In a world on fire, in the grips of a global health pandemic and social crisis, and at the brim of a steep economic downfall, we all agree on the need for innovation, to help us rebound, recover, and rebuild. Not just for-profit innovation that comes from dedicated research labs, however: we need the kind of innovation that reconciles economic value creation with social value creation and that comes to light through spontaneous, voluntary, often uncoordinated joint search by individuals, groups, or organizations. We need the employees who think up an app that empowers their peers to access the right level of mental health support at (tele)work; we need the industry experts who search for and set new international standards; we need the coop members who search for new farm practices in the fight against crop disease; and we need the community associations that search for new ways to improve access to essential health information and health care services to the poor.

However, there is much less clarity about what governmental actions are needed to bring it about. What can governments do to accelerate the development and propagation of innovations for the public good?

For a start, traditional innovation policy levers—like policies on intellectual property, increasing the supply of human capital focused on innovation, and supporting research and development—will need to be tweaked. To spur innovations for the public good, it is important that ideas not be fenced-off; for this reason, we need policy that renders ideas more accessible, especially dormant ideas, so that they can be integrated into innovations for the public good. We need an increase in more than just the number of individuals trained in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (commonly known as STEM); we also need an increase in the number of individuals who genuinely care about others’ well-being and who are willing to voluntarily contribute to the search for innovations for the public good. And we need favourable policies for more than just traditional R&D expenses; we need policies facilitating investments to coordinate concrete approaches to addressing pressing societal challenges.

Read the full article about spurring innovation by Marieke Huysentruyt at Stanford Social Innovation Review.