Inovarea socială – o viziune benefică asupra sectorului public. Studiu de caz: inovarea socială în universităڏile publice din Italia[Social innovation – a beneficial vision on the public sector. Case study: social innovation in the public universities from Italy]

An efficient and productive public sector can be a powerful growth factor, with support for the private sector and its governance. When governments are faced with the challenge of ensuring financial consolidation while stimulating growth, competitiveness and employment, there is sound justification for increased efficiency, better governance, faster delivery of services and involvement users in the public sector. Although the public sector needs to innovate to meet the growing demand of citizens, innovation in this sector is more difficult to define and identify, efforts to better understand it and to promote it are greatly slowed down by a lack of quantitative evidence. Objectives: The purpose of this article is to provide a framework for ways of innovating in the public sector, particularly in public universities in Italy. Approach: This article is based on a bibliographic research of specialized papers focusing on social innovation, with priority to the public sector. Results: The importance of social innovation in the public sector must also be understood as a means of meeting current austerity measures and, in the long run, it is useful in responding to better globalization and also to major societal challenges.