Generating Social Innovation
Climate catastrophe, an increasing shift to the right and demographic change are just some of the challenges facing our societies. We experience social crises intensifying on an almost daily basis. In order to counter these crises and shape a future worth living in - which is diverse and can look different for each of us - we need social innovations.
As innovations in products, processes or forms of organization, social innovations create solutions to social problems. But social innovations do not fall from the sky. To enable innovators to set up and develop their ideas, they need suitable spaces, exchange and inspiration. This is what we do as the Leuphana Social Innovation Community - to bring people together, open up spaces and identify solutions to social challenges.
How can we use our diverse perspectives to develop solutions to social problems? This is what our ideation workshops are all about. Using the sandbox method, which was developed at Leuphana University Lüneburg, the workshop participants build prototypes for their ideas after brainstorming phases, e.g. with Lego bricks or modeling clay. This creative and collaborative approach makes it possible to bring together the different perspectives of the participants.
Each phase is tailored to a specific aspect, such as identifying a social problem or developing potential solutions. This results in a structure for the creative process that gradually sharpens the focus on the issue. Once the participants have identified what they see as particularly pressing social challenges, such as injustice in the education system, they develop various suitable solutions. This could be, for example, an idea for political work for more educational equality or for an educational initiative in kindergarten. In rapid prototyping, the participants then flesh out the ideas based on the various approaches they have collected.
Every social innovation starts with the motivation to change something. With the workshop series “What I really, really want - Together on the way to your utopia”, we offer a space to find out together how each individual wants to shape the world. Based on the New Work founder Frithjof Bergmann, we focus on the personal drive of those interested in founding a company. In this reflection-oriented series of workshops, we will take a look back with the participants at what has shaped them and take stock of what is currently occupying and driving them in particular. This opens up an outlook on how the workshop participants would like to work in the future. Using various formats, including in the Böhmsholz forest village, we jointly explore the individual drive for new ideas and changes in society.
Every community needs its anchors. As a start-up center for social and sustainable ideas, Utopia Lüneburg is one such anchor and driver of social innovation. What makes Utopia so special is its community-oriented location in the heart of Lüneburg's city center. We accompany Utopia scientifically and thus help shape the breeding ground for social innovation in and around Lüneburg. For example, we conducted interviews with people from the community and the Utopia team. On this basis, we have jointly developed work packages for the further development of the community. In direct discussions, we also open up spaces for reflection for the designers of Utopia. In this way, we as the Leuphana Innovation Community are strengthening the start-up ecosystem in Lüneburg together with Utopia.
Spaces and atmospheres for desirable futures
We are constantly moving in spaces and their atmospheres - whether we are practising a pitch, planning a vision workshop or preparing for a challenging conversation. We may only notice the influence of spaces and atmospheres on us subconsciously. But what if we consciously design and shape spaces and atmospheres? What potential is there for social innovators? In the focus topic Generating social innovations, we address questions like these. We look at the role of spaces and atmospheres in the emergence of social innovations as a path to desirable futures.
What do we mean by spaces and atmospheres?
Spaces always have a location-based aspect, but are more than the physical or digital design of a place. Spaces also include, for example, the movements and activities that characterize the place. Spaces are therefore not static, but are constantly changing through new configurations of people, objects and rhythms, among other things. Atmospheres describe how we experience a space with our senses at a certain point in time.
Why are spaces and atmospheres important for social innovation?
We know from organizational research that spaces and atmospheres are important for organizational processes. Atmospheres can contribute to collective action and a sense of belonging. They therefore have an influence on how organizational processes run and how social innovations arise. At the same time, we know that we can only shape atmospheres to a limited extent (e.g. through architectural elements) and that they always remain somewhat uncontrollable - due to unexpected weather conditions or encounters, for example.
What does this mean for people and organizations that want to work towards desirable futures?
For people and organizations that want to generate social innovations, spaces and atmospheres are highly relevant. It makes a difference how the respective places are designed. For example, it can be helpful to ask yourself or others: What kind of atmosphere do I want to create and how can I work towards this? When has this been successful and why? At the same time, it is important to accept the unpredictability of atmospheres and recognize their potential: As an always partially unpredictable component of organizational processes, they also have the potential to detach us from the familiar. This unpredictability is particularly fruitful for working towards desirable futures that we may not even be able to grasp yet.
