The collaborative dimension of social innovation

Abstract

Shaping the way we think and act, technological progress is redefining the society we live in. In order not to be overwhelmed by their own tools, people try to build themselves and their aspirations through the imaginary. This one, charged with symbols and striving to represent the desires and anxieties of all of us, may be social as well as individual, thus becoming an active engine to re-think the future of a society that seems rooted in an eternal present. A new demand of change is moving people, group of active citizens, realizing to live in a state of uncertainty, crossing crisis. Thanks to technology and networking they act creating a pervasive creative intelligence spreading collective and grass-rooted activities and bottom-up solutions to real, local and social problems. Terms such as communion and commotion (i.e. shared emotion), can assume a leading role in designing the world of tomorrow with actions oriented the most on processes than on products. Design, with new creative forms of collaboration, can facilitate this process.