Social investment e innovazione sociale: il welfare europeo di fronte a una svolta?

This article provides a critical reflection on the relationship between two seasons of policy that have greatly influenced the Italian welfare state over the last twenty years: social investment and social innovation. Integrating bibliographic analysis and field research, the article explores two public policies promoted by the Veneto Region in the field of the family and youth. While highlighting both many instances of both continuity and discontinuity in the two seasons of policy, the article identifies a common thread that binds them, namely the progressive shift of confidence from the state and the market (in social investment) to society and the market (in social innovation). The main element of continuity in the two seasons therefore appears to be the market, relied on for employment and the development of innovative social actions.