Social Innovation in Ireland
Ireland’s social innovation ecosystem is entering an exciting new phase, one that is increasingly connected to and shaped by collaboration across Europe. As national initiatives evolve, they are helping to amplify local impact and align Ireland with Europe’s wider push for social change.
At the centre of this shift are three developments which Rethink Ireland is leading on:
- Piloting the New Solutions Social Innovation Hub
- Developing a long-term model for Social Innovation Hub or National Competence Centre for Social Innovation (NCCSI) and
- Ireland’s participation in the European Social Innovation Campus (ESIC).
Together, they point to a new phase in how Ireland enables social innovations. NCCSI is research-driven with an emphasis on transnational knowledge exchange, whereas New Solutions is implementation-driven, providing practical support directly to social innovations from conception to scaling. Both initiatives operate under the remit of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (DRCDG).
Coordination between these programmes is actively managed through shared stakeholders, complementary timelines, and aligned objectives to ensure that efforts reinforce rather than duplicate each other. This approach allows for learnings from practice to inform model design, creating a feedback loop that strengthens the overall ecosystem and provides a strong evidence base for formulating national social innovation policy.
New Solutions Social Innovation Hub
The Social Innovation fund aims to strengthen Ireland’s social innovation ecosystem by fostering inclusion, equality, and employability for disadvantaged groups through awareness, capacity building, pilot funding, and the creation of supportive structures such as a Social Innovation Hub, Ideas Academy, and comprehensive reporting and grant frameworks to enable and scale impactful social innovations nationwide.
This Hub is now active and is delivered by Rethink Ireland in partnership with Dublin City University, the Local Development Companies Network, Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Western Development Commission and the Wheel, delivering a set of tangible implementable actions to support:
- Shared innovation: Capacity specialist expertise in design, digital, data, and evaluation.
- A national pipeline: Identifying promising ideas earlier and supporting them through structured pathways.
- Cross‑sector collaboration: Convening Government, philanthropy, academia, and communities into one problem-solving space.
- Evidence and learning: Ensuring solutions are grounded in data and capable of scaling nationally.
Its integrated delivery approach focuses on capacity-building programmes, pilot and scaling grant funding, peer learning and cross-sector networking and real-world testing of innovative solutions. This structured pathway enables projects to progress more effectively, helping transform local ideas into impactful, sustainable initiatives—many of which have the potential to scale beyond Ireland.
Advancing Ireland’s Role Through NCCSI
Alongside the New Solutions Hub, Ireland is also advancing its role in Europe through the EU funded initiative National Competence Centre for Social Innovation (NCCSI)—a key strategic initiative led by Rethink Ireland, in partnership with Genio and supported by government departments.
NCCSI has a strong research component focused on developing strategic infrastructure for social innovation in Ireland, including a national competence centre model, impact assessment frameworks, and funding mechanisms.
The NCCSI is part of a European, EU-funded collaboration involving multiple countries, including Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Poland, and the Czech Republic, working together to strengthen social innovation systems at both national and transnational levels.
Rethink Ireland’s leadership in this initiative is critical. As lead partner in Ireland, it is helping to:
- Build a coordinated national framework for social innovation
- Strengthen collaboration between public, private, academic, and community sectors
- Develop new funding and support mechanisms for social innovators
- Promote knowledge exchange and mutual learning across Europe
- Support the scaling and replication of social innovations
Crucially, it aims to ensure that Irish social innovation is better connected, better supported, and more visible at European level.
European Social Innovation Campus (ESIC)
Through EU-funded partnerships, consortium-based delivery models, and initiatives like the European Social Innovation Campus (ESIC), Ireland is strengthening its connections to a wider community of changemakers. These collaborations enable:
Cross-border learning and peer exchange
- Joint development of tools and methodologies
- Greater alignment between national and European strategies
For Ireland, ESIC is more than a project — it is a platform to shape European thinking, bring EU learning home, and position Irish social enterprises as leaders in the next generation of social innovation.
Together, initiatives like the New Solutions Hub, NCCSI and ESIC, are creating a more cohesive and outward-looking ecosystem in Ireland. At the heart of these developments is a clear recognition: Social innovation thrives through collaboration and participation.
Looking Ahead: Ireland as a European Connector
We are moving from fragmented supports to a strategic national ecosystem — one that recognises social enterprises as essential partners in solving Ireland’s biggest challenges.
Rethink Ireland will continue to champion this work, convene partners, and ensure that Ireland not only participates in European collaboration but helps lead it.
As these initiatives continue to evolve, they offer valuable opportunities for collaboration with programmes like the Social Innovation Campus—creating shared spaces for learning, experimentation, and scaling impact across borders.
This European dimension is already being put into practice. Through initiatives such as the ESIC Incubator and Accelerator Pilot, Irish innovators are engaging directly with peers across Europe—testing solutions, exchanging knowledge, and building partnerships that extend beyond borders.
The future of social innovation in Ireland is not only local—it is deeply European, collaborative, and continuously evolving.
Author: Rethink Ireland
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