Florianopolis, Brazil

The very first step would be to create a repository online where data can be captured, and where initiatives and actors can provide their information in order to be mapped.

Second, in order to understand the current legislation, regulations, and any legal aspects of social innovation in the city, insight should be gained into the public problems and social demands of the city as well as initiatives’ work on micro, meso and macro levels. This was achieved by:

1. Conducting interviews with the main actors supporting social innovation in the city. Their information, such as (1) contact details, (2) scale of operation, (2) function and activities in the SIE, (3) the social initiatives supported, and (4) partnerships with other support actors, were incorporated into the digital platform. Slowly, the number of actors interviewed was expanded to 115, and this was used to implement and initiate the digital platform.
2. Collecting freely accessible information about the social innovation initiatives indicated, with whom the initiatives work with, their key audiences, and contact information for georeferencing purposes.
3. Conducting on-site visits with questionnaires to check the solutions the initiatives proposed, the measured results, whom they engaged with, the methodologies and technologies used, and whether they influenced the public sphere and their partners, supporters, and funders. It is also possible to involve student volunteers to do the fieldwork.
4. Identifying actors, for example, from fields of social entrepreneurship, government, academia (universities), and civil society.

Next, the main actors were invited to join the digital platform. Inviting actors helped identify additional social innovation initiatives supported by them in the ecosystem, increasing the sample of observed initiatives. The involvement of the main actors in the ecosystem as partners of the digital Observatory was also important to validate the data, legitimise the project, and co-create the platform. Once the Observatory was up and running, the questionnaires could be completed online. Further steps included:

1. Building a georeferenced map of the support actors, the interrelationships between them, and the social innovation initiatives. This information about social innovation initiatives and support actors became part of the map along with its interrelations.
2. Studying specific cases that relate to critical themes relevant for the city. For example, women rights, waste management, urban agriculture or municipal public policy.