Effective and Democratic Governance as the Condition of Digital Social Innovations in Europe

The article explores whether and how the performance of European countries in terms of digital social innovations is conditioned by inclusive and effective governance, prevailing cultural patterns and the existing level of socio-economic development. The analysis demonstrates that inclusive and effective governance is a necessary and sufficient condition for digital social innovations. This means that the existence of channels for widespread participation of the people as well as effective and transparent conduct of political institutions leads to a boom of creativity and utilisation of human capital in all key areas of society. We cannot confirm any significant conditioning of digital social innovations by culture or pre-existing socio-economic development. At least in the European Union (EU) context, our results provide some reasons for optimism, since the highest levels of socio-economic development are not necessary for impressive performance in terms of digital social innovation.