Abstract
Although there is already much literature on innovation, the term social innovation is still relatively recent and underexplored. Social innovation refers to ideas, actions, and new or improved knowledge with the goal of overcoming the social needs in several areas of cooperation and participation. This influences the improvement of welfare, mainly through some regional projects that diagnose high priority needs of the most vulnerable population. This chapter aims to discuss the influence of social innovation in the improvement of daily life and presents a case study of the project one dollar glasses in Brazil. This project was developed initially by the German researcher Martin Aufmuth, who designed the production of resistant glasses with a lower cost. Renovatio in Brazil delivers about 12,000 glasses and covers a gap of ophthalmologists (85% of municipalities in Brazil don't have this specialty) and the access to this fundamental product.
TopIntroduction
Nowadays it is consensual the role of social innovation to solve several problems mainly when state fail in assist poor and excluded people. Nevertheless, we don’t have a single definition for social innovation, however most of the definitions provided by the literature highlight that this type of innovation provides solutions for societal problems and involves multiple stakeholders in networking, such as, social enterprises, non-profits, individuals, universities, government agencies, volunteers, etc. These kinds of solutions have a huge societal impact on the day life of the citizens and could be replicate in different contexts and geographies.
This chapter aims to discuss the influence of social innovation in the improvement of daily life of population and present the case study of the project one-dollar glasses in Brazil. To achieve the objectives this chapter is divided in two main parts. The first part presents a literature review about social innovation. And the second part present the case study of one-dollar glasses and in the context of Brazil. The chapter also provide some considerations about learning objectives and outcomes and also some questions to discuss to allow the application of this chapter as a pedagogical case study.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Societal Challenges: Are opportunities due the social and economic opportunities created and justified the needs to promote public policies that encourage social innovation.
Case Study: Is a descriptive, exploratory, or explanatory analysis of event.
Social Innovation: Is process of developing and arranging successful solutions to stimulating and often systemic social and environmental issues in support of social progress and welfare.