Abstract:

Higher Education Institutions have included among the transversal competencies to develop in students, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as ethics, citizenship and payment of the social mortgage. In this way, they have strongly supported academic programs with subjects and projects of a social nature, with a primary objective that is the training of our students in these skills, and an ultimate goal, which is the transformation of lives in the communities where we are located. There have already been important advances in our campus: success stories of social entrepreneur students (Uapasï, Hermol); prosthesis development for people with some type of motor disability (CRIT Michoacán); improvement of housing and support for education in communities such as El Laurelito, or in public primary schools such as Símbolos Patrios; development of innovations to improve the quality of civic life through road safety and environmental care, such as the Smart Tope case; projects for the identification of community development opportunities in vulnerable populations in collaboration with companies such as Driscoll's in Tiripetío and Tupátaro, Michoacán, just to mention a few examples. With all this experience, it was important to develop models of innovation development and social entrepreneurship that allow us to capitalize on the lessons learned in this journey and facilitate both the management of common obstacles that have been faced and potentialize the successes.

This paper presents the results of a qualitative etnographic research made for this purpose. Interviews and focus groups were held with the participants of social innovation and entrepreneurship projects during year 2017. Data was processed using the software Atlas.ti © using techniques of grounded theory. Among the main findings of this research, the depth of involvement with the community appeared as the first factor to have an influence over the success or failure of the project, above the personal characteristics of the agents of social change and the community profile.

Keywords:

Social innovation learning, social entrepreneurship learning, social projects.