According to a survey developed by the Institute of Social Innovation of ESADE, there are over 100 initiatives that have had an impact on 64 million people, which account for 11% of the Latin American population

“We witnessing how a number of digital social innovation initiatives, most of them being nonprofit projects, are successfully solving several needs of society”, explained Heloise Buckland, researcher at the Social Innovation Institute of ESADE and one of the authors of the report “Digital revolution facing the big challenges of the world”.

According to Buckland, the report proves that “there is a boom of digital social innovation, and the areas where it is having the greatest impact are: improvement of access to education and healthcare, and financial inclusion through fintech initiatives”.

The report mentions and analyzes 100 digital social innovation initiatives that are transforming Latin America, which have had an impact on 64 million people, which stands for 11% of the regional population. The surey also points out that the initiatives that work following a model based on profit are the ones that have the greatest impact.

In Colombia, the government’s support and an adequate ecosystem, including over 20 social impact investment funds, have enabled the development and expansion of several initiatives developed in the digital social innovation area, which represent a great opportunity for the challenges that the region faces.

Fundación Capital is one of the four success cases analyzed in the report. Over 6 million people from 18 countries have benefited from this international development organization, which’s goal is to promote economic citizenship on a global level.

The skills gap, a challenge for Colombia and Latin America.

“Digitalization in this sort of initiatives enables an expansion that has never been seen before, and reducing costs, which generate a sustainable business”, said Buckland, who also warned that “despite advances, several challenges remain, particularly those linked to the digital gap”. According to data from the report, around 36% of the Colombian population do not have access to the internet yet. Therefore, they have no access to these proposals.

In addition, considering that education, healthcare and economic growth are the challenges that these digital social innovation initiatives address the most, the projects aimed at addressing gender equity or environmental actions remain scarce.

Source: El Espectador