Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development

Ravazzoli, Elisa; Dalla Torre, Cristina; Da Re, Riccardo; Marini Govigli, Valentino; Secco, Laura; Górriz-Mifsud, Elena; Pisani, Elena; Barlagne, Carla; Baselice, Antonio; Bengoumi, Mohammed; Dijskhoorn-Dekker, Marijke; Labidi, Arbia; Lopolito, Antonio; Melnykovych, Mariana; Perlik, Manfred; Polman, Nico; Sarkki, Simo; Vassilopoulos, Achilleas; Koundouri, Phoebe; Miller, David; Streifeneder, Thomas; Nijnik, Maria

doi:10.3390/su13041823

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Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development

Elisa Ravazzoli

^1,*

Cristina Dalla Torre

^1,2

Riccardo Da Re

Valentino Marini Govigli

^3,4

⁵

⁶

⁷,

Marijke Dijskhoorn-Dekker

⁸,

⁷

⁹

^3,10,

¹¹,

⁸,

¹²,

Achilleas Vassilopoulos

¹³,

¹⁴

⁵,

¹ and

⁵

Institute for Regional Development Eurac Research, Viale Druso, 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Via dell’Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy

European Forest Institute, Mediterranean Facility (EFIMED), St. Antoni Maria Claret, 167, 08025 Barcelona, Spain

⁴

Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia (CTFC), 25280 Solsona, Spain

⁵

The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, Scotland, UK

⁶

Department of Sciences of Agriculture, Food Natural resources and Engineering, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy

⁷

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Subregional Office for North Africa, les Berges du Lac 1, Tunis 1053, Tunisia

⁸

Wageningen Economic Research, Prinses Beatrixlaan 582-528, 2595 BM The Hague, The Netherlands

⁹

Department of Economics, Management and Territory, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy

¹⁰

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland

¹¹

Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Mittelstrasse 43, 3012 Bern, Switzerland

¹²

Cultural Anthropology Programme, University of Oulu, 90570 Oulu, Finland

¹³

Department of Economics, University of Ioannina, University Campus, 45110 Ioannina, Greece

¹⁴

School of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission Street, 104 34 Athens, Greece

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Miguel Amado

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1823; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041823

Received: 30 December 2020 / Revised: 26 January 2021 / Accepted: 31 January 2021 / Published: 8 February 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Social Innovation on Sustainable Development of Rural Areas)

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Abstract

Social innovation (SI) impacts are long-term changes that affect different dimensions of territorial capital (i.e., economy, society, environment, governance) for the territory in which SI occurs. Yet, systematic empirical evidence and theoretically sound assessments of the impacts of SI are scarce. This paper aims to fill the gap and assess the different aspects of SI’s impacts in European and Mediterranean areas that are characterized by marginalization processes. To assess the impacts of SI in marginalized areas, we use the evaluation framework developed within the Social Innovation in Marginalized Rural Areas (SIMRA) Horizon 2020 project and apply it to nine SI initiatives related to the fields of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and rural development. Our findings show that SI produces cross-sectoral (societal, economic, environmental, and governmental) and multi-level impacts (on individuals, community, and society), which have improved the societal well-being, and contributed to the reduction of certain forms of marginality, mainly inside the territory in which SI occurred. View Full-Text

Keywords: social innovation; socio-economic impacts; institutional impacts; environmental impacts; societal well-being; European societal challenges; marginalization; sustainability challenges; local level

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ravazzoli, E.; Dalla Torre, C.; Da Re, R.; Marini Govigli, V.; Secco, L.; Górriz-Mifsud, E.; Pisani, E.; Barlagne, C.; Baselice, A.; Bengoumi, M.; Dijskhoorn-Dekker, M.; Labidi, A.; Lopolito, A.; Melnykovych, M.; Perlik, M.; Polman, N.; Sarkki, S.; Vassilopoulos, A.; Koundouri, P.; Miller, D.; Streifeneder, T.; Nijnik, M. Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development. Sustainability 2021, 13, 1823. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041823

