Chapter 1
From Innovation to Social Impact
Silvia Hostettler
1.1 What Is Innovation?
Today, there appears to be a widespread call for innovation: product innovation,
process innovation, market innovation, organizational innovation, and social innovation. It sometimes feels as though, when at loss, we call upon innovation. The origin
of the word innovation means “restoration, renewal,” from the Latin innovationem
and innovare. Joseph Schumpeter is considered as the first economist to have drawn
attention to the importance of innovation in the 1930s (Croitoru 2012; Schumpeter
1911). Innovation can be a new method, idea, or product—something that is new
or different. Innovation’s key characteristic is that it is assumed to provide a significant, positive change. “To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at
an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need […]”.
1 In the context of development, we look more specifically at social innovation, which can be described as
“… a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable,
or just than current solutions. The value created accrues primarily to society rather
than to private individuals.”
2
1 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/innovation.html.
2 https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/centers-initiatives/csi/defining-socialinnovation.
S. Hostettler (B)
Cooperation and Development Center (CODEV), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
e-mail: silvia.hostettler@epfl.ch
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Hostettler et al. (eds.), Technologies for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91068-0_1
3
From Innovation to Social Impact
Silvia Hostettler
1.1 What Is Innovation?
Today, there appears to be a widespread call for innovation: product innovation,
process innovation, market innovation, organizational innovation, and social innovation. It sometimes feels as though, when at loss, we call upon innovation. The origin
of the word innovation means “restoration, renewal,” from the Latin innovationem
and innovare. Joseph Schumpeter is considered as the first economist to have drawn
attention to the importance of innovation in the 1930s (Croitoru 2012; Schumpeter
1911). Innovation can be a new method, idea, or product—something that is new
or different. Innovation’s key characteristic is that it is assumed to provide a significant, positive change. “To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at
an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need […]”.
1 In the context of development, we look more specifically at social innovation, which can be described as
“… a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable,
or just than current solutions. The value created accrues primarily to society rather
than to private individuals.”
2
1 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/innovation.html.
2 https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/centers-initiatives/csi/defining-socialinnovation.
S. Hostettler (B)
Cooperation and Development Center (CODEV), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale
de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
e-mail: silvia.hostettler@epfl.ch
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Hostettler et al. (eds.), Technologies for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91068-0_1
3