In this short paper we outline our working definition of social innovation. This definition was developed as part of the TEPSIE programme. It is very much a working definition and we welcome comments and feedback. We define social innovation as ‘new solutions that simultaneously meet a social need (more effectively than existing solutions) and enhance society’s capacity to act (by creating new relationships, developing capabilities and/or providing better use of assets and resources.’ We also outline what we believe are core element of social innovations. These are features which must be present for a product, process or practice to be defined as a social innovation.

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