The Commission is stepping in to provide a focus for small-scale and disparate attempts to applying new thinking and techniques to unmet social needs, with the launch yesterday (16 March) of Social Innovation Europe.
While there may be many examples of social innovation in action, for example, in cooperative movements or microfinance schemes, to date it has not been seen as a distinct field that has the potential not only to deal with social problems, but also to promote the development of a new commercial sector of specialist companies and service providers.
Social Innovation Europe will provide access to expertise and build a network of practitioners who are involved in devising new ways to confront issues such as promoting active ageing, responding to climate change, and helping local communities apply innovation to create sustainable cities.
The project, launched with endorsement from a cross-section of Commissioners, is part of the Innovation Union 2020 strategy. This recognition is an important advance for the field because while Europe has large public and charity sectors, most organisations are working on a local, or possibly, a national level, with no reference to what is happening elsewhere in the European Union.
Social Innovation projects are inevitably small-scale and underfunded. There is a lack of opportunity to share best practice, and as a result, duplication of effort.
The project involves partners including the Danish Technological Institute, the Social Innovation Exchange, which is a UK-based body representing over 1,000 individuals and organisations that are active in this sphere, the Euclid Network, a pan-European grouping of practitioners and professionals set up to promote best practice, and the Social Innovation Park, a business park for companies in the field, in Bilbao, Spain.
Apart from providing a single European focus to help the sector professionalise, Social Innovation Europe will provide information on funding opportunities and develop recommendations for financing and increasing the scale of social innovation in Europe.
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