Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS

Executive Summary

This working paper results from the first phase of the research project on “Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS” conducted by the Research Group on Innovation Systems and Development Governance at the BRICS Policy Center. This research aims to contribute to both the advancement of the scholarly debate on the engagement of HEIs in social innovation initiatives, and the promotion of more inclusive and sustainable development policies in the
Global South, particularly in the BRICS.

With this in mind, first, we provide evidence on the growing interest in social innovation/ entrepreneurship worldwide, and then present how scholars focused on the university’s third mission have articulated the notions of “social innovation” and “inclusive innovation” in the specialized literature. After that, we provide an overview on the BRICS higher education systems with an attempt to identify how the idea of social/inclusive innovation has emerged in those contexts. Particular attention is devoted to the participation of international actors as to provide background information for further investigation in a second working paper, more specifically focused on social innovation multiscalar governance in the BRICS HEIs.

We conclude that, although innovation has been largely understood in the BRICS counties in a rather traditional sense, evidence suggests that the notions of “social innovation” and “social entrepreneurship” have been on the rise in all these countries’ higher education contexts.
Notably, this process features a strong international dimension, with related activities largely informed by or conducted in partnership with international and transnational actors, especially based in or originally from Europe. We advocate that more South-South collaborations must be established or strengthened as to further promote inclusive innovation and to foster more inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development processes in the Global South.

Key-words

Social Innovation; Social Entrepreneurship; Inclusive Innovation; Higher Education; HEI; BRICS; Inclusive Development.

Acknowledgements

This paper results from the first phase of the research project on “Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS,” conducted by the Research Group on Innovation Systems and Development Governance at the BRICS Policy Center. This research has been co-funded by the
Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and the Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). It is the first of an initial two-piece set of working papers and is intended to provide background information to be further investigated in a second working paper, entitled “Social Innovation and Higher Education in the BRICS (2): a multiscalar governance approach with evidence from DESIS Labs” (in press).