Synopsis: Entrepreneurship:

BEPA would like to thank all the participating services for their very useful work and comments, especially reflected in part II of the report, namely DG AGRI,

37 3. 2. 1. The social economy...37 3. 2. 2. Microfinance...39 3. 2. 3. Incubation...

45 3. 3. 5. Social innovation and the environment...46 3. 3. 6. Regional strategies...

48 3. 4. Social entrepreneurship to revive the social economy...49 4. Conclusion: scanning the future to shape the future...

53 What will social enterprise look like in Europe by 2020?..54 The way forward...55 Improve governance in relation to social innovation...

and improve the business environment...56 PART II Main developments in EU policies...57 Executive summary...

67 T A b L E O F C O N t E N t S 5 1. 3. The environment and resource efficiency...

the Social Investment Package (SIP...71 2. Main programmes, action plans and supporting schemes...75 2. 1. European Structural and Investment funds (ESIF...

100 3. 1. 5. Create an optimised regulatory environment...100 3. 1. 5. 1. Simplification of the European Cooperative Regulation...

102 3. 1. 5. 4. European Statute for other forms of social enterprises such as nonprofit enterprises...

105 3. 2. 2. Access to venture capital The European Venture capital Funds...105 3. 2. 3. The European regulatory framework for social investment funds:

the European union Social Entrepreneurship Funds (Eusef...105 3. 2. 4. The development of microcredit/microfinance...

107 3. 2. 5. Crowdfunding for social entrepreneurs...108 3. 2. 6. The EIF impact investing scheme...

109 3. 2. 8. Best practice sharing between Member States regarding the use of capital accumulated in social enterprises and in particular asset locks...

110 3. 3. 1. 1. Mapping of the social enterprises sector, business models, economic weight, tax regimes, identification of best practices...

110 3. 3. 1. 2. Database of labels and certifications of social enterprises...110 3. 3. 1. 3. Social innovation prizes...

113 3. 3. 2. 1. Networks of Incubators for Social Innovation...113 3. 3. 2. 2. Social Innovation Europe (SIE...

118 3. 3. 2. 6. Multi-stakeholder platform for corporate social responsibility...118 3. 3. 2. 7. Policy innovation design...

A response based on another way to produce value, with less focus on financial profit and more on real demands or needs is indeed an attractive premise for reconsidering production and redistribution systems.

In this context, social innovations, which are emerging all over the world, are still small in scale,

Furthermore, they argue that the crisis has revealed the weakness of the current economic system of redistribution;

yy the 2013 International Labour Organisation report2 notes that, in advanced economies, the challenge is to stimulate job creation while addressing macroeconomic imbalances;

Inside the European commission, the number of services involved has grown and a‘social innovation'culture has spread in support of the Europe 2020 Strategy and its implementation.

Some of these services have developed strong legal and institutional mechanisms aimed primarily at supporting social innovation.

This is the case for the internal market services, where the Social Business Initiative (SBI) is supported by a permanent stakeholders group (GECES)

and a list of 11 actions to be followed up. This initiative has given birth to many projects and achievements, among which the‘Strasbourg event'of January 2014 (cf.

In other policy areas, some services upgraded the policy relevance of social innovation: yy Transport and mobility are viewed now as areas of potential for innovation with a strong social impact.

and smartphone-based urban transport planners) and social innovation to support the uptake of new services (shared electric vehicle fleets and development of new logistics services);

and culture, health and consumption, communication or technology. The services that have been involved most in this matter from the beginning (Employment and Social affairs, Enterprise, Regional Policy, Agriculture,

and Research and Innovation) have increased substantially their contributions. Finally, even internally, the European commission increasingly uses participatory training courses and events for human resources in a more socially innovative way. 5 http://ec. europa. eu/dgs/policy advisers/activities/conferences workshops/socinnov jan-2009 en. htm. 6

the development of new analytical frameworks have led BEPA to update the initial report it produced in 2010 with the active participation of all Commission services,

and as comprehensively as possible, the leading 2010-20 policy framework, the main programmes and supporting schemes and the initiatives and instruments established by the Commission to support social innovation, based on the contributions of participating services.

and the economic spheres. 7 The economic concepts of capital and investment have become social policy instruments

the concept of ecosystems has been borrowed from biology through management science to describe the environments where social innovations emerge,

'From the stakeholders'workshop held in 2009 with the President of the Commission, developments in policymaking circles inside and outside the European commission are palpable.

