When design-thinking is no longer sufficient! A new paradigm for social innovation

Design-thinking is recognized as a solution-driven approach, emphasizing empathy for users, collaboration, creativity, and iterative prototyping to tackle complex problems. Despite its widespread adoption in the field of innovation, design-thinking faces criticism for its lack of transformative dynamics and may not suffice for addressing the inherent volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of today's environment. This paper, focusing on social innovation (i.e., the creation and execution of novel initiatives to tackle social needs and enhance human well-being.), explores: (a) the extent to which an organization applies design-thinking within its innovation processes; and (b) how this application has progressed. Based on an exploratory investigation carried out in Japan (a country renowned for its rich tradition of innovation and problem-solving with extensive long-term planning cycles), we introduce an innovative and dynamic concept called “Futuro-Design”. Theoretically, this paper moves beyond the conventional design-thinking model by pioneering a synthesis of design-thinking and futures-thinking paradigms, contributing an enhanced theoretical framework to the design community and the realm of social innovation. On an empirical level, we lay out the groundwork for this emerging paradigm, emphasizing the importance of forward-looking anticipatory governance, societal connectivity, imaginative exploration of future scenarios, and a systemic approach.