Seminar “Hangzhou Social Innovation Cases” at Zhejiang University

On 19th December 2016, a seminar entitled “The Hangzhou Social Innovation Cases” was held at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou. Chaired by Professor Ka Lin (School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou), this seminar, which was also included in the SI-DRIVE mapping activity, reached a broad audience including officials from the Hangzhou city government, as well as graduate students from the School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University. In his key note speech, Professor Ka Lin emphasised that social innovation is a major tool in the field of social management. Mr. Yong Li (representative from the Hangzhou city government) presented a number of examples of social innovation in Hangzhou and explained that they constitute a valuable experience for the involved community to carry out research and a good learning opportunity for future social innovation work.

Apart from social innovation, topics such as the shared economy, consultation and democracy were addressed in the related discussion. Debate also covered the explored social innovation mechanisms and models as well as the coordination of involved stakeholders (government, enterprises, social organisations and civil society).