Growing a Transnational Smart Community of Social Innovators for the Inclusive Development of Central Europe

The sustainability of Central Europe (CE) is challenged by the structural transformations of its civic communities as well as by the social implications of the changes affecting their context. Social innovation (SI) initiatives should be able to implement products, services and models to govern such transformations while creating new social relationships, which are then more and more necessary. In fact, they are still fragile and unevenly diffused in the area, as the ecosystem called to boost them, is still in its infancy. The project helps Central Europe to improve its SI capacities by tackling the problem the other way round: it teaches financiers, entrepreneurs, policy makers and citizens how to actually play the game as Social (in)novation Makers generating the ecosystem as a bottom-up result of their inter-actions. To this end, the project establishes the transnational 2-phase educational programme 'Social(i)Makers Launchpad' in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The programme trains them in collaboratively designing and launching effective and sustainable SI initiatives. Within its 'Social Innovation Design Academy', the trainees learn how to leverage impact investing, social business, SI policy and active citizenship, to exploit useful technology and impact assessment and to engage the right stakeholders and shareholders, by exploiting a pocket 'Social Innovation Design Toolbox'. Subsequently, they put the acquired skills into practice through the 'Social Innovation Skyrocket Lab', which coordinates them in the organization of local and transnational pilot SI initiatives for Central Europe through the co-working 'On-line Social Innovation Skyrocket Platform'. In doing so, the project triggers the emergence of a transnational Social(i)Makers Community in CE which is further developed by a long-term SI capacity-building strategy defined ad hoc.

Team:

• Drⁱⁿ. Barbara Glinsner, MSc (project leader)
• Dr. Mag.ª Stefanie Konzett-Smoliner (project leader)
• Magª. Katharina Handler
• Nela Šalamon, B.Sc.
• Melanie Zitka, BSc.

Section: Work and Equal Opportunities

Partners:

• Fondazione Democenter Sipe (Coordinator)
• arbeit plus – Social Integration Enterprises Austria
• Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia
• Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Cooperation Fund Foundation
• Economic Institute Maribor, Slovenia
• IFKA Public Benefit Non-Profit Ltd. for the Development of the Industry
• Pontis Foundation
• Roots of Impact GmbH
• Social Impact gGmbh
• Union of Municipalities of the Ceramic District
• Wielkopolska Region/Regional Centre of Social Policy in Poznan

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Tags: equal opportunities, social innovation, training