QuaSiSocI – Quality assurance in social innovations

Our basic understanding of social innovations

Social innovations are innovations that address social challenges and in a process devise, test, evaluate and finally embed new social practices for a specific social group. Social innovations often have a regional reference and are embedded in the existing political, cultural and economic system, which can influence the development of social innovations and thus promote, slow down or prevent it. Social innovations go through a multi-stage process until they are finally applied to the target group. Whether and how new new social practices are can be viewed from different perspectives. Here, for example, the target group, the organization offering them or the region can be used to decide whether they are new in this context and what is new about them.

Relevant scientific perspectives on the topic of quality assurance of social innovations

Quality assurance and impact measurement of social innovations and their concrete implementation are current scientific questions that also have high practical relevance. Various theoretical concepts can be used to assess the quality of social innovations. We understand quality assurance of social innovations as an overarching perspective that consists of the delimitation of social innovation, its development in individual phases, the assessment of novelty and the evaluation of input, output, outcome and impact. A first step is to record what defines social innovations, characterizes them and distinguishes them from other types of innovation. This allows practical projects to be assigned, for example, based on their connection to a specific social problem. With the help of a phase model for the process of social innovations, practical projects can be classified with regard to their development, whether they are in the idea, conception, testing or scaling phase or are already being used. The phase perspective can be used to assess whether the practical projects are progressing in their development and what support needs they communicate, receive and accept in the phases. The maturity levels of social innovations make it possible to determine for whom practical projects are new and how new they are. This also allows practical projects to be compared with one another or assessed in terms of their context specifics. In addition, impact measurement aspects can be focused on, for example, those that deal with the impact on society. This also includes identifying input factors that have already been identified, for example, when assessing the phases of social innovation. With regard to output, outcome and impact, connections can be drawn to the social problem, the starting point of social innovations, or to the maturity level and the novelty of a practical project.

Projektpartner

Impact Hub Dresden

Impact Hub Leipzig 

Parikom gGmbH

Startnext

Projektlaufzeit

01.06.2024 - 31.12.2025

Ansprechpartner

Anja Herrmann-Fankhänel

Chemnitz-Lviv learning bridge 2025

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME “HIGHER EDUCATION REIMAGINED: INNOVATION, CREATIVITY, AND DIGITAL TOOLS FOR EDUCATORS”

Clients: UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS, ACADEMIC, AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Project duration: 16/09/2025 – 08/10/2025

Short description and teaching objectives

Within the framework of the Chemnitz-Lviv 2025 Learning Bridge, this subproject focuses on the professional development of scientific, academic, and administrative staff. Participants from Ukrainian universities will gain comprehensive insights into the interplay of creativity and innovation in the context of digital transformation. The aim is to promote the professional development of participants by expanding their understanding of teaching and learning methodologies and tools, enabling them to adequately address the numerous requirements of the diverse stakeholders in the digitalized educational landscape.