Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and One Family Foundation launch global report on the laws shaping social innovation at UN General Assembly

Legal & Policy Frameworks for Social Innovation compares how law and policy help or hinder social innovation – new approaches to challenges facing people and planet – across 27 jurisdictions on every continent. It gives governments a practical benchmark for reform.

Key findings

• Strategy is rare. Only Germany, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Portugal, Senegal and Thailand have a clearly dedicated national strategy or policy instrument. Elsewhere, responsibility is spread across ministries, leaving gaps in accountability and coordination.
• Dedicated legal forms are the exception. Vehicles such as the UK’s community interest company and Italy’s and Colombia’s benefit corporations are concentrated in Europe and Latin America, with no formal social-enterprise regimes identified in Africa, Asia or Oceania.
• Tax support is near-universal. 26 of 27 jurisdictions offer tax support for mission-driven organisations, increasingly tied to accreditation and impact reporting.
• Every jurisdiction offers some route to finance for social and environmental activity. But none has a standalone law on impact investment or blended finance.
• Procurement is moving beyond price. All 27 permit or require ESG criteria in public tenders, and innovation partnerships are formally available in 61% of jurisdictions.

The report’s central conclusion: no single model dominates. The strongest systems align policy, legal recognition, funding, disclosure and market incentives, so that social innovation moves beyond pilot projects and into mainstream public services and finance.

Aldo Boni De Nobili, the Hogan Lovells Cadwalader counsel who led the project, said: “The difference between a good idea and lasting social impact is often not the idea itself, but the framework around it. Whether social innovation can be funded, adopted by government, and scaled depends on the legal and policy environment. This report shows, across 27 jurisdictions, what works, what is missing, and where reform can make the greatest difference.”

Jeroo Billimoria, Founder of One Family Foundation and Convener of GCSI, said: “Governments across our Council want to back social innovation, but until now they have lacked comparable evidence on how others do it. This report fills that gap. The question is no longer whether governments should act, but how – and this gives them the map.”

The research was carried out by lawyers across Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s offices, supported by local counsel in the firm’s Hogan Lovells Cadwalader Connect network in jurisdictions where it has no office. Partner Lu Zhou also contributed to the project. It reflects the law as at 1 December 2025. The work was delivered through HLC BaSE, the firm’s impact economy practice.

The report is available here.

The Government Council for Social Innovation (GCSI) is founded on the belief that social innovation is essential to building an equitable and sustainable economy, and that governments play a critical role in driving it. GCSI brings together government leaders from 51 countries who are embedding social innovation into the heart of public policy, finance and service delivery. Through GCSI, governments work collaboratively to co-create action plans on social innovation, including the development of dedicated national policies, financing mechanisms for social innovation, and strengthening the social innovation ecosystem.

One Family Foundation empowers communities, social entrepreneurs, and governments to co-create lasting solutions that tackle poverty, inequality, and exclusion.