UCL School of Management is delighted to welcome,  Professor Christine Beckman, University of California , to host a research seminar discussing: 

The social innovation matchmaker: The contested interface between “beautiful tech” and social innovation in government, with Marian Konstantin Gatzweiler, Matteo Ronzani, and Corinna Frey-Heger.

Abstract:

This study explores how reliance on digital technology from the private sector shapes what government actors come to see as legitimate social and environmental problems worth tackling. We conducted a detailed qualitative case study of a program we call InnovTech. The program connected social and environmental problems outlined by government with digital technology from tech businesses, with the aim to foster social innovations. In our findings, we detail how several interfaces between government and tech businesses shaped which problems became foregrounded and accepted, ultimately leading to the unforeseen consequences of narrowly constructing problems that seem solvable only through digital technology. Our insights contribute to understanding the tensions between business and governments in tackling social and environmental problems and recent debates about the dynamics of social innovation.