The text addresses the emergence of the Network of Social Innovation from Higher Education (RISES), as one of the results of the research project Appropriation and promotion of social innovation in the department of Antioquia by the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, the Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios and the Fundación Universitaria Católica del Norte. Being a meeting and collaboration space around the promotion of social innovation, which promotes the exchange of knowledge and lifelong learning. In this work, a study of the concept of social innovation is presented, in order to reflect on the work of the Network, identifying the importance of the role of universities reflected in commitment to quality and university social responsibility, promoting social innovation, as a strategic thematic in the institutional dynamics, generating agents or articulating leaders who intervene in the university task and in its relationship with the different agents of the territory.