Social innovation is a systemic and complex process aiming at achieving added value for the whole society. This article explores the applicability of complexity thinking as a useful resource for conceptualizing social innovation. The author advances the complexity-informed research tradition by emphasizing the emergence of social innovation and addressing the paradox of being in charge but not in control. By drawing on such concepts as emergence, self-organization, diversity, co-evolution, feedback processes, dissipative structures and attractors, the article proposes a new approach to cope with the complexities of social innovation.