Shahab Sabahi
Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group
The definition of social innovation still has to continue to evolve in South East Asia . Definitions and the field of action are in constant flux as the challenges of society change, so it makes it impossible to give one concise interpretation. (Hamalainen 2011) One may define social innovation, in the context of South East Asia , as new ways of reaching specific goals and they include, new organization forms, new regulations and new life styles that solve problems better than traditional practices do and that are worth imitating or institutionalizing.
Innovations in the social aspects have to change the direction of social development.
The most significant achievement and strength of an innovated society is its critical thinking education, small income disparities, little poverty, reciprocal altruism and the wide participation of citizens in political and economic life (some points from Sitra 2006).
In South East Asia the focus has been predominantly on export-oriented industrial growth and left behind environment and forest preservation, critical thinker development in universities, examining robust policy and planning for sustainable development with the use of new materials and functional technologies. In this part of the world, technological development and technological innovations are generally considered the pivotal point for socio-economic growth.
As yet South East Asia countries have no clear development strategy for social innovation. The area of social innovation will have to continue to evolve in order to improve the quality of life and the performance of society.
Their problems have to be tackled if they look forward to having stability and security. The problems are: income raised and lose of competitiveness, entrepreneur and critical thinker shortage, environmentally degraded region, and more damage costs from natural disasters because of their poor infrastructures.
A part of entrepreneur shortage would be structural and now coexists with lack of motivation for cultivating critical thinker. Further issues are income disparities, huge poverty, healthcare and weak institutions and law enforcement and lack of attention to the importance of the infrastructure development.
Innovation policy in the strong technical orientation is not enough, while the social dimension of innovation has been given less attention.
New to whom? The importance of innovation is that it is different from the way things are being done. It ,in itself. is without social value. The social value comes from its use. Every year there are thousand of innovations offer to the market -- less than ten percent ever get to the market. Some are good, some are fads, some are shams and some do right deadly. But all are "new" or different ways of doing something.
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