Exploring the Social Innovation Ecosystem: Case Report and a Brief Literature Review

Traditional institutional logic restricted knowledge spread across organizational boundaries and affects the performance of innovation. This paper, using the beneficial aspects of institutional complexity, Proposes an ecosystem hypothesis to explore how design better promote innovation. At first part, through the cases study and synthesis of more than 100 projects, Proposes an “ecosystem” hypothesis as the theme connecting its common characteristics. The second part, through the literature research, examined its alternative structure of ecosystem, such as business model, platform, value network, knowledge alliance, etc., and proposed ecosystem analytical framework. The third part, Makes a comparative analysis of two cases, summarizes two different types of ecosystem, and deeply explores the mechanism of transformation.