Presentation to Social Frontiers by Taco Brandsen

1. The WILCO Project: Studying Social
Innovation at the Local Level
Taco Brandsen
Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Panel: European Social Innovation – The Link with Policy
November 15, 2013

2. Design of the
research project
International comparative project: 10
countries
Time period: 2010-2014
Funded by the 7th European
Framework Programme
Coordinated by Radboud University
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
12/12/2013
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3. Radboud University Nijmegen
(Coordinating Institution )
Westfälische WilhelmsUniversität Mün s t e r
Politecnico di Milan o
Université de Genèv e
University of Barcelo n a
University of Zagreb
Centre de Recherche et
d’Information sur la Démocratie
et l’Autonom i e
University of War s a w
University of Ken t
Ersta Sköndal University
Coll e g e
Justus-Liebig Universi t y
EMES European Research
Network
European Research Services
GmbH (ERS )
The Network of Institutes and
Schools of Public
Administration in Central and
Eastern Europe (NISPACEE)

4. Methods
Analysis of institutional background
(secondary analysis, 60 interviews)
Charting patterns and dynamics of social inequality
(Eurostat data for 20 cities, 360 biographical interviews)
Identifying innovations and linking them to contexts
(discourse analysis, 540 interviews)
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5. Types of recommendations and
challenges
The WILCO project will have recommendations on
the emergence and diffusion of social innovation in
relation to (different types of) urban environments
and governance types
But:
The most relevant policymakers and professionals
for us to address are at the local or sublocal level
Research results require translation to specific
local conditions
More flexible, open-ended format for researchrelated activities needed ?
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6. Challenges for EU research projects
Study commissioned by European Commission
& WILCO project: achievements, but also
much replication among EU funded projects,
as well as wide gaps
The desire to be policy-relevant may lead to
overemphasis on successful innovations and
widely transformative, successfully diffused
cases
Yet the evidence shows the practice of
innovation is often one of failures, conflicts
and discontinued initiatives
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7. More information
www.wilcoproject.eu
https://www.facebook.com/wilcopr
oject
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