Abstract

Social Innovation (SI) is a fuzzy concept that is difficult to define because of its novelty, complexity, and wide range. Any attempt to explore si empirically needs to be circumscribed in its subject and time span to be consistent and reliable. The purpose of the paper is to give substance to SI by investigating, on a large-n base, social and innovative activities conducted by start-ups and innovative companies around the world between 2001 and 2014. Data are from CrunchBase, the world's most comprehensive database on start-ups and innovative companies, and the web. The methodology proposes a network analysis using metadata to capture SI core businesses and underlying complementarities between products, markets, and technologies. The metadata (tags) in our database are keywords and terms that help to describe companies, and reveal the products, services, and technologies driving innovation. The main metrics of the resulting networks are discussed from an economic point of view.