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describe and systemise the different stages of
development of a social innovation project,
combining them with dedicated tools, methods
and activities of support to be delivered by an
incubator (see eMag #1 for more details).
The Social Innovation Journey consists of two
main elements of incubation:
-An external circle which describes social
innovation at an early stage of maturity,
helping them move from a concept, to an
idea, to a pre-prototype ready to be tested
with a community of stakeholders.
-The internal circle works with more formalised
and mature social innovations, supporting
them to achieve a more structured and
replicable solution.
Within both circles, the activities of the Social
Innovation Journey are organised around five
main areas: Who (see eMag #2 for more
details), What (see eMag #3 for more details),
How (viability), How (feasibility) and Why (see
eMag #1 for more details). In this fourth issue of
the Transition eMag we will be looking at the
How stage of the Social Innovation Journey.
How: The feasibility and viability of the idea
So far on our Social Innovation Journey we
have been looking at social impact as the end
goal of social incubation (Why), we have placed
focus on the people (Who) and we have
touched upon the importance of developing
the social value proposition and offering of the
social innovation (What). We will now look at
the How stage which covers two sections of the
Journey; looking at the viability and the
feasibility of the social innovation.
The viability section is covering the incubation
support towards making the innovation
sustainable. This can for example be working
with the social business model canvas, or
defining team roles, rules and timing. It also
includes understanding the structure of the
organisation, and defining the plan and strategy.
The feasibility section covers the operational
issues of the innovation. Here we are verifying
and testing its technical and operational model,
thus trying to move the social innovation from