The purpose of this study is to present a policy plan for the spread of social ventures in Seoul. To this end, we first understood the desirable social values ​​that Seoul should pursue and the meaning of social innovation, and looked at the technological innovation fields of social ventures that the city will focus on. In addition, social innovation by identifying the current status and characteristics of technology-based social ventures in Seoul, seeking policies that enable them to grow and develop, and at the same time discovering examples of businesses in Seoul that meet the social values ​​pursued by the city.
In order to examine the possibility of expanding social ventures, 168 venture companies located in Seoul were surveyed on their perceptions of CSR. Among the respondents, 28.7% of venture companies were found to engage in management activities that reflect corporate social responsibility(CSR). Venture companies believe that CSR has a positive effect on management performance in the long term.
A framework for analyzing the type of social venture technology innovation was established, and the characteristics of social ventures in Seoul were analyzed. The analysis results are as follows. First, among the respondents, there were 40 technologically innovative social ventures, accounting for about a third of the total respondents, and of these, intermediate technologies accounted for the largest proportion. Among the innovations of social ventures, technological innovation accounted for 30.5%, and new technologies such as AI and big data accounted for 6.1%. Most of the technologically innovative social ventures used intermediate technologies such as software and manufacturing that required engineering knowledge beyond college. Second, the proportion of social ventures and general ventures where social and economic targets matched was 69.4% and 69.3%, respectively. Third, technological innovation-type social ventures that use intermediate technologies are more advantageous than other companies in terms of the sustainability of business models.
Abletech can be divided into four types of technology such as assistive technology devices + IT, services + IT, healthcare, and universal design·Content. Seoul City (Social Venture Hub) needs to intensively foster assistive technology devices + IT and services + IT.
Based on the research results, we propose the following policies to spread social ventures in Seoul. First, it is necessary to expand the social venture ecosystem by reinforcing the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in support policies for businesses in Seoul such as start-ups and SMEs. Second, it is necessary to introduce social value incentives led by Seoul city. Third, it is necessary to support social venture technology through public-private resource linkage and diffusion.