Prof. Dr. Jürgen Howaldt, born 1960, is the director of Social Research Centre Dortmund, TU Dortmund University and professor at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. He is an internationally renowned expert in the field of social innovation. He has cooperated with German as well as European policy-makers and has also presented his concept of social innovation in all parts of the world. In 2011, he was one of the organizers of the international conference “Challenge Social Innovation” in Vienna. He is: member of the Science Forum Ruhr; Affiliate of SIERC (Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Centre, Massey University, New Zealand); Co-founder of the European School of Social Innovation; Expert of the German Federal Chancellor’s Dialog for the Future. He was Scientific Coordinator of the global research project SI-DRIVE, funded within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission.