Social innovation to promote active ageing

Featured. Posting written by Diogo Vasconcelos over 4 years ago.
Last comment over 4 years ago, 4 Comments.

Last week, I had the opportunity to moderate the opening session of the “Next Rev – The Social Innovation International Congress”, in Lisbon. Organized by the Portuguese NGO Tese and by Young Foundation, with Cisco support, the two days of the excellent congress gathered nearly 300 participants, including an impressive international group of social innovators. 

Professor Anibal Cavaco Silva, the President of the Portuguese Republic, participated in the conference, which focused on the application of social innovation in three thematic areas: education and employment, health and quality of life, and communities and participation.

The goals of the Conference were: to show what Social Innovation is, where and how it happens, to inspire the existing and potential changemakers and to accelerate Social Innovation in Portugal and in the World.The venue was the auditorium of the Gulbenkian Foundation, an excellent auditorium with a window overlooking the Foundation beautiful gardens. The Portuguese President Cavaco Silva, opened the event. On a bold speech, the Head of State explained why social exclusion  is an area to which he have given special attention since the beginning of his mandate as President of the Republic. “I put forward for a civic commitment for social inclusion, I carried out the campaigns of the Route dedicated to this theme, I assumed as a main concern the identification and the dissemination of good practices in what nowadays is known as the third sector, that of social economy”, he said. “I congregated with organizations of voluntary workers dedicated to the development of new management skills in private institutions of social solidarity, or to promote networks of mutual aid and cooperation, with the objective to share donated goods or food products received daily”.

The President explained how Social Innovation is instrumental: “It was an unforgettable experience which helped to perceive the extraordinary impact that social innovation can have in the answer to the identified social needs, and to understand how a new generation of social responses is being developed that breaks away from the traditional means of intervention. It is urgent, however, that this new generation of social responses is extended to the problems which are late in being overcome.”.The Portuguese President emphasized “the problem of ageing associated to the pressure for early inactivity, especially that resulting from the recourse to early retirement or unemployment of thousands of workers who are too young to go into retirement, but already too old to resume a professional activity. The waste of human capital that this event represents is manifest, but the indignity and lack of respect for the human being which it reveals is intolerable.” Prof. Cavaco Silva advocated “the promotion of the principle of active ageing, with recourse to innovating remedies that provide flexibility to the transition from active life to retirement. The knowledge and experience accumulated throughout their professional lives would thus be valued, with benefits accruing to society and to them. This is a clear example of Social Innovation which should be urgently materialized.” How? “It is important to create platforms of assessment, dissemination and monitoring of the good practices of social innovation and, at the same time, develop a culture of cooperation, structure a network in which performers and organizations may share, and promote the new answers for the new social needs”, concluded the Prof. Cavaco Silva   In Europe, ageing well will clearly be one of the most urgent themes on the political agenda of this decade. The combination of pervasive connectivity, collaboration and innovative social policies will be instrumental to tackle this fundamental challenge.

Comments

Default_avatar_medium Unknown User

Martin Stewart-Weeks said: The big challange is not so much to nurture social innovation, although that is clearly a compelling challenge. Just as important will be the way we weave the results of social innovation into the larger fabric of public policy. Right now, I sense that mainstream policy makers, while they are more or less committed to the idea of social innovation, have few ideas about how to deal with its outcomes.

So, for the most part, we have a 'business as usual' policy process and a 'business very much not as usual' social innovation community busy thinking and testing new ways to deal with the same set of risks ands opportunities that the mainstream policy makers are grappling with. But somewhere the two groups never meet.

Do you think that's fair? Maybe it is happening quietly and without too much fuss or fanfare, but my impression right now is that social innovation and mainstream policy making are ships passing in the night.

posted over 4 years ago

Default_avatar_medium Unknown User

Diogo Vasconcelos said: I don't see Social Innovation as a mainstream priority for policy makers. For instance, the current energy crisis is a great opportunity to innovate.However, this has not yet been take seriously by public sector leaders. Most of them still have a "command and control" mindset.

Social Innovation requires a major cultural shift that implies new skills and new attitude. It requires a public sector in an intense pro-activity, sensing and stimulating the citizens to play a role on the configuration of the services, shaping society in new ways never tested before. It requires ability to scale project pilots, new ideas. It's a new paradigm of interaction and involvement, who is not compatible with a "business as usual" way. "Out of the box" thinking must be encourage.

That's what a Connected Republic should look like: a connected nation able to find and transform isolated islands of excellence and innovation into mainstream public policies.Funding, incubation, putting problems, competition, fast testing, prototyping and mobilizing front line users are some of the pragmatic ways to make that happen, as Geoff Mulgan suggested on the Social Innovation Congress

That's why we need to encourage every city, region and nation to take Social Innovation seriously. On the 90's, companies start seeing innovation as something instrumental for them to survive. Those who didn't innovate are out of business.

It's time for public sector city, regional and national leaders to take Social Innovation seriously - not as a fade, but as a core policy.

posted over 4 years ago

Default_avatar_medium Unknown User

Martin Stewart-Weeks said: Is part of the problem that the embrace of a "major cultural shift" which Diogo rightly identifies as central to the uptake of social innovation by mainstream policy processes requires considerable shifts in power, authoirity and accountability?

Do you think it is right that to become not just tolerant of social innovation, but positively to embrace its ethic and practices, mainstream policy processes have to entertain the notion that they may end up having less power and control than they are used to?

If that is true - and I think basically it is - then we are in for a long wait because, for the most part, human institutions are not all thta good at voluntarilty dismantling themslves to privilege a new distribution of power and, at the same time, deny themselves that power with which they have become very comfortable.

posted over 4 years ago

Default_avatar_medium Unknown User

Forbes on Leadership said: Forbes on Leadership

A quote from Tony Blair: \'The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.\" When our politicians are wooing our votes by promising everything it\'s important to note what true leaders are made of.

posted over 4 years ago