They have now become active participants in the development of social innovations at local, national and European levels. 9 In all Member States, representatives of the national and local authorities, social entrepreneurs and social economy organisations,

the banking and finance sector and the academic and university sector play an active part in the consultative multi-stakeholders group set up by the Commission in 201210 and large groups of citizens all over the world are joining

ethical investment products, including‘social and environmental impact financing';'yy the institutions are also changing:

partnerships and alliances outside in order to improve their services to users and involve stakeholders; and yy last but not least, ideas, the third corner of the action triangle, have developed also and spread.

The amount of research, projects, experiments, debates, documents, books, events produced on social innovation since the beginning of the decade is impressive.

How business, government and social enterprises are teaming up to solve society's toughest problems, William D. Eggers and Paul Macmillan (Harvard Business review press, 2013.

P A r T I s o C i a L I N N O V A t I O N, A n E w P A t H 15 investment

and services and how they contribute to poverty reduction, combating inequalities and changing lifestyles. We also know more about their conditions for sustainability and the views of stakeholders.

Empirical research has helped to identify where change is happening and needs to be encouraged. Conceptual research has achieved milestones in defining and framing

The rise of the collaborative economy from Airbnb (the social networking service for bed and breakfast) to car sharing

which goes beyond just inventing new business models. Digital social innovation is a new kind of innovation enabled by the network effect of the internet,

which radically change the competition and supply and demand equations of traditional business models. On this issue, a study conducted by a consortium of partners15 is currently building a map of digital social innovation actors and networks.

there are some challenges for the EU. yy First, in the reconfiguration of the economy which is currently taking place under the influence of network giants,

and more social innovation to engage stakeholders, citizens, geeks and civil society communities in the innovation process cannot be neglected.

Most users have accepted their exploitative business models in exchange for free services. This deal not only undermines privacy

It can also include the development of new mobile platforms able to ensure some basic services at European level,

on top of which a whole new open ecosystem of services and applications could flourish in a participatory innovation model based on open source and open hardware development;

which platforms it talks to and the platform determines which services, products or spin-offs are supported.

Defining sensible governance modalities for big data will require substantial collaboration between the public and private sectors, based on a multi-stakeholder model,

in order to define the minimum level of sensible regulation allowing fair competition in the emerging areas of big data.

'At the time, the idea was to find a renewed impetus for a laissez-faire market-based economy,

In other words, market economics and social security do not exclude each other, but which comes first? Two different schools of thought gave a different meaning to this concept.

social justice and economic growth are now being revisited. 19 This short history of the term gives some idea of its heuristic but ambiguous meanings from its origins to the present.

as pointed out by The Economist, 20 the‘social market economy'broadly refers to the study of the different social institutions underpinning every market economy

and to the use of market mechanisms to increase the efficiency of the social functions of the state. 1. 2. 2. The social market economy in the European arena The four freedoms free circulation of goods, services

, capital and people) at the heart of the EU's Single Market are seen commonly as economic instruments to favour increased competition,

specialisation and economies of scale, improve the efficiency of the allocation of resources and drive economic integration within the EU. The question is:

should this driver be geared solely to economic growth or should it serve the goals of social as well as economic cohesion?

and the social dimensions of an integrated European economy can be strengthened mutually.''This excerpt from the mission letter from the President of the European commission, José Manuel Barroso, inviting former Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, to prepare a report setting out recommendations for an initiative to relaunch

the Single Market clearly sets the new tone. The existing tensions between market integration and social objectives are exposed more vividly

i e. the 20 http://www. economist. com/economics-a-to-z/s#node-21529660.21 Article 3 of the Treaty on European union states:‘

It shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability,

and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment'.'22 At the time, it was interpreted as a symbolic ideological gain for the European socialists (The European Convention:

'In his report, 23 Professor Monti clearly identified public services (or services of general economic interest) as being at the centre of social concerns.

