Which innovation regime for public service innovation networks for social innovation (PSINSIs)? Lessons from a European cases database

This article is devoted to public service innovation networks for social innovations (PSINSIs) - collaborative systems that are being established, within public services, to design and implement social innovations. Drawing on a database of 24 case studies collected in different European countries and different areas of wicked social problems, this article aims to discuss how PSINSIs fit into the entrepreneurial and routinized innovation and learning regimes described by evolutionary economics. It highlights the diverse variations of these general re-gimes, bringing to the fore different forms of social entrepreneurship (bricoleurs, constructionists and engineers) and different configurations of the routinized regime (organizational entrepreneurship, canonical, intrapre-neurial, extrapreneurial, spin-off). It also highlights the relationships between these two regimes and their various configurations. Overall, this article contributes to the shift from visible innovation to dark innovation in innovation studies called for by Martin (2016).

Automated summary

This article discusses how PSINSIs fit into the entrepreneurial and routinized innovation and learning regimes described by evolutionary economics, drawing on 24 case studies collected in different European countries. It highlights the diverse variations of these regimes, different forms of social entrepreneurship, and different configurations of routinized regime. The article contributes to the shift from visible innovation to dark innovation in innovation studies called for by Martin (2016).