Towards Smart Governance: Insights from Assessing ICT-Enabled Social Innovation in Europe

Building on results of the research on ‘ICT-Enabled Social Innovation to support the implementation of the Social Investment Package’ (IESI), this chapter aims to contribute to the debate on the development of new smart governance models in the social innovation domain, leveraging on the potential of digital technologies for enhancing collaborative governance and civic engagement. In this perspective, after discussing the approach followed to conceptualise ICT-enabled social innovation through literature review and analysis of initiatives gathered in sequential rounds of mapping, the chapter provides insights from the analysis of the European landscape and the policy debate around social innovation and policy reforms. In particular, the evidence gathered shows that systemic initiatives are mainly happening at the local level, and public authorities have a key role acting as catalysers and enablers of social innovation and digital governance. Involving beneficiaries of specific services is often a key driver to improve the ability of cooperation of stakeholders and to expand the collaboration with the wider local community, with particular importance for ‘smart city’ governance. Innovative public–private collaborative practices emerge to strengthen the modernisation of the European social agenda, with public actors acting as orchestrators and amplifiers of innovation and resilience into a varied array of welfare policies and governance models. The results of the analysis have clear implications on the smart governance and smart cities debate at both academic and policy level. First of all, it is clear that ICT-enabled social innovation has a strong potential to empower citizens’ participation in the life of a community and thus enhance civic engagement which can result into innovative collaborative governance. At the same time, leveraging on the capacities of digital technologies, new services can be designed and delivered providing personalised solutions to improve conditions of disadvantaged groups and help shape a better community’s life.