Development and Introduction of Social Innovations in the Civil Society

Abstract:

The purpose of the article is to analyze the process of development and implementation of social innovations in the civil society. The paper shows the interdisciplinary nature of the social innovations taking into account the interpretation of social innovations in such knowledge areas as sociology, social psychology, economics. The authors identify the main features of social innovation and their regularities. The authors describe the forms of social innovations that take into account the incentives and goals of economic agents to engage in social and innovation activities. These forms include social innovations as a part of the company’s marketing policy, the direction of human capital development, the entrepreneurial activity, the way to eliminate the failure of the public sector, and institutional changes. The need for a more detailed analysis of social innovations of “bottom-up” is substantiated. The authors have formulated the main principles of the realization of social and innovative activity. They are the principle of social goal-setting, the principle of synergy, the principle of the transaction costs reduction, and the principle of partnership. We have developed the mechanism of social and innovative development in the civil environment. The mechanism includes a regulatory and legal framework, an innovative infrastructure that promotes the development of social and innovative projects, the role of economic agents, their social and commercial goals, and the stages of the social innovation process.