targeted towards the scientific and technical community in the large• This was achieved mainly bottom-up through the organization of scientific events, publications, distribution of tools and components, and through the project web page.The dissemination activities were part of the work of WP 14. The overall task of WP14 was to assure that the results of the project were disseminated to different publics. Especially the dissemination of the INNOSERV Social Platform in order to increase the value of innovative service delivery practices in Europe and to increase interest and knowledge in these practices among policy makers and service providers was of high importance. Other relevant tasks for the work package were:• to promote the project outputs and results (i.e. project reports, video materials and the research agenda) to the European Commission but also to the scientific community;• to foster exchange of experiences and best practice among partners, the research community and service providersThese objectives have been reached through several dissemination tools:• Project leaflet (produced in electronic format in English);• Project newsletters (distributed electronically to identified stakeholder groups across Europe);• Project reports were disseminated via the website, INNOSERV events and participation in external events;• Articles based on the scientific reports were published in specialised journals, academic publications;• Videos of the selected innovative practices were made available on the project web site and shown during dedicated events organised by the partnership;• Organisation of workshops and roadshows to collect feedback on the innovative practices and on the research agenda;• Meetings with key stakeholders organised in conjunction with workshops, final conference;• Participation in key international conferences on Social Services;• Project website: central repository of all project deliverables and videos; participation in the INNOSERV Platform was promoted also through usage of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn;• An online rating tool people can use to provide feedback to the videos;• An iPAD application which will showcase the selected practices and general information about the INNOSERV project (PDF leaflet);• The websites of all partner organisations included information on INNOSERV as well as a link to the INNOSERV website to promote visibility.To assure all aims and tasks, a specific dissemination strategy paper has been produced. The dissemination strategy was designed to address different types of stakeholders through different tools and means. The target groups were international/national/regional players who have a relevant role in the implementation of social services, such as public administrations, innovation agencies, practitioners, researchers, but also potential users of social services. Aside to ad-hoc events, mailings and distribution of (e)-material which facilitate a passive awareness of the subjects treated, also some proactive involvement of stakeholders has been searched for, notably through lobby activities at national/regional and transnational level (WP 8, 9, 11) and direct exchange with European organizations and agencies in order to get feedbacks and inputs from key decision makers.In total the following reports were produced within this work-package: • A dissemination strategy • A mailing list for promotion and dissemination purposes • Scientific publications • Templates for reporting purposes. Strategic policy elements for disseminationThe overall goal of the INNOSERV project is to contribute to the development of policies concerning social services innovation in the fields of health, education and welfare at European, national and community level. The literature review, study of trends, the identification of theoretical criteria for innovation, the selected and visualised innovative practices, all show that there is plenty of innovation in social services but more is needed to adequately respond to current and future social challenges. Decision–making processes can be influenced if all stakeholders are involved – in this case, service providers themselves, users of social services, researchers, Governments; etc. All these stakeholders have a role to play in innovation and will need to be convinced of the necessity and of the benefits of innovation in the social services sector. This is why the INNOSERV project aims at generating commitment from the different stakeholders on definitions and approaches to compare, validate, scale-up and monitor innovation. There is a need to raise awareness on innovation in health, education and welfare, on growing innovative trends (social enterprises, blurring boundaries), on latent creativity for innovation in the social services sector. Once there is awareness about innovation, stakeholders can discuss its necessity and its benefits at organisational and system level. Why innovation in social services? Social Innovation is gaining increasing prominence in European Policies. The Europe 2020 Strategy for ‘a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ issued by the European Commission and agreed upon by the Member States in June 2010, clearly identifies social innovation as a major concern in this new strategic framework guiding EU policies for this decade. The EU2020 strategy sets forth 5 “headline targets”, measurable objectives to be reached by the year 2020. Two are particularly relevant for our project: the ‘poverty target’, aiming at reducing poverty in Europe by 20 million people, and the ‘innovation target’, with the goal of invest 3% of Europe’s GDP in R&D and innovation.Within this framework, social innovation is mentioned both in the context of the European Platform against Poverty, the flagship initiative created to deliver on the poverty target and in that of Innovation Union, the initiative contributing to the objective on innovation. One of the key actions of the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion is to utilise social innovation to find smart solutions in post-crisis Europe, especially in terms of more effective and efficient social support, by “designing and implementing programmes to promote social innovation for the most vulnerable”. Social services, in their role as agents of positive change providing for the benefit of the community, are at the forefront on innovation. They play a key role in identifying social needs and in devising solutions, in recognising gaps in provision and in ensuring good management of resources given their focus on creating social, rather than monetary profit. In terms of the Innovation Union flagship initiative, the European Commission has committed to supporting “a substantial research programme on public sector and social innovation.” It is in this context that specific funding streams have been set up, e.g. Horizon 2020, the 8th EU Framework Programme for research and innovation, which commits to addressing societal challenges including making progress towards ‘inclusive, innovative and secure societies.’ Additional relevant initiatives are the EU Programme for Social Change and Innovation and the European Social Innovation pilot, in the context of the Single Market Act/Social Business Initiative, supporting business opportunities. The INNOSERV project fits well within this strategy as it focuses on the identification of social innovation within social services and on facilitating the transfer of best practices. Further, it supports knowledge development about drivers and barriers of social innovation, including in the public sector.List of Websites:Website Address:www.inno-serv.euScientific Contact:Prof. Dr. Johannes EurichRuprecht-Karls-Universität HeidelbergKarlstraße 1669117 HeidelbergGermanyEmail: johannes.eurich@dwi.uni-heidelberg.deTechnical Support:Philippe Nougaillonphilippe.nougaillon@gmail.com Documenti correlati final1-appendix-innoserv.pdf
