The article is intended to study social innovations as a tool of state sustainability strategy promoting development of human potential and improved quality of life. To achieve this goal, the methods of scientific cognition were used: dialectic, analysis and synthesis, generalization, comparisons. The research is based on studying relevant scientific and periodic economic literature. The research found out that the primary forms of social innovations are social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, social cooperation, social partnership, social contract. However, the process of replicating and scaling social innovations in Russia is slow due to negative objective and subjective factors. Most important of them include no single regulatory framework, irregular development of certain areas of the country, insufficient resources, deficient budgets of many Russian Federation constituents, etc. Therefore, the determinant of diffusion of social innovations must be efficient socio-innovative state policy that will use alternative means, methods and practices to reduce social tension in the society, increase real income of the population, which must finally result in expanded reproduction of all results and factors of economic growth as well as sustainable regional development. The novelty of the paper is justification of social innovation forms that act as an efficient tool of the state sustainable development strategy.