Abstract
Social innovation policies have sparked extensive discussions on the future of European socio-economic development, despite there being very few studies that link them to the question of territorial development. This paper analyzes how social innovation initiatives encourage the development of policies capable of boosting territorial development. The case study, which is based on a qualitative analysis, describes the experience of the Bolsa de Terras (Land Exchange). The Land Exchange was created within the field of social economy in order to make use of abandoned land and was transformed into a national policy in Portugal. The research shows that initiatives of social economy are mechanisms able to generate more sustainable local support systems. They also show that the network structure, based on cooperation, appears to be a key mechanism in fostering social innovation policies.
Keywords:
territorial development; social economy; social innovation; public policies
