Findings from a large and growing body of transdisciplinary research offer useful insights for a deeper understanding of the relationships between social innovation and governance. In this article, social innovation (SI) is defined as practices that aim to satisfy neglected human needs, based on collective actions and tighter social relations, potentially generating socio-political transformations. Governance is defined as ‘new ways of governing’, including participatory and collective decision-making, along with conventional forms of government. The authors discuss commonalities and differences in the understanding of both concepts. Both social innovation and governance often involve collaborative practices between civil society organizations and public actors to develop alternative solutions to meet social needs, and often face comparable socio-political challenges. The authors review five academic areas (political science and public administration, urban and territorial studies, sociology, sustainability and ecology, and culture and creativity studies) to identify the most relevant dimensions linking social innovation and governance.

来自大量且不断增长的跨学科研究的结果为更深入地理解社会创新与治理之间的关系提供了有用的见解。在本文中，社会创新（SI）被定义为旨在满足被忽视的人类需求的实践，基于集体行动和更紧密的社会关系，可能产生社会政治转型。治理被定义为“新的治理方式”，包括参与式和集体决策，以及传统的政府形式。作者讨论了对这两个概念的理解的共性和差异。社会创新和治理通常涉及民间社会组织和公共行为者之间的合作实践，以开发替代解决方案以满足社会需求，并且经常面临类似的社会政治挑战。作者回顾了五个学术领域（政治科学和公共管理、城市和领土研究、社会学、可持续性和生态学以及文化和创造力研究），以确定与社会创新和治理最相关的维度。