Government Innovators?

The role of government in social innovation is an interesting debate. For decades governments have been in the business of dispatching billions in aid to developing regions. For example USAID, which represents a small portion of the international aid monies, requested 47 billion dollars for FY 2011. This enormous amount of money is intended to affect health, hunger, and humanitarian relief (http://www.usaid.gov/performance/cbj/156214.pdf). These USAID priorities are very similar to those of social entrepreneurs working in similar areas. Yet, even with huge funds at their disposal government aid institutions have a difficult time making an impact. Government bureaucratic organizations are slow to change and generally do not encourage large innovations from with-in. There are of course examples where large scale aid has fostered innovation, but generally these institutions are not flexible enough to act on trends and innovations. Only recently has the US government even entered the field of fostering innovation. With the creation of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, the US government has recognized the amazing potential of this field. They established the Social Innovation Fund, which gives out 50 million dollars in capital to emerging social innovations, but even this simple idea has its’ critics. Controversy surrounds the gantees, some claim bureaucratic favorites are at play, others might question the transparency (http://www.socialvelocity.net/2010/08/beating-innovation-to-death/). Governments, regardless of the potential drawbacks, are in a unique position to encourage social innovation. They clearly have the money, but they also have many of the support networks necessary for successful enterprise. While government help will not be the answer from many social innovations they have the potential to make a huge impact on this field. I hope that in the future to see more not less government innovation.