Innovation and incubation are no longer limited to technological or science-based business perspective, rather, there has been a move towards social innovations and incubators focused on supporting ventures to develop these types of innovations. These innovations are important for society as they focus on public interest and common good and in strengthening the bonds of trust between citizens. They also find new solutions and approaches to address sustainability issues within societies.
Ventures that look to develop social innovations are often driven by social entrepreneurs, who form social ventures (SEs) and they often work through a market based approach. They take on the risks and efforts to create a positive change in society. As such, their main goal is not profit, rather to implement widespread improvements in society.
This e-study will guide readers through the incubation process, explore the concept of social innovation and the situation in Hong Kong as well as how incubators fit in with the greater social innovation ecosystem and contribute to sustainability.

Sustainability assessment is a process that assists decision-makers to determine which actions to take or not with the goal of sustainability in mind (Bond et al., 2012; Ness et al., 2007). It contributes to different forms of decision-making, including programmes, policies or even an unstructured policy problem (Bond et al., 2012; Pope et al., 2016). The ways in which integrated sustainability assessment differs from the traditional cost-benefit analysis and a more recent approach of social return on investment will be explained in session 1.

Sustainability assessment encompasses a range of impact assessment practices which can be used to predict future outcomes (“ex-ante”), or to assess the effects triggered by an intervention (“ex-post”) (Waas et al., 2014). The focus here is on the latter – the basics of evaluating the effects of a sustainability programme. “Ex-post” assessments facilitate individuals and organisations to communicate the impact of sustainability actions and enables smarter programme design and implementation in the future.

An objective-led approach is adopted in project impact assessment where the project aims to maximise positive outcomes towards sustainability. This differs from Environmental Impact Assessment, for example, which adopts a baseline-driven approach, aiming to minimise negative impacts towards the environment (Pope et al., 2016). There is increasing recognition that minimising negative effects is no longer sufficient and positive steps are needed on all fronts to make any lasting impact towards sustainability (Gibson 2006b).

By adopting an objective-led approach, the first major task would be defining the selected objective. In this case, that means defining sustainability, which will be the focus of session 2. The sessions following that will take readers through key stages of the evaluation process.