Social Innovation: Local Solutions to Global Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, entitled “Social Innovation: Local Solutions to Global Challenges”, seeks to explore how locally driven, socially innovative approaches can address some of the most pressing global issues of our time. In a world where challenges such as climate change, social inequality, and economic instability are increasingly complex and interconnected, local innovation has the potential to provide powerful solutions that transcend geographic and sectoral boundaries.

At the heart of this Special Issue lies the following question: how can social innovation at the local level create sustainable solutions to global problems? Social innovation refers to the development and implementation of new strategies, concepts, and ideas that aim to meet social needs more effectively than existing alternatives. These innovations often emerge from the grassroots, addressing specific local challenges but carrying the potential to scale and influence broader societal systems. From community-based initiatives to innovative financing mechanisms, social innovation offers a way to rethink traditional approaches and foster meaningful change.

Social entrepreneurship and social finance are key examples of how local solutions can contribute to tackling global challenges. Social enterprises often emerge in response to specific community needs, combining business models with social objectives. They provide an opportunity to blend private-sector practices with socially oriented goals, offering an alternative to traditional capitalist mechanisms that may overlook or inadequately address social and environmental needs. Similarly, social finance tools like Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have demonstrated how innovative financial models can be used to solve complex social problems, mobilizing local resources for global impact.

This Special Issue invites contributions that delve into the intersection of social innovation theory and practice, with a focus on how local solutions can be scaled or adapted to address broader global challenges. We welcome articles that explore the role of cross-sector collaboration, where public, private, and civil society actors come together to implement solutions, as well as case studies that highlight successful local initiatives and their potential for replication.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Theoretical frameworks of social innovation: key theories and models that explain how local social innovations emerge, develop, and scale to address global challenges;
• Social innovation and entrepreneurship in specific sectors: case studies or theoretical insights on how social innovation and entrepreneurship can be applied in different sectors;
• Cross-sector collaboration: the role of collaboration between public, private, and civil society sectors in driving local social innovation, with an emphasis on how these partnerships can address global challenges;
• Policy frameworks for social innovation: the role of local, national, or international public policies in fostering or hindering social innovation;
• Practical contributions from practitioners: insights from those who are directly involved in social innovation initiatives, offering real-world perspectives on challenges, successes, and lessons learned from implementing local solutions that target global challenges.

We encourage submissions that bridge theory and practice, offering new insights into how local actors can generate solutions that not only address immediate community needs but also contribute to solving global challenges.

Dr. Rocco Frondizi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• social innovation
• social entrepreneurship
• social finance
• cross-sector collaboration
• collaborative governance