Contemporary problems are becoming increasingly complex, leading to a deeper critical awareness concerning the limits of current ways in understanding societal problems and their nature, as well as in conceiving adequate ways of coping with this complexity. Social innovation appears as a way to tackle the increasing complexity of problems and to overcome the limits of current policy responses. The paper addresses the concept of social innovation in the response of problems affecting rural territories (e.g., desertification, ageing) by exploring the links between social innovation and networks with the purpose of identifying the potentialities and challenges involved in the design of collective action to deal with these problems.

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social innovation,networks,rural territories

• Physical Sciences - Natural Sciences