Knowledge Mobilization, Collaboration, and Social Innovation: Leveraging Investments in Higher Education

Abstract

This article is a qualitative literature synthesis in the areas of community-campus collaborations, knowledge mobilization and social innovation. The article aims to be useful to people who work in academic settings, community organizations, public institutions, and government. The authors utilized a purposive sampling methodology to explore the following questions: 1. How can university-based knowledge mobilization leverage investments in higher education research and development (R&D) through community-campus collaboration and social innovation? 2. What is the role of university-wide knowledge mobilization projects in supporting community-campus connections and ultimately social innovation strategies that contribute to the public good? Our review indicates considerable interplay between community-campus collaborations, knowledge mobilization and social innovation given that knowledge mobilization facilitates – and is facilitated by – collaboration. With sufficient knowledge mobilization, community-campus collaborations stimulate social innovation. The article concludes with recommendations based on our review of the literature. RÉSUMÉ Cet article se fonde sur une synthèse littéraire qualitative portant sur les collaborations communautaires/académiques, la mobilisation du savoir et l’innovation sociale. Il se veut utile pour toute personne travaillant dans un milieu académique, un organisme communautaire ou une institution publique. Les auteurs ont recours à une méthode d’échantillonnage raisonné pour répondre aux questions suivantes : 1. Comment la mobilisation du savoir universitaire – au moyen de la collaboration communautaire/académique et de l’innovation sociale – peut-elle faire augmenter les investissements en recherche et développement dans l’enseignement supérieur? 2. Comment les projets de mobilisation du savoir universitaire peuvent-ils resserrer les liens entre campus et communauté et, en fin de compte, appuyer des stratégies d’innovation sociale qui contribuent au bien commun? Notre évaluation indique qu’il y a beaucoup d’influences réciproques entre les collaborations communautaires/académiques, la mobilisation du savoir et l’innovation sociale, surtout que la mobilisation du savoir facilite la collaboration et vice versa. En effet, avec une mobilisation du savoir suffisante, les collaborations communautaires/académiques stimulent l’innovation sociale. Cet article se termine par des recommandations provenant de notre analyse documentaire.

The Role of Education in Promoting Social Innovation Processes in the Society

“… social system (Cajaiba-Santana, 2013;McCarthy et al, 2014;Westley et al, 2014);  social value (Le Ber & Branzei, 2010;Minks, 2011;Bonifacio, 2014);  social problems (Minks, 2011);  social challenges (The Young Foundation, 2012; EC, 2011);  social impact (Ortega et al, 2014);  social change / transformation (OECD, 2010;Dover, 2011;Minks, 2011;EC, 2011;Cajaiba-Santana, 2013;Westley et al, 2014);  system change (OECD, 2010;Nichols et al, 2013;Westley et al, 2014);  social quality (Oeij et al, 2011;Li et al, 2012);  quality of life (Pol & Ville, 2009;OECD, 2010;Li et al, 2012;Edwards-Schachter et al, 2012;Bonifacio, 2014);  quantity of life (Pol & Ville, 2009);  well-being, welfare (OECD, 2010; Edwards-Schachter et al, 2012;…”

“…Bonifacio, 2014);  social action (Cajaiba-Santana, 2013; Bhatt & Altinay, 2013);  social capital (Bhatt & Altinay, 2013);  social practices (Oeij et al, 2011;Cajaiba-Santana, 2013;Howaldt et.al., 2014;Klievink & Janssen, 2014);  cross-sector partnership (Le Ber & Branzei, 2010; Jiménez Escobar & Morales Gutiérrez, 2011);  relationships (OECD, 2010;Li et al, 2012;Klein et al, 2012;Nichols et al, 2013;Klievink & Janssen, 2014), etc. This literature review presents core elements and common features of social innovation (Minks, 2011;Edwards-Schachter et al, 2012;The Young Foundation, 2012;Bulut et al, 2013;Ümarik et al, 2014), typology of social innovation (Nambisan, 2009, cited in Lundstrom & Zhou, 2011; The Young Foundation, 2012; Davies, 2014) as well as fields, sectors, and levels of social innovation (The Young Foundation, 2012; Bund et al, 2013;Bonifacio, 2014).…”

“… systems ecological approach (Nichols et al, 2013);  perspectives of social constructionism, sensemaking, and story-telling (Cajaiba-Santana, 2013);  design approach (Murray et al, 2010;Hillgren et al, 2011);  participatory design (Hillgren et al, 2011); community-based, collaborative and/or interdisciplinary research (Nichols et al, 2013);  multiple case study approach, conducting interviews, observing meetings and events (Dover, 2011); comparative case study research, conducting in-depth interviews (Le Ber & Branzei, 2010); case studies by conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews with individuals directly involved in the spreading social innovation (Davies, 2014);  survey method (Bulut et al, 2013).…”

“…Education institutions play an important role as social innovation actors, drivers and facilitators to support social innovation and realise training courses, study programs and learning networks for potential social innovators (TEPSIE, 2014). Education is determined to be one of social innovation fields (Bund et al, 2013) with powerful source of human and social capital which create an appropriate context for developing social innovation ecosystem (EC, 2011;Mancabelli, 2012;Nichols et al, 2013;Bhatt & Altinay, 2013;TEPSIE, 2014). According to Andrew and Klein (2010, p. 22-23), "Social innovation requires learning and institutional capacity to learn.…”

An Institutional Process for Brokering Community-Campus Research Collaborations

“…collaborations (Hall & Tremblay, 2012) or may take the form of a service unit supporting engaged research (Phipps & Shapson, 2009) and/or teaching (Hart, Northmore, Gerhardt & Rodriguez 2009) leading to benefits such as social innovation (Nichols, Phipps, Provencal & Hewitt, 2013).…”