About Project
Recently (2016), the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported that the majority of new work opportunities in the last decade had been generated in the informal and digitally based economy while the World Economic Forum argued that creativity is one of the top three skills that workers will need in the near future. Experts claim that, due to the break of new technologies, workers are going to have to become more creative in order to benefit from these changes. Furthermore, an increasing number of professionals choose to start a business with no intention of ever adding staff whilst self-employment is growing in popularity. The term “solopreneur” is becoming very topical. It has been introduced in the early 2010s to design people who start a business alone also to get an extra income. A solopreneur is typically a hard worker who uses digital technology to pursue their business. A solopreneur should be innovative and creative.
Project Objectives
This project aims at creating a Strategic Partnership to innovation to realize an educational program for social solopreneurs. It will contribute to promote Digital Social Innovation (DSI) competence and creative skills among adult people and educate them on the emerging top self-employment opportunities for a social solopreneur, such as social influencer, social blogger, virtual social assistance, social consultant, social media consultant, life coach, etc.
According to the DSI Final Report funded by the European Commission, DSI is defined as: “A type of social and collaborative innovation in which innovators, users, and communities collaborate using digital technologies to co-create knowledge and solutions for a wide range of social needs and at a scale and speed that was unimaginable before the rise of the Internet” (Bria et al., 2015, p. 9)
Addressed needs
Over the last two years, DSI has grown significantly while DSI projects and initiatives have multiplied, catching the attention of policymakers, governments, and civil society organizations alike (Stokes, Baeck, & Baker, 2017).
The DSI4 Europe report has indicated DSI as a means to contrast the lack of employment opportunities (Sirovátka & Spies, 2017) whilst creativity is one of the top three skills workers will need in near future according to the report of the World Economic Forum (2016). With the break of new products, new technologies and new ways of working, workers are going to have to become more creative in order to benefit from these changes.
In this regard, we have to consider that, nowadays, many social services cannot be delivered properly due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Transferring them to the Internet is possible, but requires specific competence of the social service staff. At present, many people involved in social services do not have the appropriate skills to improve and modify these services in the internet environment.
For this purpose, partners will consider the following four primary layers:
1.The role of innovation and creativity in self-employment;
2.The use of creativity to improve Social Business processes in a social solopreneur perspective;
3.Technology as a means for stimulating/supporting creativity;
4.Creativity as a key factor of success in DSI.
We will also focus on issues such as:
- What are the initiatives that meet the complexity and turbulence of the new business age (Schiuma, 2011, p.2)?
- Digital technology for social solopreneurs;
- Organizational creativity and innovation;
- Decentralized models of social innovative production.
Results
This project will realize three Intellectual Outputs:
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An educational framework for social solo-entrepreneurs and the related educational methodologies and practices.
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A training program for adult solopreneurs based on a smart learning approach, namely the use of an intelligent learning environment and advanced learning approaches (Digital
Social Learning and Online Collaborative Learning).
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An educational toolkit for social solopreneurs including interactive Recommendations/Suggestions.
Target groups
Adults with a bachelor’s degree (preferably 40-45 aged and skilled in the use of digital technology) represent the primary target group.
The other target groups are:
- Educational institutions;
- Social enterprises who are interested in DSI and aim at improving their current services;
- Social Services who are interested in modernizing their services.
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info@solodsi.com
P: +1 234 6789
F: +72 2348 33
F: +72 2348 33
Atatürk Caddesi Yarenlik Alanı
No :2 Tarsus / MERSİN
Digital Social Innovation
Digital social innovations (DSI) are often associated with positive meanings, like openness, collaboration or inclusion, as opposed to more commercially oriented innovations. In trying to define such a contested concept as digital social innovation, we should strive to disentangle it from its positive aura.
The first sphere is innovation. It refers to the development and diffusion of a (technological, social…) novelty that is not used yet in the market or sector or country where it is being introduced.Digital social innovation lies at the intersection of three spheres: innovation, social and environmental problems, and digital technologies.
