Participation in policy making for social innovation: a design perspective

As social innovation became a priority in the European political agenda of the last two decades, governments have developed a number of policies, initiatives and projects for its support. Since social innovation has been defined as “finding new ways of meeting social needs, which are not adequately met by the market or the public sector” policymakers addressing this field have to face the inherent complexity of societal needs while coping with public budget’s restraints. Therefore, governments have to reconsider traditional forms of public support for a broader range of policy instruments and tools, which seemed more suited for achieving social innovation goals. Terms as “human centeredness” and “experimentation” were used in the discourse on social and public sector innovation. As part of this trend, design methods and practices entered the policy domain and governments worldwide established groups focused on innovation — known as innovation teams, innovation labs, Public sector innovation labs and Government Innovation Places — in which design is explicitly recognized for its potential to address complex societal issues. However, “design for policy” field developed more through these experimental practices than on a theoretical and critical level, with relatively little rigorous research developed to understand how design can enhance policy for social innovation and, furthermore, how it can support a policymaking process aiming to the ambitious goals of social innovation development framework (i.e.: policymaking as social innovation). These goals certainly include the concept of “participation”, often referred as citizen engagement or civic participation: the idea that new forms of collaboration between public institutions and citizens could strengthen the whole society. Based on these considerations, the paper addresses the topic of “participation” in the context of social innovation, from the perspective of design discipline. This research will be carried out by looking at innovative policy tools and processes adopted by governments for social innovation. The main underlying question is: how participation has been implemented in policymaking for social innovation (e.g.: new funding scheme, innovative public-private partnerships, consultation tools)? To what extent co-design and coproduction entered the ecosystem of governmental support for social innovation? The aim is to open a discussion regarding the contribution of design for a more inclusive policy making and claiming for further research on design for policy, which could reinforce it as a field of work. Finally, the article will bring this investigation into a specific context, by analysing seventeen policies and actions for social innovation developed by the Municipality of Milan during the last years, and through the review of seven interviews carried out with relevant stakeholders from this ecosystem