This was a window of opportunity to enable bottom-up creativity, particularly in the way services are delivered

and matching the needs of users. The Monti Report raised the need to reinforce the Single Market through a series of concrete measures.

the idea of developing‘new emerging business models in which social, ethical or environmental objectives are pursued alongside financial profit,

This unanimity should not hide underlying ambiguities in overcoming corporatist approaches and acquired interests in the sphere of the social economy,

and different understandings in Europe of what constitutes a social enterprise or business. As acknowledged in an OECD report on social entrepreneurship25‘e ven

if social entrepreneurship as an activity is developing quickly around the world and social innovations are appearing everywhere,

A term like social entrepreneurship tends to overlap with terms such as social economy, third sector, nonprofit sector, social enterprise and social entrepreneur, some

to name just a few of the contexts where social entrepreneurship linked to social innovations is developing.

social entrepreneurship should be defined on the basis of three main characteristics: yy the social objective was the reason for developing innovative activities;

yy profits were invested mainly in achieving this social objective; and yy the organisation and ownership used participatory principles aiming at social justice.

yy social entrepreneurship should be placed in the main‘engine room'of European integration: the Single Market raised social innovation to a new level of recognition, 23 http://ec. europa. eu/bepa/pdf/monti report final 10 05 2010 en. pdf. 24 http://ec

. europa. eu/internal market/smact/index en. htm. 25 SMES, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, contribution of Antonella Noya (OECD, 2010). 20 S O C i a L

or competition policy to engage with the development of this‘emerging'sector; and yy the way it has been developed has been participatory26 and all-encompassing, 27 i e. through a systemic change in approach rather than through incremental changes in the institutional infrastructure of the business world. 1. 3. Ecosystems for social innovation 1

management scholars have recognised the parallels between biological and economic systems. The concept of an ecosystem which in biology refers to an environment where different, sometimes competing,

species can complement each other has been used in particular by Michael Porter, 28 who underlined that the traditional framework of industries made up of competitors,

suppliers and customers does not pay enough attention to the many other actors and environments in an industry:

An ecosystem's framework, in contrast, incorporates the broader environment within which organisations operate. It captures the elements of Porter's economic analysis,

as their promoters (social entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, etc.)must leverage complex systems of interacting players in rapidly evolving political, economic, physical and cultural environments.

Moreover, the more innovative the initiative, the more likely it is to come up against the aversion to change of those who have stakes in the system as it is.

Today, ecosystems for social innovation are seen as the way to create an innovation-friendly environment where social innovations can grow

i e. the Commissioners responsible for the Single Market (M. Barnier), Employment and Social affairs (L. Andor) and Enterprise (A. Tajani).

27 The Social Business Initiative was launched with a Communication on corporate social responsibility and a revision of the Transparency Directive as a package to increase trust:‘

of capacity building and recognition tools such as incubators, hubs, forums, prizes and research in methodologies, benchmarking

together, create the‘natural environment'for social innovation to flourish. While the movement and creative energy in the ecosystem comes from the actors and their connections, the administrative,

economic and legal environment has to be enabling. Where the priority objective is to solve a problem of a social or societal nature,

Social entrepreneurship (or intrapreneurship), the main vector to channel action in this field is often small,

Communication technologies create very large and open spaces for the self-organisation and mobilisation of society

From access to public procurement or small experimental grants to investments in large projects likely to bring substantial social benefits in the medium to long term (e g. investment in the social integration of prisoners to eventually reduce crime.

this can even include regrouping investments to achieve the same social objective and involving stakeholders

and end users can often double or treble the impact of budgets and or investments. 29 cf. for example SOS (http://www. groupe-sos. org).

30 http://www. websourd. org/;/http://www. websourd-entreprise. fr/./31 http://codeforamerica. org/.32 R. Thaler & C. Sunstein, Yale university Press, 2009.33 https://webgate. ec. europa. eu/socialinnovationeurope/directory/switzerland

Incubators to generate the birth and growth as well as tools to exchange, compare and value are other essential components of the social innovation ecosystem.

The fourth ingredient to create a fertile environment for initiating innovative practices of a disruptive nature is to develop evidence of a different nature that is likely to work

A striking example of the development above is entitled the study A map of social enterprises

schemes and actions aimed at promoting social enterprises and supporting the development of a conducive ecosystem where it exists as well as the current state and dynamics of social investments markets.

This was only done for 11 Member States. 36 It studies the following issues for these countries:

the political and legal recognition of the concept of social enterprise; public support schemes; whether marks and labelling schemes are in use, the social investment markets.

Finally, it assesses the opportunities and barriers for each country. This first exercise shows wide differences amongst Member States regarding the degree of maturity of the ecosystem.

In countries with a long tradition of social economy like Italy and France, a variety of well-established tools have been developed while in newcomers like Latvia or Romania,

the recognition and the private and public support systems for social business is still in its infancy but in great demand.

