Don’t be afraid to breathe: an open social innovation case to face grand challenges

Open social innovation has emerged as a pivotal paradigm for addressing grand societal challenges such as climate change, inequality, and global health crises. In contrast to traditional open innovation -which is predominantly firm-centric and marketoriented- open social innovation underscores the importance of inclusive, collaborative, and cross-sectoral efforts aimed at generating solutions with meaningful societal impact. This study investigates the distinctive characteristics and practices of open social innovation by exploring an open social innovation process that was successful during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a comprehensive qualitative analysis of interviews, observations and archival data with many stakeholders involved in the open social innovation process, our findings highlight four key practices of open social innovation: 1) decentralising external search; 2) flexing existing resources, 3) co-creating value with communities, and 4) combining intellectual property rights with open-source systems. These practices differ significantly from traditional open innovation, particularly in their focus on inclusivity, spontaneity, and shared societal goals. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how open social innovation transcends conventional, firmcentric innovation frameworks. It highlights the capacity of open social innovation to foster systemic change through voluntary, trust-based, and purpose-driven multi-stakeholder engagement. Furthermore, it provides new insights into how such practices can address complex, grand challenges, offering both theoretical and practical implications for innovation management.