AMA Style

Ravazzoli E, Dalla Torre C, Da Re R, Marini Govigli V, Secco L, Górriz-Mifsud E, Pisani E, Barlagne C, Baselice A, Bengoumi M, Dijskhoorn-Dekker M, Labidi A, Lopolito A, Melnykovych M, Perlik M, Polman N, Sarkki S, Vassilopoulos A, Koundouri P, Miller D, Streifeneder T, Nijnik M. Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development. Sustainability. 2021; 13(4):1823. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041823

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ravazzoli, Elisa; Dalla Torre, Cristina; Da Re, Riccardo; Marini Govigli, Valentino; Secco, Laura; Górriz-Mifsud, Elena; Pisani, Elena; Barlagne, Carla; Baselice, Antonio; Bengoumi, Mohammed; Dijskhoorn-Dekker, Marijke; Labidi, Arbia; Lopolito, Antonio; Melnykovych, Mariana; Perlik, Manfred; Polman, Nico; Sarkki, Simo; Vassilopoulos, Achilleas; Koundouri, Phoebe; Miller, David; Streifeneder, Thomas; Nijnik, Maria. 2021. "Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development" Sustainability 13, no. 4: 1823. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041823

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Author Biographies

Elisa Ravazzoli

Elisa Ravazzoli holds a PhD in Economics - Policy and Culture of the Territory from the University of Bologna and a MA in Geography and Territorial Processes from the same university. Her research focuses on different topics related to human, regional and spatial geography, including population dynamics; socio-spatial transformations; regional spatial disparities; urban-rural divide; social innovation. Her research address

Carla Barlagne

Dr Barlagne is a researcher in agricultural and rural economics working in the Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences (SEGS) research group at the James Hutton Institute. Among other topics her research investigates the generation, uptake and development of various forms of innovation (technological, organisational or social innovation) within socio-ecological systems. She focuses on understanding the barriers and enabling factors of innovation, uses a system approach to solving research questions and implements a variety of qualitative and quantitative tools. She has a background in agronomy, agricultural economics and behavioural economics.

Simo Sarkki

Dr Sarkki has PhD in anthropology (2011) and holds docentship on “anthropology of environmental governance” at University of Oulu (2013), Finland. Sarkki has worked in various research projects related to environmental governance. Sarkki’s research interests include science-policy interfaces, land use in northern areas, scenarios, participatory approaches and multi-level governance under the broader theme of environmental governance. Sarkki has published 57 peer reviewed (SCOPUS) publications in international journals with a h-index of 20.00. (Google scholar)

David Miller

Prof Miller has a PhD on expert systems from the University of Aberdeen. He has worked at the Institute since 1984, currently as the Knowledge Exchange Coordinator. In the initial years of the James Hutton Institute he was Research Theme Leader of Realising Land's Potential. His current research interests are on understanding the landscape preferences of different types of stakeholder with respect to characteristics of cultural landscapes, the implications for multi-functional land uses, and their incorporation into policy and planning. His research involves close working in teams comprising the social and natural sciences and communities of practice.

Maria Nijnik

Prof Nijnik has a PhD in Social Sciences from WUR, in co- with Uni Victoria; post-graduate/MSc qualifications from the Mansholt Institute; NAKE and EPCEM, the NL; a MSc/ Dipl. Eng. from UNFU and PhD in Economics from the Academy of Sciences, UA. She is a winner of the IUFRO Scientific Achievement Award; Scientific Honour of UA and several BBSRC exceptional Performance Awards, UK. Her work addresses resilience of social-ecological systems, multifunctional/sustainable management/use of natural assets. This includes institutional aspects of the development of rural areas and social innovation. The publications list includes over 60 scientific journal articles (1789 citation; hi 20) .

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Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development

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Can Social Innovation Make a Change in European and Mediterranean Marginalized Areas? Social Innovation Impact Assessment in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Rural Development

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