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PLACES AND TECHNOLOGIES 2018

CITIES AS PLATFORMS FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION: AN INVES-
TIGATION INTO HOW DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND TOOLS ARE
USED TO SUPPORT ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN URBAN ENVIRON-
MENTS

Margarita Angelidou
Post-doctoral researcher, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, mangel@auth.gr

ABSTRACT
In recent years, an increasing number of forward looking urban policy making authorities across
Europe have been taking the first steps to create and advance local social entrepreneurship
ecosystems in their territory. The aim of this research is to investigate how forward looking local
and metropolitan authorities across Europe work to foster the development of social economy
at local level in collaboration with various stakeholders in order to create sustainable eco-sys-
tems. The particular focus is on digital platforms and tools that are used to create networks
among urban stakeholders to increase the flow of knowledge, value and goods. The cases
used include the following cities: Terrassa (Spain), Göteborg (Sweden), Torino (Italy), Lisbon
(Portugal), Porto (Portugal) and Hengelo (the Netherlands). Through the conducted research,
we discern that cities are only at the beginning of their journey of exploring the available options
with regards to digital platforms and tools and how they can support social entrepreneurship,
and the landscape of opportunities in this regard is vast and largely unexplored. Moreover,
although on the political level there still is low and fragmented awareness of the potential ben-
efits, experts and civil servants recognize the value that digital platforms and tools bring into
the urban economic development process. Nevertheless, cities lack an integrated strategic
approach and face important financial and institutional restrictions that would allow them to
capitalize on the full potential of digital platforms and tools.
Keywords: urban; spatial; economic; development; Information and Communication Technol-
ogy (ICT)

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