Technological Forecasting & Social Change 173 (2021) 121104 Available online 26 August 2021 0040-1625/© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Overcoming wicked problems and institutional voids for social innovation: University-NGO partnerships in the Global South Balaji Parthasarathy a, * , Supriya Dey b , Pranjali Gupta a a Center for Information Technology and Public Policy, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, 26/C Electronic City, Bangalore 560100, India b Vision Empower Trust, W103 Innovation Center, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore, 26/C Electronic City, Bangalore 560100, India A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Wicked problems Institutional voids NGOs Triple helix Visual-impairment Science and mathematics education ABSTRACT This paper argues that, while universities have a crucial role to play in social innovation by democratizing knowledge, fulflling that role in the Global South requires them to partner with civil society actors such as NGOs. With their history of working with the socially disadvantaged, NGOs have a unique role in clarifying the nature of demand since social innovation must often address ill-formulated “wicked problems”. Similarly, NGOs can fll the “institutional voids” which limit socioeconomic transactions in the Global South. The paper discusses the wicked nature of visual-impairment, which is both widely prevalent and has biopsychosocial attributes i.e., the functional limitations are reinforced by the psychological perceptions of the blind and visually impaired (BVI), and the sociological stigma of impairment. The empirical setting is India where policies for the BVI population are being formulated within a broader framework of social inclusion. The paper investigates how the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) has taken advantage of state policies to embrace an academic mandate which includes social innovation. Specifcally, it explores IIITB’s incubation of the NGO Vision Empower, and the partnership that has followed, to overcome the neglect of the BVI in science and mathematics education. Abbreviations ATs Assistive Technologies BVI Blind and Visually Impaired BoP Bottom of the Pyramid CAGS Center for Accessibility in the Global South CSR Corporate Social Responsibility HDI Human Development Index IIITB International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore IT Information Technology MSR Microsoft Research MeITY Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology NSI National Systems of Innovation NGO Non-Governmental Organization PoC Proof of Concept RTE Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 STEM Science, Technology Engineering, Mathematics TAG Tactile Audio Gallery TBI Technology Business Incubator TIDE Technology, Incdubation and Development of Entrepreneurs UNCRPD United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities VE Vision Empower WHO World Health Organization XRCVC Xavier’s Resource Center for the Visually Challenged 1. Introduction As defnitions of development have expanded beyond effciency and growth, to emphasize equity and distribution, social innovation has gained prominence (see, for example, UN, 2015). Broadly defned, social innovation refers to innovation for social change (Michelini, 2012), designed to satisfy unmet social needs (Van Dyck and Van den Broeck, 2013). Moulaert et al. (2013:1) give a narrower defnition, by specifying a threshold to meet social needs, and the attendant institutional design: they defne social innovation as “the creation of new products, services, organizational structures or activities that are ‘better’ or ‘more effective’ than traditional public sector, philanthropic or market-reliant ap- proaches in responding to social exclusion.” * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: pbalaji@iiitb.ac.in (B. Parthasarathy), supriya@visionempowertrust.org (S. Dey), pranjali.gupta@iiitb.ac.in (P. Gupta). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Technological Forecasting & Social Change journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/techfore https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121104 Received 18 April 2020; Received in revised form 2 August 2021; Accepted 4 August 2021