South Korea seeks sustainable social innovation ecosystem integrating solidarity economy

The 2026 Korea Social Innovation Conference, held in Seoul, brought together experts and practitioners to discuss the future of social innovation in South Korea. The event, organized by the Hope Institute to commemorate its 20th anniversary, focused on creating a sustainable social innovation ecosystem capable of addressing pressing issues like population decline, regional extinction, and climate crisis.

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The only way to solve complex and difficult social problems such as population decline, regional extinction, and climate crisis is to gather the wisdom of citizens and find solutions through social innovation.

Participants stressed the need to move beyond mere institutional reflection and actively engage citizens in policy-making. The conference highlighted how social innovation has transformed Korean civil society from a focus on introspection to active policy participation, citing examples like participatory budgeting and the 'Gwanghwamun 1st Street' policy proposal platform. However, concerns were raised about the tendency for Korean civil movements to be influenced by government directives, underscoring the necessity of integrating social innovation with concepts like the social solidarity economy and citizen assetization to build a robust ecosystem.

Civil society organizations were identified as crucial intermediaries, connecting government initiatives with societal needs and fostering social innovation experiments across various sectors, including corporations, social enterprises, and local communities. Despite the growing recognition of social innovation's impact, challenges remain in adequately valuing and quantifying its social contributions. Speakers noted the pressure to present social innovation outcomes in numerical terms, advocating for alternative methods to recognize and support the social value generated by these initiatives.

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Korean civil movements have shifted from reflecting on social systems to actively participating in policy-making through social innovation.

Case studies from local communities showcased innovative approaches to regional development. The 'Collective Intelligence' community in Hongseong, Chungnam, demonstrated how creating a local startup ecosystem can attract young talent and revitalize rural areas. This initiative involved renovating vacant properties to establish spaces for startups, fostering a collaborative environment. Similarly, cities like Gwangmyeong and Daejeon are prioritizing the social solidarity economy as a core policy to address regional and class disparities, emphasizing community values over profit.

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To ensure the sustainability of social innovation, it must be combined with other areas such as the social solidarity economy and citizen assetization to create a social innovation ecosystem structure.

The conference also addressed the critical need for measuring and evaluating the outcomes of social innovation to inform policy design and resource allocation. While acknowledging the difficulty in quantifying social value compared to traditional business metrics, participants suggested exploring diverse methods for assessment. Some proposed monetizing social value to facilitate communication and collaboration among different sectors, including government, corporations, academia, and civil society, aligning with international trends that identify social value measurement as a key factor in social innovation ecosystems.

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Social innovation experiments are achieving policy outcomes, but their social value is still not properly recognized, and there is pressure to express it in data or numbers.