ICT-enabled Social Innovations in Social Services: Mapping the Evidence

Welfare systems are continuously under pressure to find innovative responses to demographic change, a global economy, increasing levels of migration and emerging technologies, to mention a few of the multiple challenges that confront social policy. Recent efforts to address these challenges at a European level include the Social Investment Package, which emphasizes the importance of social innovation and technologies for improving the efficiency of social policies and their effectiveness in meeting societal needs. By analysing well-documented ICT-enabled social innovation initiatives, this article contributes to capturing the state of technological and social innovations for social services in a more systematic way. Quality, quantity, and sustainability of social services are the starting point of our analysis, which points us to investigate further the role of partnerships and the role of the civil sector as a leading force for driving innovative social service delivery.