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they don’t have the resources to hire external
people to help. Readiness of the context
touches upon several factors, some of which
are cultural factors and some are of a more
technical nature. Success is the magic
combination of all these elements together
with the potential of the idea on paper.
What are some key insights you have gained
through incubating social innovation projects
that you would like to share with other
incubators in Europe?
Social innovation is not only something which
end up in a company or a venture - it is much
broader than that. The key point for me is not
to only focus on the technical aspects,
incubators also needs to be focused the
cultural. Readiness of the context is really
crucial. An innovative, experimental state of
mind needs to be developed both in the
innovator and in the wider society. It is not
enough to be able to develop a good
business plan or mentor a group of people. It
is also a matter of creating within the wider
society an attitude to innovate. To achieve this
incubators need to be working with cultural
events and dissemination activities that reach
the society at large – not only the usual target
group. This is not something a regular
incubator is usually prepared to do, but the
most advanced conventional incubators in
our experience are undertaking a type of
cultural mission together with more
business-oriented missions. We need to get
involved in the cultural sector to create
interest and engagement in the society. For
most conventional incubators this is the most
challenging part; going beyond the
mentoring, the acceleration activities and be
more present and active in the society to
spark the innovation capacity within the
society at large.