Exploring Structures of Urban Social Innovation Ecosystems: Cases of Manchester, Utrecht, Stockholm, Sofia and Budapest

Abstract

Following the rise of academic interest in the concept of social innovation, scholarly attention turned towards the concept of social innovation ecosystems (SIE). Despite multiple emerging viewpoints on the composition and spatial level of SIE, the empirical evidence of structures of SIE is limited. Using interviews with 35 informants and documentary analysis, this paper explores structures of SIEs in Manchester, Stockholm, Utrecht, Budapest, and Sofia, and identifies features of urban and national cultures, institutional relations, networks, and infrastructures that influences social innovation activity in selected areas. The research concludes that insufficient urban-level support forces social innovators to rely on non-urban factors in supporting social innovation.

Keywords:

• Social innovation
• social innovation ecosystem

Acknowledgements

The author wouldliketothank Prof Philip Shapira and Dr Efthymia Amanatidou for providing guidance in the process of writing,and two anonymous reviewers for the valuable comments that helped to improve the quality of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Doctoral Scholarship of Alliance Manchester Business School.

Notes on contributors

Alina Kadyrova

Dr Alina Kadyrova is a researcher in social innovation, social entrepreneurship and regional development. Her doctoral dissertation focused on territorial and organisational aspects of social innovation process, with a particular focus on role of territorial characteristics in social innovation development.