Center for Social Innovation
The Center for Social Innovation (ZSI) is a social science institute in Austria .
history
It was founded in Vienna in 1990 and systematically links research with application. As a social-profit organization, the ZSI aims to examine the social embedding and impact of innovations, to make them visible and shapeable. The ZSI is the largest private social science institute in Austria with around 60 employees. The ZSI generates its entire annual turnover through the implementation of projects in research, education, advising public institutions and coordinating networks. The ZSI is active worldwide, especially in EU research projects. Other international clients are the OECD , UN organizations ( ILO , UNESCO , UNIDO ) or the World Bank .
Fields of competence
The ZSI is an independent and globally committed institution that uses research, education, advice and the coordination of networks
- the socially compatible design of innovations,
- the development, research and dissemination of social innovations,
- the analysis, promotion and evaluation of scientific cooperation,
- strengthening an open society based on solidarity and
- wants to support the realization of the visionary idea of a better world.
The ZSI deals with topics in its three work areas
- Work & Equal Opportunities : regional partnerships in the field of labor market and employment policy, innovative design of labor markets, aging society and new forms of work, gender equality, migration, ethnic economies, integration and exclusion;
- Research policy & development : Techno-globalization and potential analysis, program and project evaluation, conditions and barriers to international research cooperation in Southeast Europe and various world regions such as Russia and Central Asia, Southeast Asia , Latin America, etc. a .;
- Technology & Knowledge : Technology Enhanced Learning, new forms of technology assessment and participatory design, technology design, dissemination and impact of new technologies, scientific research and support for sustainability processes .
Strategic principles
In addition to the economic importance of technical innovations, social innovations should be given the same high priority in the public, politics and research. The ZSI therefore systematically links research with application, since commuting between science and practice is a prerequisite for the return of experience and knowledge from the application areas to basic scientific work and teaching. The combination of the different project forms in the ZSI research application slalom enables the ZSI to make contributions to the research and development of innovative practices in socially relevant subject areas over a longer period of time.
Research conference on social innovation
In September 2011, the ZSI organized the international conference “Challenge Social Innovation” together with the Social Research Center of TU Dortmund University and Net4Society in Vienna . Innovating Innovation by Research - 100 Years after Schumpeter " . A central result of the conference is the “Vienna Declaration: The most relevant topics in social research”, which contains proposals for national, European and other international research programs.
Postgraduate courses
On the basis of practical social science , the ZSI, together with the institutes SORA and FORBA, has been offering postgraduate courses for professional qualification for international social science research (SOQUA) since 2006 . From 2012/13, Danube University Krems will offer an MA with the support of ZSI. Study "European Master of Social Innovation". Together with international partners, the ZSI is working on the establishment of a European School of Social Innovation.
The ZSI team
The founder of the Center for Social Innovation is the sociologist Univ. Prof. Dr. Josef Hochgerner , who provides contributions on the topic of social innovation with numerous publications, lectures and in training and further education. Since October 1, 2014, Dr. Klaus Schuch scientific director of the ZSI. He and his team research, advise, teach and coordinate networks on behalf of and in cooperation with organizations from all over the world. The ZSI is a partner in numerous international consortia. The competencies include qualifications from various scientific disciplines and professional experience of the international workforce.
literature
- Center for Social Innovation, ZSI (ed.): Commuting between science and practice. ZSI - Contributions to Social Innovations. LIT Verlag: Wien, Berlin (LIT Verlag) 2011
- Vienna Declaration: The most relevant topics in social innovation research. Results of the “Challenge Social Innovation” conference. Vienna, 2011
- Gerhard Berka, Josef Hochgerner, Andrea Höglinger , Savvas Katsikides: Cooperation and competition: Effects of EC research funding on the development of the social sciences in Europe (ZSI workshop), Vienna