Social Impact Assessment: A Focus on Italian Innovative Startups with a Social Goal

European Commission has recently outlined a framework for the definition of an ecosystem promoting entrepreneurship and social innovation (Georghiou in A European innovation ecosystem for social innovation. European Commission, Brussels). In this direction, the Italian legal system typed a particular status of firm, the Innovative startup with a social goal (ISUSG). These firms are required to prepare a “social impact assessment document” to obtain the recognition of the social and innovative startup status, reviewing it annually for the maintenance of the status. Impact assessment can be a critical issue for firms, due to the still unclear definition of social impact and difficulties in identifying the most appropriate assessment method. This chapter deepens the impact assessment in these firms, acquiring evidence about methods and estimated value for social impact.