Contemporary problems in our societies are becoming increasingly complex. The wider acceptance of their ‘wicked’ character (Rittel and Weber, 1973) is 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 recognized complexity (conceptual sharpness, non-linear causality, different causality levels, the central role of planners subjectivity in designing action, etc.). Actually, the relation between increasing complexity and awareness concerning the shortcomings of current policy responses to meet societal problems, were recognized to require social innovation. The paper addresses the concept of social innovation in the response to current social problems (e.g., sustainability, climatic change, rural development, governance) 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. The analysis of the linkage between ‘social innovation’ and networks is presented through the following research questions: 1. What do we mean by social innovation and which are the main evolution steps of the concept? 2. What is the role of networks in the process of social innovation? 3. Which are the main scientific areas and societal problems in the literature crossing social innovation and networks? 4. What types of network (size, composition, configuration, territorial level) emerge in this literature as fostering social innovation? With this in mind, the paper discusses the concept of social innovation and its interface with networks. A bibliometric analysis allows the identification of trends and patterns in the scientific literature addressing both social innovation and networks. Having this in mind the paper is developed through the following sections: section 2 presents the concept of social innovation and its main developments; section 3 addresses the linkages and challenges involved in social innovation and networks; section 4 presents the bibliometric analysis; section 5 concludes.

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social innovation,networks,societal problems,bibliometrics