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Social innovations are discussed as solutions to societal challenges, such as ensuring quality healthcare provision. Co-creation (i.e. the collaboration of actors who share their knowledge and skills), a primary feature of social innovation, can play a central role in changing formal institutions such as regulations, which is crucial to solving challenges in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare. However, research investigating how co-creation in social innovation can influence regulations is lacking. We investigate how co-creation can affect the ways social innovation actors influence healthcare regulations by analysing three social innovations in the Bernese Oberland, a Swiss mountain region facing the challenge of maintaining quality healthcare provision. Applying innovation biographies and semi-structured interviews, we find that two co-creating actor types were involved in influencing regulations: social innovation leaders and actors who fulfil central social innovation tasks. They influenced regulations by suggesting changes and inducing others to implement them, and they learned knowledge and skills in co-creation that helped them perform these activities. However, resources unrelated to co-creation also helped them influence regulations, such as actor networks and skills in persuading others. Co-creation in social innovation can thus support institutional change but is not a guarantee for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peripheral regions face the challenge of ensuring adequate healthcare provision. As a solution to such challenges, social innovations are introduced. Knowledge exchange among diverse actors is a crucial component of successful social innovations in peripheral areas. However, little is known about the characteristics and the spatial context of knowledge in social innovations. We analyze micro-level knowledge dynamics in four social innovations in the healthcare sector of a Swiss mountain region. We distinguish three knowledge types according to the knowledge base approach: synthetic (practical and tacit), analytical (scientific and codified) and symbolic (semiotic and tacit). From innovation biographies and semi-structured interviews, we find that synthetic knowledge is the type used most throughout the social innovation process and that it is often combined with the other two knowledge types. Local actors and extra-local actors who are locally embedded contribute the most knowledge. The actors require a considerable number of craft and practical skills to apply their own analytical or symbolic knowledge, as well as to link these three knowledge types from different actors and spatial contexts. Social innovations combine locally and extra locally acquired synthetic knowledge with analytical and symbolic knowledge to solve peripheral healthcare challenges and to contribute to regional wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the role of change agency in social innovations. Agency in social innovations can create new resources and capacities for transformative change in a region. To date, there is a lack of empirical studies investigating how agency manifests itself in social innovations. In particular, research has not yet investigated the detailed activities of social innovation actors throughout the phases of social innovation processes. In this paper we apply the concept of trinity of change agency to investigate the activities of social innovation actors. Using innovation biographies and data from 61 interviews for 11 case studies of social innovation in a peripheral mountain region in Switzerland, we analyse the social innovation process from an actor-oriented perspective. Our findings show that the various types of change agency are highly present in social innovations. The significance of change agency alters throughout the innovation process. Our analysis shows that all kinds of actors performed change agency during the social innovation process. Interestingly, same actors performed different types of change agency during the social innovation process. The findings suggest that change agency is as a significant element in social innovations and that we need to consider it as a transformative element of social innovation processes. When policymakers take change agency into account in creating an environment in which social innovations can flourish, there is a great chance that social innovations can contribute to changing regional development paths and perhaps even to regional transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social innovations consist of new forms of cooperation of individuals or organisations and they provide new solutions to societal problems. They typically evolve along three phases and have the potential to solve region-specific challenges. In the operating phase, social innovations can overcome the so-called tipping point. The tipping point is an elusive moment at which the social innovation can begin to spread or at which it could also fail. To examine the social innovation characteristics that contribute to overcome tipping points and to identify the role and motivations of actors to participate in the process of developing social innovations in tourism, we applied innovation biographies to seven social innovations in a Swiss mountain region. Data were drawn from 29 interviews with the involved actors. Our results show that social innovations in tourism that overcame the tipping point fulfil three conditions: First, new actors join the social innovations in the operating phase. Second, all the actors involved benefit from the social innovation for their own business strategy. Third, the social innovation is accepted in the region and among the actors involved and therefore does not face strong headwinds. Furthermore, developers, supporters, and promoters are important throughout the entire social innovation process. The findings suggest the need for a more comprehensive understanding of innovations in tourism that incorporates the complexity of different actors involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical examination of the different ways a high-technology region can evolve and the extent to which a research university can play a catalytic role in that evolution. The author briefly reviews the general roles universities have played in their local and regional communities. This will serve to introduce the major contributions higher education institutions make to economic development. Since technology-based economic development has become a popular concern of economic development practitioners, the discussion focuses on the role of the university in stimulating the growth of high-technology centers. The author presents a critical review of the literature and points out that universities have not always played a significant role in the creation of technology industry clusters. The importance of other factors in the creation and maintenance of high-tech industries are highlighted, and the argument is made that a university is neither a necessary nor a sufficient ingredient in the recipe for high-tech success. Finally, an attempt is made to clarify the role of the university in economic development, to synthesize critically the evidence, and to provide suggestions for further research regarding the role of the university in high-technology regional development. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.)