Mathematical support for financing social innovations

Abstract

The use of socially innovative projects for solving social problems by actively involving civil society is a promising and much sought-after area of social development. However, the priority of social goals over economic outcomes in the implementation of such projects significantly limits the speed and effectiveness of their implementation. In this connection, the use of a mathematical tool for the financing and resource provision of social innovations creates new opportunities in terms of the assessment and development of such projects. In order to develop and substantiate tools for the mathematical support of financing social innovations, the role of the collaborative economy in the development of social innovations initiated from below is substantiated. The proposed mathematical toolkit includes a linear algorithm describing the logic of the developed approach, a methodology for assessing socially-innovative projects based on an adapted McKinsey matrix, a methodology for assessing the institutional environment, as well as a mapping of project correspondences in an adapted McKinsey matrix along with collaborative economic tools recommended for resource provision. The described set of collaborative economy tools is recommended for use in the development and implementation of social innovations. The mathematically-described algorithm proposed by the authors is aimed at developing resource provision strategies for social projects by evaluating their competitiveness and attractiveness in terms of the social function they perform while taking the characteristics of the particular institutional environment into consideration. The result of applying this algorithm comprises a set of collaborative economy tools for use in the development and implementation of socially-innovative projects. The application of this algorithm is shown on the example of an evaluation of ten projects implemented in the Ural region and applying for assistance from support funds. The theoretical significance of the proposed results lies in the development of methodological tools for assessing socially-innovative projects. The practical significance lies in the possibility of applying the obtained results in the development of an online calculator used to assist in forming a social project resource provision strategy. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.