Why social innovators should embrace the ‘open’ paradigm

This paper seeks to contribute to current debates on social innovation by critically reviewing extant literature and proposing a model of ‘open’ social innovation. It is argued that the social innovation field will benefit by embracing the open paradigm both within the internal organisational structure of socially innovative firms and, in the knowledge searching activities in which such organisations engage. The model will serve as a tool to stimulate discussion around the ‘opening up’ of the social innovation process and will provide a framework for understanding how to engage more diverse knowledge sources in the process of solving complex problems.