Social innovation is often touted as one of the keyways in which we can address various sustainability challenges. It is understood as an innovation process that can stretch the boundaries of creativity and flexibility to develop new and pragmatic solutions.  

While the concept and the process of social innovation are important tools for societal development, there are different understandings of what social innovation is or should be. Contemporary scientific and policy discourses tend to ignore the social in the process of solving challenges. Oftentimes, the offered solutions are technology-, organisation- or market-oriented, putting a lot of emphasis on the end results rather than on the ethical and social aspects.