Advances in state-of-the-art knowledge were made in and through operationalising a transdisciplinary, multi-level multi-actor approach of continuous interactions amongst researchers, ‘knowledge brokers’ and stakeholders across Europe and the Mediterranean area. New theoretical and context-specific knowledge of social innovation was created, including conceptualization of social innovation (e.g. D2.1 D2.2; www.simra-h2020.eu/index.php/deliverables/); compilation and categorization of examples of social innovation in marginalised rural areas (D3.1 D3.2 D3.3); the pathways of evolution of social innovation in different contexts (D2.3); an inventory of tools to assess implications of social innovation (D4.2); and insights to the roles of policies in supporting, or supported by social innovation in rural settings (D6.1 D6.2). The knowledge, methods and local experience of social innovation are reported in a set of 21 published journal papers.
Enhanced understanding enabled, for the first time, a systematic collection of empirical evidence of driving factors, processes, outcomes and impacts of social innovations, and production of a unique manual for its evaluation (D4.3) (in 24 case studies) and analysis (D5.4). Findings identify the types of triggers and reconfigurations of governance by civic society or socially motivated responses to failures of markets and State in delivering services that support local societal quality of life and wellbeing. These findings were used in face-to-face (35 participants) and e-learning training (516 active learners) to enhance the capabilities of stakeholders in practice, research and policy.
New capabilities have been developed in partner organisations and amongst local actors in the evaluation of social innovation and assessment of its impacts in rural areas, and shared with policy teams (e.g. EU DG Agri). Examples of social innovation in rural areas has been complied, with a version online, with dissemination supported by 5 booklets of examples of social innovation.
The operationalisation of social innovation through the 7 Innovation Actions has enhanced human capital in rural communities, creating new processes (e.g. in the VALAB, Guadeloupe, in collaboration with the EIP Agri Operational Group) and income streams (e.g. an online portal, ISHOPRURAL, for marketing local produce by women in a community in Lebanon).
The transdisciplinary approach to co-learning has led to guides targeting policy audiences, with 9 key recommendations for EU and national levels policy (D6.3) and practice with a 7 step guide and checklist for self-evaluation of social innovations (D6.4). All outputs are available at: www.simra-h2020.eu.
