Social innovation and social economy in Korea: Lessons from different case studies and perspectives
Résumé
Social innovation and social economy in Korea: Lessons from different case studies and perspectives Panel coordinator: Eric Bidet (Le Mans University) South Korea is well known worldwide as a major power in terms of technological innovation as expressed in its R&D expenditures to GDP which is among the highest in the world or in its high ranking for several successive years in the Bloomberg Innovation Index. Recent works by UNRISD, ILO, OECD and several academic scholars have contributed to show that Korea is also becoming a leading player in terms of social economy which has been strongly encouraged and supported by a complex ecosystem including different stakeholders and specific public schemes. The purpose of this panel is to explore through different examples and perspectives how Korean social economy has been a lever of social innovation in different ways and in different areas and to shed light on the innovative contribution of social economy organisations to major issues that faces the Korean society such as the healthcare, the work integration of unemployed, the ageing population, the assistance to handicapped people, the promotion of sustainable and local food, the ecological and social transition, the inclusion of disadvantaged groups. The constitution of the panel expresses a cross-disciplinary approach that combines 5 contributions in management, sociology, and anthropology. The 3 first contributions illustrate how the social economy can be a lever for social innovation through several case studies based on empirical surveys; the 2 other ones proposes a broader understanding of the phenomenon. Through its disciplinary and methodological diversity, the panel offers complementary viewpoints on the phenomenon of social innovation in Korea. - Dr Ra Yeonjae (anthropology, Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul) analyses the role of rural social cconomy organizations in enhancing farmers' economy through the case of the Palgong Mountain Minari Farming Cooperative Corporation; - Prof Han Do Hyun (sociology, Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul) addresses the question of balancing social impact and market success through the case of the Wheeling Assistive Technology Cooperative as a sustainable social enterprise model; - Prof. Jang Seungkwon (management, Sungkonghoe University, Seoul) and Dr Jeon Jiyun (management, Hallym University, Chuncheon) explores how St Isidore Farm in Jeju Island, launched in the early 1950s by an Irish Catholic priest of the missionary society of Saint Columba, has empowered the local people and promoted social innovation through social economy and cooperative model; - Eum Hyungsik (PhD candidate in sociology, University of Liege) shows through an analysis of the historical development of the social economy in Korea over the past four decades that the social innovation grammar is one of the three main "grammars" that have emerged as a matrix for the social economy together with the social movement grammar and the social venture grammar; - Prof Eric Bidet (management, Le Mans University, panel coordinator) and Dr Casper Claassen (management, Seoul National University) discuss how social innovation driven by SSE organisations has allowed them to act as an institutional entrepreneur and to be a source of inspiration for remodelling specific Korean public policies.