by Marco Quaglia | Jan 7, 2015 | The Urban Media Lab
How to measure social innovation? How to assess the impact of new models on our society? These are just some of the main questions that will be addressed in a 3-days workshop that will be held in Salerno (January 16-18).
Organized by Societing and Socialseed, Labgov will be among the partners of this event. The aim of the workshop is in line with the necessity to change drastically our approach to social innovation. Today’s world cannot rely anymore on old paradigm based on profit and competitiveness; in fact the complexity of our society deserves something more. The only way to value new practices is to develop a new analytical toolbox for social innovation.
To be accountable, we need to measure the added value that enterprises can generate by adopting a social innovation-oriented model; the challenge is thus the one of acknowledging the value of the practices of social innovation and to understand, through an interactive process, all the instruments of design thinking and their possible application.
Through the use of new tools derived from Design Thinking and Theory of Change, the workshop will be a valuable experience of co-working.
Finally it will be given the possibility to interact with professional facilitators and brilliant personalities that will offer their contribution in the co-working session.
Program and inscription at : Societing
by Marco Quaglia | Aug 23, 2014 | The Urban Media Lab
In its 2014 Human Development Report, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), deals extensively with issues that are relevant to us. In particular the quality of institutions and their impact on people’s life.
The main argument of this extensive report is that in order to cope effectively with the many vulnerabilities of our life, what it really matters is the quality of the institutions we live in. Good institutions are those that encourage freedom and enhance people’s capabilities to cope with everyday challenges. In a way, it is even possible to say, that the freedom to act that governments, administrations and individuals often demand is nothing but the overall result of a condition of freedom from social, institutional and other types of constraints. That is the environment that permits, and enhance, the society’s capacity for collective action.
How to develop such a system? First thing first, is the necessity to regulate markets which generally neglect public goods and human security in the name of profit. To do so, which is to look for some sort of sustainability, is to open public space for innovative policies. Policies based on social cohesion and responsive institutions. Social cohesion in particular is a factor that can strongly influence the quality and competency of institutions, which in turn influences how pro-people policies are pursued and implemented.
In this process, of course, central governments – national or international – have a great role. Far-seeing legislation is fundamental, and so are the other classic powers of the State. An effective and transparent public administration, for example, is necessary to curb corruption and to allocate resources in accordance to criteria such as quality and efficiency. In the light of these considerations, it becomes clear how decentralization and subsidiarity are powerful instruments in the hands of governments and citizens.
At the end of the day, the civil society can be a priceless ally for national and international governments. New civic energies have the capacity to influence pro-people policies and outcomes, more than any other central government; and many factors back up this observation. Today’s world is characterize by global challenges, but unfortunately, not by global solutions. Indeed, what is known is the lack of a global governance able to cope with this flood-tide. Held’s famous ‘gridlock’.
In this context, to open policy space is fundamental if we really want to reduce people’s vulnerabilities. Cities, local communities and organized individuals have the possibility to influence the world just as much as Prime Ministers and big companies. The sharing of information, best practices and ultimately of knowledge, is the best way to face global challenges at different levels. Today, information and best practices are at everyone’s range. For this precise reason to believe that the only locus for policy making is the classic one of central governments would be an underestimation of this revolution. The creation of networks, made up of different actors, can be a fertile environment for innovative solutions to old problems.
Civic participation is and will be the key of any future human development, as a central driver for change. In concrete, it has the possibility to activate formal and informal institutions to respond to social demand by the use of innovative approaches.
by Marco Quaglia | May 28, 2014 | EducationLabs, The Urban Media Lab
In the face of new models for the management and policy making of today’s society, which kind of role should the public sector have towards new actors? This question, among the others, is at the core of the Forum PA 2014 held at the Palazzo dei Congressi (EUR, Rome): the annual Italian fair for confrontation between the public sector and the society.
On May, 27, William D. Eggers, Research Director for Deloitte, was the international guest for the panel “From governing with the network, to the State-partnership”. In this occasion it was presented his new book ‘The Solution Revolution’ co-authored with Paul Macmillan.
The main idea behind it, is that to each societal problem corresponds a societal solution. Therefore, the main challenge today is to unite the ever-growing universe of problem solvers around a single problem; rather than expect the government to do the job.
To date, organizations or individuals around the world changed the approach to classic problems; but very often they failed for they work in an highly uncoordinated way. While, governments burdened by financial constraints simply could not find concrete solution in a majority of cases.
For this reason a new model is needed: the one of collaboration, between new and old players. Individuals, NGO, public and private sector; anyone is involved in this run to solve local and global inefficiencies. Governments in particular should be the enablers of this revolution, by facilitating initiatives.
At the end of the day, to create markets around markets failure is the goal of what has been called ‘solution economy’. According to Eggers, all the pieces of this puzzle are there, for anyone to take it. The only creative effort required is to look at old problems with new eyes.
