A driving system for driving an optical element in a first direction. The system includes a linear actuator for producing a displacement in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, a displacement picking unit being extendable in a third second direction, perpendicular to both of the first and second directions, for picking out a displacement of the linear actuator, and a direction converting unit, disposed at the third-direction second-direction side of the linear actuator, for converting a direction of the displacement picked out by the displacement picking unit into a third direction, perpendicular to both the first and second directions.