Digital technologies and the internet have transformed many areas of business – from Google and Amazon to Airbnb and Kickstarter. Huge sums of public money have supported digital innovation in business, as well as in fields ranging from the military to espionage. But there has been much less systematic support for innovations that use digital technology to address social challenges.

Across Europe a growing movement of tech entrepreneurs is developing inspiring digital solutions to social challenges. These range from social networks for those living with chronic health conditions, to online platforms for citizen participation in policymaking, to using open data to create more transparency about public spending. We call this digital social innovation (DSI). We have set up digitalsocial.eu to build a network of digital social innovation in Europe. People and projects interested in DSI can use the site to showcase their work, learn about DSI, find collaborators for projects and find information on events and funding opportunities for DSI.

DSI4EU is being managed by a consortium of partners: Nesta (UK), Waag Society (Netherlands) and SUPSI (Switzerland). 

Specifically, the project:

• Creates an online resource on digitalsocial.eu that enables those interested in, and working on, digital social innovation in Europe to learn about it, showcase their work, find new collaborators and learn about events and new funding opportunities.
• Engages the existing communities of digital social innovators in the network.
• Carries out research on how to grow DSI in Europe.
• Uses insights about the European DSI network to develop a set of recommendations about how policymakers and funders can best support, engage with and make the most of DSI and ensure it can continue to grow in the future.
• Develops a set of tools that supports people and organisations interested in develop digital solutions that address social challenges.

DSI4EU is supported by the European Union and funded under the Horizon 2020 Programme. Grant agreement no 688192.

The DSI4EU project aims to bring together Europe's DSI community so that that projects, people and organisations can meet one another and collaborate, so that innovators can find inspiring stories, resources and tools, and so that the DSI community in Europe can grow and scale.