Understanding of institutions as intersubjective sense-making patterns of social relations underlines constant negotiation and dynamic, which occur within the processes of institutional change. Based on studies from new institutionalism (Pierson 2000) and path dependencies (Mahoney 2000, Nelson & Winter 1982, Dossi et al. 1988), we are interested in how TSI-initiatives cope with the existing normativity of their surrounding institutions in change processes. Since actors of SI-initiatives interact in their respective local and transnational context they are embedded in several overlapping institutional constellations, which allows them to perform as institutional entrepreneurs. The analysis of institutional environments (welfare regimes, EU governance and innovation climate) also provides insights on roadblocks, obstacles and inhibiting factors for developing innovative and sustainable home care solutions. SI labs foster innovation by rethinking and disrupting structures of care provision, which are embedded in institutionalized core-assumptions on families and their responsibilities such as current forms of organizing care services (‘Buurtzorg’ as prominent example).

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