Additional Intro
The committee leverages human-centered design, design thinking, and community-engaged innovation strategies to support projects that improve lives, strengthen communities, and create sustainable change.
Working committee
Social Innovation and Impact
The Social Innovation and Impact (SII) working committee advances community-engaged approaches to address complex social challenges across Illinois. Through seed funding, workshops, resource development, and cross-sector collaboration, the committee helps researchers, practitioners, students, and community partners translate ideas into meaningful social impact.
Purpose
Social innovation focuses on developing new approaches to persistent ocial challenges. The Social Innovation and Impact working committee serves as a collaborative space for Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) partners to explore, test, and support innovative solutions that create public value.
The committee’s work is primarily guided by principles of:
- Community-centered partnership
- Human-centered design
- Equity and inclusion
- Cross-sector collaboration
- Research-informed action
- Sustainable and scalable impact
The committee supports initiatives that address a wide range of social challenges, including; education and workforce development; health and well-being; civic education and democracy; community development; arts, culture, and public good; technology for social good; equity and inclusion; rural and urban community challenges.
Social Innovation is defined as a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals (Phills et al. 2008).
Working Committee Activities
Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants
The IIN / Illinois Innovation Network’s Social Innovation and Impact Seed Grants are intended to provide seed funding for social innovation projects that translate research into activities that directly affect lives, address complex social problems, build trusted partnerships in the community, demonstrate longer-term engagement or depth of engagement, and are scalable or replicable.
- Find out more about funded projects and seed grant resources
- 2027 funding notices will be available in Spring 2027
Workshops and Learning Opportunities
To support project teams and community partners, the committee offers practical tools and resources grounded in human-centered design and social innovation methods.
Developed by Rachel Switzky of the Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Social Innovation Workbook introduces approaches such as stakeholder mapping, empathy-building, systems thinking, problem framing, and collaborative solution development.
The accompanying workshop has been offered across the Illinois Innovation Network and most recently was held in May 2026.
Impact In Action
Social innovation takes many forms—from strengthening civic participation and preserving community histories to expanding educational access and leveraging emerging technologies for social good. Funded projects demonstrate how research, community knowledge, and collaborative partnerships can come together to address challenges facing Illinois communities.
Previously funded projects include:
- Enabling AI-Powered Personalized Learning for Neurodivergent Students through Physiological Monitoring and Cognitive Profiling (2025)
- CONNECT Companion: A Community-Based Participatory Project (CBPP) Using Human and Prescriptive AI Interaction to Enhance Social Support for Older Adults in Illinois (2025)
- Unveiling Black History: The African American Heritage Trail in Cairo, Illinois
- Building a More Inclusive Democracy: Enhancing Nonprofit Capacity for Civic Education and the Mobilization of Marginalized Youth in Illinois (2024)
- Journeys to Justice: Commemorating and Memorializing the History and Legacy of Anti-Black Terror in Illinois (2024)
- What’s Left Behind? A Documentary About African American Mothers on the South Side of Chicago Who Have Lost Children to Gun Violence (2023)
- Grant Development Capacity Building and Technical Assistance (2023)
Get Involved
Interested in social innovation work?
The Social Innovation and Impact Working Committee welcomes opportunities to collaborate with researchers, community organizations, practitioners, students, and institutional partners across Illinois.
Contact the committee liaison (Nikki Yagoda, nyagoda@uillinois.edu) to learn more about upcoming workshops, funding opportunities, and ways to engage with the Illinois Innovation Network’s social innovation initiatives.
Further Reading
Consider exploring these resources to learn more about the purpose and strategies employed in social innovation work and human-centered design.
Social Innovation
- Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A., & Hamdouch, A. (2013). The International Handbook on Social Innovation.
- Mulgan, G. (2007). Social Innovation: What It Is, Why It Matters and How It Can Be Accelerated.
- Murray, R., Caulier-Grice, J., & Mulgan, G. (2010). The Open Book of Social Innovation.
- Nicholls, A., Simon, J., & Gabriel, M. (Eds.). (2015). New Frontiers in Social Innovation Research.
- Phills, J. A., Jr., Deiglmeier, K., & Miller, D. T. (2008). Rediscovering social innovation. Social Innovation Review, Fall 2008, 34–43.
- Westley, F., Zimmerman, B., & Patton, M. Q. (2006). Getting to Maybe: How the World Is Changed.
Human-Centered Design and Innovation
- Brown, T. (2009). Change by Design
- IDEO.org. (2015). The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design.
- Norman, D. A. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things (Revised and Expanded Edition)