On 27 and 28 August, NEOMA Business School hosted a progress meeting with representatives from the 11 partner institutes and universities from nine different countries. Our school has been a partner of the project, SIMPACT, Economic Underpinnings of Social Innovation, since January 2014.

The purpose of the three-year project is to identify the economic foundations that will foster the emergence and development of social innovation. This multidisciplinary project will combine use of a variety of methodologies. On completion, it will provide tools and recommendations for the establishment of new public policies in favour of social innovation.

During the two-day meeting on the Reims campus of NEOMA BS, the research team worked on the development of a joint conceptual framework and various data collection tools.

The concept of social innovation, despite being more and more commonly used, does not yet have its own theoretical framework. One of the challenges facing the project is that of developing a conceptual frame that will enable the different disciplines interested in the subject to communicate with each other (economics, management, sociology, design, urbanism etc.),  but will also be practicable for actors in the field.

In Reims, the project team is made up of Svetlana Serdukov, Sharam Alijani, Diana Mangalagiu and Jane Mackinnon, professors at NEOMA BS, Anna Goychman, European Projects Manager at NEOMA BS, Romain Debref, who is undertaking post-doctoral research at NEOMA BS financed by the Champagne-Ardenne Regional Council, Laëtitia Lethielleux, professor at URCA and director of the NEOMA BS-URCA Chair in Social Economy and Mélissa Boudes, research assistant for the Social Economy Chair.

See the photo gallery from the SIMPACT partners meeting at NEOMA BS

Find out more:
-    The project’s dedicated website: www.simpact-project.eu
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