Social Innovation Design and Sustainability of Youth-Led Bamboo Craft Brand in Zhushan Township, Taiwan

• Main Authors: Ying Dai, Shyh-Huei Hwang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: Zhushan Township; youth-led bamboo craft brand; social innovation design; sustainability
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9911

Various brands of bamboo crafts created by youths have emerged in Zhushan Township, Taiwan. With the special bamboo materials available in Zhushan Township as their core, these brands have created different types of social innovations through their management, design, and mechanical knowledge. The results indicate the following: (1) The youths advocate for causes such as the preservation of culture, mutually beneficial situations, sustainable local development, and environmentally friendly lifestyles. The youths proposed innovative solutions for these causes, such as establishing a guesthouse, revitalizing unused space, creating opportunities for dialogues, developing bamboo-based environmentally friendly products, and holding local activities; (2) the youths constructed a model for internal cooperation and enhancement, revitalization, and marketing Zhushan Township; (3) the youths advocated for various social values, utilized social capital, and proposed innovative solutions through diversified participation and the creation of new relationships, allowing different communities to generate a group dynamic to resolve social problems and achieve sustainability together. This study aids in the facilitation of sustainable management of township micro-enterprises by innovating products and service modes through social capital and social value. At the same time, local and common social innovation modes are connected to provide a reference for the social innovation of micro-enterprises.