Transformative Topics April 2026

In recognition of Earth Day and Arbour Day (tree planting and stewardship) that just passed in April, we feature a recent book, Elgar Companion to Social Innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals, co-edited by David Littlewood, Irene Garnelo-Gomez, Laurel Steinfield, and Giacomo Ciambotti, in which many TCR scholars contributed chapters.

In the spirit of the TCR's newsletter, David and Irene reflect on the backstory of the book, how it came to be, the motivations behind the book and its hoped-for impact:

"Our Elgar Companion to Social Innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals was almost three years in the making and originated in conversations between two of the editors David Littlewood (University of Sheffield, UK) and Irene Garnelo-Gomez (IQS School of Management, Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain). Irene had been contacted by the publisher Edward Elgar who were commissioning a series of companions on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and as part of this were looking for scholars interested in convening a companion on social innovation and the SDGs. This was a topic close to our hearts and those Laurel Steinfield (Ivey Business School, Canada) and Giacomo Ciambotti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy) who were subsequently invited to join the team as co-editors, and whose involvement expanded our expertise, networks, and helped to further share the editorial load. In the end, the Companion would have 24 chapters, be more than 500 pages long, and involve over 50 contributors.

Although convening it was a significant amount of work, it was an undertaking that we felt was also much needed. We are now less than five years away from 2030, by which time the SDGs are targeted to be achieved, yet progress towards this has been very uneven across goals, geographies, and demographic groups. Indeed, without significant ramping up of investment, increased international and cross sector partnership, and in our view the identification and adoption of novel social innovation approaches, we think it is unlikely that many of the SDGs will be achieved. In developing this Companion our aim was thus not only academic but also to provide powerful insights for policy and practice, showcasing what is being done and can be learnt from this, to help accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs. These dual objectives underpinned how we went about recruiting chapter authors who are a mix of academic thought leaders, inspirational practitioners, and policy advisors and analysts. Some of these contributors were invited directly to submit chapter proposals, which were then assessed for inclusion, but a general call for chapters was also released attracting further high-quality submissions. The final book comprised a mix of invited and submitted contributions, all of which went through robust peer review over multiple rounds to ensure quality but also with a strong focus on chapter development . This was again a crucial task but also a time consuming one that thankfully we were able to share across the editor team.

Overall, the Companion and its excellent and diverse chapter contributions offer much to the field. It is our hope that things like our Introductory chapter, which offers a review of the literature and a new ‘propeller conceptualization of social innovation and the SDGs,’ provide useful content and a helpful heuristic for scholars, educators, students and even policy and practice. The companion provides a platform for research on this important but still understudied topic, and offers useful direction for future scholarship in this area. It is our hope that our Companion and its chapters can provide direction for scholars, as well as implications for practice and policy on social innovation and the SDGs. Our goal has always been to capture insights that could support the existing work of social innovation practitioners and/or the development of enabling policy, whilst also inspiring new action. Social innovation has much potential to catalyse the achievement of the SDGs by 2030, and support wider global sustainable development beyond. We encourage scholars and practitioners to check the book out!"

Read: Littlewood, D. C., Garnelo-Gomez, I., Steinfield, L., & Ciambotti, G. (2026). The Elgar Companion to Social Innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals. Edward Elgar Publishing. Available at: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/the-elgar-companion-to-social-innovation-and-the-sustainable-development-goals-9781035326037.html

Abstract: In this far-reaching Elgar Companion, leading scholars and practitioners survey the current state of knowledge, practice and policy on social innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide guidance for future research in the area. Considering the SDGs individually, together and sustainable development as a whole, they explore relationships between social innovation, the SDGs and the biosphere, society and economy, across organizational settings.

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