Overview

Contemporary societies are facing permanent social, economic and ecological turbulence. Social innovation starts from the willingness to transform ideas into action in order to respond to problems and contribute for solutions where public policies fail in providing effective answers. Despite the fragmentation of the field, Regional Science has been an important catalyst for social innovation research by paying attention to territorial innovative responses towards emerging social needs.

It is in this context and with these premises that the 25th APDR workshop Social Innovation Towards Sustainability: Embracing Contemporary Challenges for Regional Development is developed. In fact, its main objective is to discuss the state of the art of social innovation in Regional Science and the contemporary challenge for sustainability while promoting the reflection and knowledge-sharing on social innovation practices connected with sustainability and regional development. It also intends to stimulate an inter-sector dialogue among researchers, activists, local, regional and national policy makers, associations, non-governmental organisations, practitioners of social innovation and social entrepreneurs and contribute to the visibility of social innovation as a central topic for the transformation of society towards a more sustainable future.

The workshop is organised by APDR – Portuguese Association for Regional Development and CES - Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, with the support of CinTurs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-Being of the University of Algarve. This workshop also benefits from the support of the Atlantic Social Lab project, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG Atlantic Area Cooperation Program (EAPA_246/2016).

The workshop was originally organised to take place on 16th April 2020 at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve (Faro, Portugal) but was postponed. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event is held online, in a webinar format version, starting from the 28^th of September until the 2^nd of October 2020.

The first day of the workshop is dedicated to the opening session while from the 29^th of September to the 1^st of October, the presentation and discussion of the main themes will take place. The topics of discussion, among others, regard social innovation, micro-scale innovation, transformative innovation, sustainability transitions and community-based sustainability projects. These topics are divided into five main categories that correspond to parallel sessions. Namely, the subjects are classified into the following sections: i) tourism and territorial renewal; ii) spaces for sustainable social innovation; iii) learning for social innovation; iv) social innovation and communities; and v) regional dynamics.

The last day of the workshop integrates a focus group discussion about “The Transformative Potential of Social Innovation for Regional Development”. This focus group is developed by the Atlantic Social Lab project, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG Atlantic Area Cooperation Program (EAPA_246/2016) and it is intended to be a participatory session whose objective is to promote a multi-level and multi-sectoral discussion on the importance of social innovation for regional development. It will count with the presence of different organisations that have a pivotal role in the economic and social development of the Algarve region, including winners of the Partnerships for the Impact of the Portugal Inovação Social (Portugal Social Innovation) contest. Some final considerations will then close the event, making space for reflection.