How can we as a society become better at solving complex challenges such as climate, welfare and inequality - while experiencing increasing geopolitical pressure from outside?

At the Academy, we believe that there is a need for new approaches to social change. Social innovation is a well-documented and widely used approach to creating a more equal society - economically, greenly and socially. While social innovation is used in, among others, the UN, OECD, EU and our neighboring countries, we in Denmark have not yet invested in the capacity needed to anchor social innovation as a broad approach. As a national competence center for social innovation, the Academy will pave the way for a strategy that will ensure a broader understanding of and anchoring of social innovation as a field and approach in Denmark.

"The fundamental question is: What kind of society and what kind of world do we want to live in and pass on to the generations that come after us?" says Academy Director Anders Folmer Buhelt. He acknowledges that a strategy on a piece of paper in itself is not enough to create real change. "But the mobilizing and knowledge-building process, through which far more – not least highly placed people around society – will gain an understanding of what social innovation is and can offer, is important."

The five ambitions
A working group of members defined five concrete ambitions for a national strategy for social innovation:

• A national strategy should be a turning point: There must be a clear before and after strategy for social innovation
• A national strategy must contribute to broadening the understanding and conversation about social innovation and collective action to far more people.
• A national strategy must anchor social innovation broadly in society and be a starting point for cross-sectoral collaborations.
• A national strategy to make social innovation something that is taken seriously, that is actually seen as a contribution to creating the society that we are fighting in many ways and at many levels to preserve and further develop and pass on to future generations.
• A national strategy must have a political basis and thus be able to lead to real political action with

These are the ambitions that the Academy will continue to work on in the coming period in close collaboration with external experts and partners.

Strengthen cohesion
The backdrop for the strategy is rising social insecurity. For the first time in many years, the World Economic Forum assesses that the biggest global risk factors are not climate or the economy, but rising inequality and lack of cohesion.

"This concerns us all - regardless of whether you are in an NGO, a company, or a municipality," emphasizes working group member Vibeke Normann Andersen. She points out that the ambitions in the strategy must first and foremost be achieved through leadership and collaboration. "As leaders, we must be able to operate, innovate and collaborate across sectors. So how do we build the capacity for that? And how do we mobilize the leaders of the future in the public sector?"

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The vision has overtaken the excel sheet
One of the key players that has already chosen to invest in capacity and infrastructure for social change is the Bikuben Foundation. Here, imagination has become a crucial tool in the foundation's work, says the foundation's development director, Sine Egede Eskesen.

“Perhaps one of the biggest crises we face is the failure to imagine a better future. So we pick up the same tools again and think we can break through the wall. We have to bring something different to the table.”

At Bikubenfonden, the "other" investments in operations and more active partnerships through alliances and collaborations, including with the Academy, INVI, Snart, Forandringskraft and the community at Thoravej 29. "Now it's a yes to an overall vision rather than project results in an Excel sheet."

A social movement
One of the big questions in the work is the balance between creating a social movement and a written strategy, explains chief analyst Anne Vorre Hansen, who leads the working group.

While a documented strategy provides direction and weight, we must also be able to continuously mobilize and iterate on the choices and opportunities that the community points to. At the same time, we want to ensure an openness that enables us to work across domains and political levels.

"Regardless, it will be important to be able to link the strategy to existing agendas, to mobilize across sectors and nationally, and thereby work to ensure that social innovation does not become a niche but a more fundamental approach to our way of creating society," says Anne.

If you are interested in hearing more about the Academy's work and a national strategy, please write to Anne Vorre at anne@afsi.dk

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