Background · Social Innovation

Social innovation and sustainability

The theory taking shape from the 2010s: social innovation as the social pillar of sustainable development — and the social engine of the sustainability transition.

Living Lab editorial team Knowledge Base · Social Innovation

3 min read 2026

This theoretical direction interprets social innovation as the social pillar of sustainable development. From the 2010s onward, researchers — among them Howaldt, Domanski and Kaletka — have pointed out that social innovation is not merely economic or technological development, but the social engine of the sustainability transition.

1. The three dimensions of sustainability and new patterns

The essence of the theory is that the three dimensions of sustainability — economic, environmental and social — can only work together if new institutional and cultural patterns emerge. In this sense, social innovation serves to create the "enabling environment": community structures and forms of cooperation that support the ecological and economic transition.

2. A bridge between the SDGs and European policy

This approach forms an important theoretical bridge between the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and European social-innovation policy. Both emphasise the need for long-term, socially embedded change — that is, the sustainable transition cannot be achieved without a transformation of the social fabric.

Key takeaways

Social innovation is the social pillar of sustainable development and the social engine of the sustainability transition.
The economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability work together only alongside new institutional and cultural patterns — the "enabling environment".
The theory forms a theoretical bridge between the UN SDGs and European social-innovation policy, in the spirit of long-term, embedded change.

Series · Social Innovation (10 parts)