The intangible assets of companies (most notably, intellectual and social capital) have increasingly acquired a strategic role in the development of innovative products and services that may adequately respond to the needs of contemporary society. In particular, a crucial factor in this respect is the ability to access, activate, and efficiently manage local as well as international networks that may increase the value of social capital through an effective process of knowledge and skills transfer both within a company (subsystems consonance and resonance) and between different companies (inter-systems consonance and resonance). However, such networks do not always emerge spontaneously and the intervention of a facilitator is often needed. Our research focuses on the analysis and assessment of the services offered by for profit and non profit organizations specialized in creating support networks for the development of new projects. This paper provides a specific case study based on The Hub, a project started in London in 2007 and aiming to create links between local companies and organizations and a broader international context (networks and markets). In doing this, The Hub adopted a dynamic and flexible perspective (in both cultural and social terms) which involves encouraging public bodies, for profit and non profit organizations to engage productively with each other in the development of social innovation projects – i.e. innovation with a positive impact for society. In particular “The HUB Milano” is a node of a worldwide network comprising 24 HUBs, with the mission of supporting entrepreneurial projects aimed to social innovation. More than 450 people participate in the activities of “The HUB Milano”, which include more than 100 projects. In assessing the added value of the ‘network creating organisations’, our analysis will make use of the resource dependence theory and the perspective of knowledge management.
Facilitating network-building services for social innovation: the case of “The HUB (Milano)”
CASSIA, FABIO
2011-01-01
Abstract
The intangible assets of companies (most notably, intellectual and social capital) have increasingly acquired a strategic role in the development of innovative products and services that may adequately respond to the needs of contemporary society. In particular, a crucial factor in this respect is the ability to access, activate, and efficiently manage local as well as international networks that may increase the value of social capital through an effective process of knowledge and skills transfer both within a company (subsystems consonance and resonance) and between different companies (inter-systems consonance and resonance). However, such networks do not always emerge spontaneously and the intervention of a facilitator is often needed. Our research focuses on the analysis and assessment of the services offered by for profit and non profit organizations specialized in creating support networks for the development of new projects. This paper provides a specific case study based on The Hub, a project started in London in 2007 and aiming to create links between local companies and organizations and a broader international context (networks and markets). In doing this, The Hub adopted a dynamic and flexible perspective (in both cultural and social terms) which involves encouraging public bodies, for profit and non profit organizations to engage productively with each other in the development of social innovation projects – i.e. innovation with a positive impact for society. In particular “The HUB Milano” is a node of a worldwide network comprising 24 HUBs, with the mission of supporting entrepreneurial projects aimed to social innovation. More than 450 people participate in the activities of “The HUB Milano”, which include more than 100 projects. In assessing the added value of the ‘network creating organisations’, our analysis will make use of the resource dependence theory and the perspective of knowledge management.
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