University social innovation projects responding to covid-19

ABSTRACT

In early 2020, COVID-19 crossed international borders and became a pandemic severely affecting public health worldwide. Health services were stretched thin. The confinement also triggered other social, economic, and cultural problems. Unemployment increased, family dynamics changed, and educational institutions faced the challenge of continuing academic operations. Governments implemented mechanisms to address the situation, but their efforts have been insufficient. Private companies, foundations, civic organizations, universities, and citizens in general, began to respond with creative problem-solving projects. Moreover, universities implemented social innovation projects to deal with pandemic challenges. In this study, we reviewed the websites of 20 universities selected from a pool of internationally ranked institutions to analyze such projects. Of these, seven universities were in North America, Europe and Asia;seven in Latin America, and six in Mexico. The analysis was qualitative and inductive. There was information related to COVID 19 in all the websites reviewed, such as sanitation measures, recommendations, news, and the university's guidelines. They also featured information about the social innovation projects organized by these universities. The identified projects were categorized into four areas a) scientific research, including projects related to vaccine development and treatments;b) education, enclosing digital systems for academic continuity and educational programs for society;c) technology, used in team development projects and strategies, and d) innovation, with holistic proposals for emotional, physical, and psychological care and well-being. Several projects leveraged technological tools to resolve the various complexities of health confinements, resulting in digital social innovations. It was observed that the pandemic accelerated the social-digital innovations, thereby blurring the limits between the technological and the social. Such a tendency presents an opportunity for universities to generate more projects and escalate those already in existence. Therefore, reviewing the status of these projects may ensure their continuity or adaptation to the new normal of pandemic and post-pandemic times. © 2021, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. All rights reserved.