Transformative social innovation in, of and by the city: Beyond mission-driven policy rationales

• Innovation policy and policy innovation drive transformative innovation policy at the nexus of particular geographies. • A typology of transformative social innovation projects is elaborated. • The governance issues and rationales of transformative social innovation policy are examined. • The difficult co-evolution of innovation policy and policy innovation restrains upscaling New specific transformative social innovation policy rationales are needed beyond mission-driven innovation • Searching for complementarities and mutual reinforcements of transformation in, of and by the city could be a basis to consider these specific rationales. Transformative social innovation policy encompasses more than the idea that policy defines directions about the expected outcomes of innovation. It also promotes new forms of governance and rationales based on more intersectional and decentralized processes of innovation. Such policy has thus to be studied primarily as a perpetual process of redefinition, rather than as an end in itself to achieve societal missions. Through an examination of the ‘G'innove’ program implemented by the City of Geneva, we explore how a new social innovation policy can stimulate new types of innovation projects in the city, how these projects can change the established policy rationales of the city, and how innovation policy and policy innovation intertwine in the transformation of society by the city. Beyond this exemplary policy, we attempt to propose complementarities between transformations in, of and by the city in order to promote new policy agendas and rethink their underlying rationales.