Assessing the Social Impact of EU funded projects in the Digital Social Innovation domain

This paper presents a methodological framework tailored to the impact assessment for Social Innovation projects developed by the IA4SI project (funded by the European Commission during the 7th Framework Programme within the... [ view full abstract ]

This paper presents a methodological framework tailored to the impact assessment for Social Innovation projects developed by the IA4SI project (funded by the European Commission during the 7th Framework Programme within the Collective Awareness Platforms domain). The paper describes the IA4SI methodology, its main indicators and specific variables.
The IA4SI methodology follows a quali-quantitative approach to impact assessment and builds on principles of Cost-Benefit analysis and of Multi-Criteria analysis. These two methods are seen as complementary as they assist to frame both qualitative and quantitative impacts that can be represented in monetised form as well as impacts that are better described in non-monetary terms (such as social or political impacts). The combination of these methods yields an approach that allows the consideration of both a wide spectrum of impacts and the combination of variables.
The IA4SI methodology aims then at analysing the digital social innovation projects and domain at an aggregated level by using eight synthetic indices: four of them are related to key areas of impact (social impact, economic impact, environmental impact and political impact), and are called vertical indices. The IA4SI methodology also contains four transversal indices that provide information about the process followed by the CAPS projects in determining their impacts. The transversal indices are efficiency, effectiveness, fairness and sustainability. In other words, the transversal indices are related to the attributes of the various innovations developed across all the areas of impacts.
In this paper we focus on the results achieved by the CAPS projects and by the European Digital Social Innovation domain more generally, mainly in terms of Impact on Society.
The methodology considers the impacts achieved by both the profit and non-profit sector. Social impact (and related indices) considers the changes produced by CAPS projects to the specific aspects of social interaction at micro and meso level. At the micro level we are interested in understanding the changes occurring at project users level and - to a certain extent – at project partners level. At meso level we investigate the social relations at group and organisational level, such as impact on local communities and impact on specific social groups (like the ones at risk of social exclusion). The social impact index is articulated in the following sub-categories: impact on community building and empowerment, impact on information, impact on ways of thinking and behaviors, impact on education and human capital, impact on science and academia and impact on employment.
The impacts achieved by the CAPS projects are assessed through an online tool which enables the project partners to automatically self-assess their project’s impacts in real-time and at different phases of project development. The presentation of the methodology includes the lessons learned from the CAPS projects validating and improving the variables when using the IA4SI proposed methodology and the results collected in terms of Social Impact. The paper concludes with next steps for the take up of research results also in terms of citizen engagement, as developed through the Impact4You platform created by the IA4SI project.