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There are many definitions of social innovation, out of which the most commonly accepted may be that it is a complex solution or, sometimes disruptive, change that is more efficient, effective, sustainable and fair than existing alternatives on the broadest level of society. A further, essential characteristic of it is a community framework, manifested in the creation of new relationships and the restructuring of the entrenched modes of cooperation. Adding to the significance of the phenomenon is that nowadays every social challenge is deemed an economic one as well. Hence, its solution is in the interest of the national economy. The most important sectors and challenges: demography, poverty, climate change, education, digitalization, public administration, health care. Some highlighted recent examples of social innovation are the following: social enterprise, creating shared value (CSV), emissions trading, fair trade and social webshops. The goal of the paper is to interpret social innovation as widely as possible through individual examples within Hungarian context. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Globalisation “takes” its victims, which the authors believe means that the future of small- and medium-sized towns has become uncertain in Europe. The role of centres is continuously increasing, and most researchers prefer to analyse the competitiveness and innovativeness of metropolitan areas. In this study, we characterise the small- and medium-sized towns in the central–eastern European region as well as explore their possible development path. The authors are convinced that one way for these towns to survive is through strengthening of innovation abilities, which means increasing the innovation performances of economic stakeholders and new forms of interaction among other institutions in order to handle social problems. The theoretical starting point is the interpretation and presentation of the micropolitan (without big towns) regions as well as understanding the concept of technological and social innovation. As the result of the research, the innovation measurements carried out in some of the settlements will be represented. These experiences can help the small- and medium-sized towns keep up with global competition and cancel migration and erosion of intellectual potential. Globalizacija zahteva svoje žrtve, kar po mnenju avtorjev pomeni negotovo prihodnost majhnih in srednje velikih mest v Evropi. Vloga centrov se nenehno povečuje, večina raziskovalcev raje analizira konkurenčnost in inovativnost metropolitanskih območij. V tej študiji nameravamo opredeliti majhna in srednje velika mesta v regiji Srednje in Vzhodne Evrope ter raziskati njihovo možno pot razvoja. Avtorji so prepričani, da je eden od načinov preživetja teh mest krepitev inovacijskih sposobnosti, kar pomeni povečanje inovacijske uspešnosti gospodarskih subjektov in nove oblike interakcij med drugimi institucijami za reševanje družbenih problemov. Teoretično izhodišče sta interpretacija in predstavitev mikropolitanskih regij (brez velikih mest), pa tudi razumevanje koncepta tehnoloških in družbenih inovacij. Kot rezultat raziskave bo predstavljeno merjenje, povezano z inovacijami, v nekaterih naseljih. Te izkušnje lahko pomagajo majhnim in srednje velikim mestom, da lahko sledijo globalni konkurenci in prekinejo migracije ter erozijo intelektualnega potenciala.

Innovation process research is changing. In addition to the former territorial approach (examining countries or regions), the description of innovation cooperation in local areas is becoming more and more accepted. Instead of the innovation ability of the traditional large enterprises, research has begun to study the role of small and medium-sized enterprises, non-governmental organizations, local governments, and educational institutions (especially universities), which foreshadows the development of a new innovation system. In 2015, we conducted a study focusing on the civil and corporate relations of a major university. We tried to determine the new directions based on the economic and social cooperation as well as to search for the practical implementation of the theoretical helixes in these interactions. We came to the conclusion that universities not only are determinative according to the triple helix model but also have a prominent role in the creation of new innovation ecosystems, particularly in a well-defined geographical area. Raziskovanje inovacijskega procesa se spreminja, saj postaja poleg predhodnega teritorialnega pristopa (proučevanje držav in najmanj regij) opis inovacijskega sodelovanja v lokalnih območjih vse bolj sprejet. Namesto inovacijske sposobnosti tradicionalnih velikih podjetij se je začelo proučevanje vloge malih in srednje velikih podjetij, nevladnih organizacij, lokalnih vlad, izobraževalnih institucij – še posebej univerz, kar nakazuje razvoj novega inovacijskega sistema. V letu 2015 je bila izvedena študija, v kateri smo se osredotočili na projekt civilnih in korporacijskih odnosov glavne univerze. Poskušali smo določiti nove usmeritve, ki temeljijo na ekonomskem in družbenem sodelovanju, kot tudi poiskati praktično uporabo teoretičnih helixov v teh interakcijah. Prišli smo do zaključka, da univerze niso samo deterministične glede na trojni model helix, temveč imajo tudi ugledno vlogo v ustvarjanju novega inovacijskega ekosistema, še posebej v zelo dobro opredeljenem geografskem območju.

Corporate social responsibility is an important means of achieving sustainability. More and more companies recognize the fact that responsible operation has a number of results that supports sustainability and thereby the long-term competitiveness. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 deals with the issue of Clean Water and Sanitation and to ensure sustainable water management. Previous research on the subject have revealed that most of the company executives are not aware of the elements of the CSR concept. This research examines the social responsibility of the Hungarian water industry. We wanted to know whether the water companies- who deal with water in the industrial and service sectors- operate in a responsible way, as the water is one of the Earth's most precious natural resources. The results of the research show the organizational factors that most contributes to responsible operation as well as the formed clusters based on the CSR intensity of the Hungarian water companies.