Framework and experience in the implementation of an Observatory linking social innovation and public policies: the “Inspire” case in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

• In Event: Accountability and Evidence Based Practice: Critical Perspectives

Abstract

Innovative Content: workshop presenting the pilot of the digital platform of the Observatory and the main learnings, challenges and results.

This work aims to foster understanding of how social innovation dynamics emerge in Social Innovation Ecosystems (SIEs) in some municipalities in the state of Santa Catarina and their consequences in response to the complex socio-environmental problems faced locally in the public arenas for Child, Adolescent and Youth Rights. It is anchored in a pragmatist perspective for comprehending social innovation experiences (Andion et al, 2017), correlating them with the dynamics of social transformation promoted by the mobilization and action of different actors in addressing socio-environmental problems in public arenas. The data production and analysis techniques are based in the theoretical-analytical-methodological framework of public arena´s ethnography (Magalhães, Andion, Alperstedt, 2020; Andion, 2023).

From this perspective on social innovation and drawing on theoretical and empirical advancements as well as research experience with the Observatory of Social Innovation of Florianópolis (OBISF) (Andion, Alperstedt, and Graeff, 2020; Magalhães, Andion, and Alperstedt, 2020), the aim is to map and observe the actions and effects of the actors involved in the public arenas for Child, Adolescent and Youth Rights, whether they are social innovation initiatives, supporting actors, or public policy instruments. This is done with the goal of advancing the work carried out by OBISF through the creation of the pilot program for the Santa Catarina Social Innovation Observatory. According to Cefaï (2009), this type of methodology highlights the usual practices of the various "publics" organized and mobilized around public issues.

Through a geographically, multiscale, interdisciplinary, and longitudinal analysis integrated into the territory, the Inspire Observatory adopts a theoretical and analytical approach for mapping and analyzing Social Innovation Ecosystems (SIEs) in the cities studied (Andion et al., 2017; Andion, Alperstedt, and Graeff, 2020; Andion et al., 2022). It advances towards mapping the Public Policy Instruments of the municipalities. This new perspective on SIEs emphasizes the diversity of actors, roles, sectors, and scales that constitute the ecosystems, their interactions, and particularly the processes of "public investigation" (Cefaï, 2014) or research coproduction, applied and engaged, with the actors of the SIE itself. This foster collective and collaborative processes of learning and experimenting with social innovation.

Therefore, aiming to advance in the research agenda concerning the interface between social innovations, public governance, and public policies with a focus on the local level and the observation and analysis of public arenas, this study results in a framework of indicators that provide a municipal overview of the situation of children, adolescents, and young people, as well as the functioning and scope of public policies. It also includes a preliminary presentation of the social innovation ecosystem within the public arenas for Child Adolescent and Youth Rights in some municipalities in Santa Catarina. It is hoped that, beyond its scientific contributions, this study may also strengthen the social innovation ecosystems and practices under study, both in Santa Catarina and in other regions of Brazil and abroad.

References

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ANDION, C., ALPERSTEDT, G. D., GRAEFF, J. F. Social Innovation Ecosystems and Cities: Co-Construction of a Collaborative Platform, In Howaldt, J. et al. (Eds.) Atlas of Social Innovation. (2nd Volume: A World of New Practices). Dormunt: TU Dormunt University, 2019.

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Authors

• Maria Carolina Martinez Andion, UDESC - Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina

• Maria Júlia Guedes, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina

• Julia Graeff, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina