Social innovations have the potential to improve the living situation of people. If social innovations are dovetailed and coordinated with technical innovations from the outset, they can have a strong impact on people.

Where do we want to live and how? In Germany, more and more people are currently moving to cities and large urban areas, where they often find a wider range of career opportunities and attractive leisure activities.

This poses two main challenges for rural regions: declining population and the provision of services for an ageing population. Smaller communities need to find solutions for healthcare for the elderly, for maintaining public transport connections and for new access to education and training. At the same time, many opportunities are opening up in rural areas: most small and medium-sized businesses are located in rural regions and smaller towns, and many commuters are looking for quiet residential areas in the countryside.

The BMBF funds research for innovations that create a better social quality of life

The metropolitan areas also have to cope with current challenges: for example, the increasing burden on people and the environment caused by noise and high traffic volumes. In addition, the demand for residential space has risen sharply, which has led to a significant increase in rental and purchase prices in attractive residential areas.

On top of that, many people in both urban and rural areas in socially problematic situations have special needs – for example for special medical care, nursing or social care, as well as for education and training courses in order to regain a foothold in the job market.

For all these challenges, new, often digital, technologies are now available that have more to offer than just networking. In combination with new business models and resource- and needs-oriented approaches from the social sciences, the needs of people in socially problematic situations can be better researched and understood, and therefore ultimately better met.

Funding objectives: improving opportunities to take part in society

The objective of FH-Sozial funding is thus to improve the living situation of people in socially problematic situations – both in cities and in rural, structurally weak regions – by developing and applying social innovations. The chances of social participation and of leading a healthy, fulfilled life should be increased and social inequalities reduced as far as possible. Particularly within the framework of the ‘Innovations for Germany’ theme of German government’s new High-Tech Strategy 2025, research is to be conducted into the ways in which digital technologies can be used to support this process. FH-Sozial also pursues a focus on creating equal living conditions in the various regions, which was derived from the further development of the German government’s demographic strategy.

Interdisciplinary research projects

With its funding for improving the quality of life in towns and rural areas through social innovations (FH-Sozial), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports interdisciplinary research and development projects at universities of applied sciences as part of the Research at Universities of Applied Sciences programme. The projects must focus on applied social sciences, social work or health or nursing sciences.