ABSTRACT
Innovation and social innovation have become a topic of discussion in social sciences. Throughout welfare states there has been an expansion of innovative approaches and practices that aim to address social needs and challenges better and more efficiently than the traditional solutions thanks to the actors which are close to the service users. Mobilisation of the social capital of the actors, ‘community social capital’ as well as empowering of the users contributes both to tailored and effective service and cost efficiency of the service. This experience implied that ‘social innovation’ has become a part of the Europe 2020 strategy. In the conditions of crisis and pressures on the public budgets the policy goal to implement such innovative approaches and practices gain much support both on national and European level.