In itself, this study is a resource for policymakers social entrepreneurs and stakeholders in social business in general as it provides timely information on when,

where and how social entrepreneurs can find an understanding and friendly environment to initiate, develop and scale up social enterprises. 1. 3. 3. Examples of ecosystems for social innovation As mentioned above,

the growing importance of social enterprises in the EU social innovation policy framework emphasises the importance of developing an enabling environment made of specific instruments,

a more understanding environment and to develop innovative tools (e g. European Partnerships) to stimulate interaction between actors in fertile ground.

A large number of public or private actors at national and local level can take advantage of this new policy focus.

Two very different case studies can be mentioned to illustrate these issues: yy firstly, Oksigen37 is a dynamic Belgian consortium established on the private initiative of likeminded individuals.

Local authorities together with welfare services and local economic actors have a vested interest in identifying more efficient solutions to address concrete social problems

social innovation can play a pivotal role in serving as a competitive future advantage for European economies

Finally, social innovations (seen as drivers in the current transition41) could open the way to developing a new competitive advantage for European economies,

enterprise and industry in particular. 40 This is the terminology used by EU institutions (Commission, Parliament, Economic and Social Committee) to frame the notion of social impact in the Eusef (European Social Entrepreneurship Funds) and Easi (European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation.

41 See The EU's Fifth Project-Transitional Governance in the Service of Sustainable Societies http://www. uclouvain. be/461789. html. 42 Social innovations as drivers of social change

or beliefs of the social system'in which they occur. 44 The benefits of overcoming the challenge of measuring social innovation will allow further developments in different aspects of social innovation at a crucial moment for the post-crisis economy Both micro

-level measurement (how successfully a social enterprise is contributing to this goal) and macro-level measurement (social enterprises grow in an ecosystem composed of a favourable governance framework,

capacity-building tools and learning processes) have become necessary. Measures of the success/impact of social innovation is shared the increasingly idea that‘economic outcomes have for a long time been the main indicator to measure the development of organisations and countries,

This was followed by a Communication on GDP and Beyond Measuring progress in a changing world,

by bringing to the fore the value of non-tradeable goods and services that contribute to wellbeing.

http://ec. europa. eu/environment/beyond gdp/index en. html. 48 COM (2009) 433 final. 49 http://ec. europa. eu/environment/enveco

The recent period has been characterised by the emergence of a wider diversity of funding sources for innovative ventures with a social objective from the public and private sectors.

'and the public at large responds, where legislation permits, to calls to‘crowdfund'social ventures. This is good news as one of the major barriers to the development of social innovation identified in the first BEPA report was access to finance

but also overdependence on grants from charities, foundations and public support, in particular when growth capital is needed to engage in long-term ventures.

The Commission's Communication on the Single Market Act II56 highlighted the need to develop methods for measuring the social and economic benefits generated by social enterprises in the implementation of the Eusef57 and the programme for Employment and Social Innovation (Easi.

58 In response, a subgroup of the Commission's consultative multi-stakeholder group on social enterprise (GECES) 55 As illustrated in part 2 of this document. 56 http://ec. europa

. eu/internal market/smact/docs/single-market-act2 en. pdf. 57 The Regulation on European social entrepreneurship funds (Eusefs) was published in the Official Journal on 25 april 2013.

Together with the Regulation on European venture capital funds (Euveca) and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), this Regulation aims to make it easier for AIFMD-exempt venture capitalists

The range of eligible financing tools/investments under the Eusef Regulation is wider than those available for venture capital funds under the EVCF Regulation. 58 The third axis of this programme focuses on microfinance

and social entrepreneurship with a fund of EUR 86 million over seven years to provide grants,

investments and guarantees to social enterprises which can demonstrate that they have a‘measurable social impact'.

with guidelines on how social enterprise can measure their social impact on the community. The report adopted by the GECES in June 2014 makes a set of recommendations

In order to meet the needs of social enterprises funders and policymakers to achieve comparability in reporting and monitoring,

and scope of the venture and to allow an approach that respects the diversity of social enterprises as well as the need to cope with change and improvement,

2) identify stakeholders; 3) set relevant measurement; 4) measure, validate and value; 5) report, learn

All stages should involve active stakeholder engagement. In particular, the number and range of indicators should be agreed between the social enterprise,

beneficiaries or service users as well as investors, allowing for lighter and cheaper processes for small ventures.

The dynamics of involving all stakeholders (from investors to service users) is designed to maintain the balance between the overriding need to deliver measurable social impact and the need for a profitable operation that can meet investor expectations.

The report also includes guidance on reporting standards for social impact measurement and indicators and examples of case studies illustrating how measurement techniques are used.

in particular in raising awareness and facilitating stakeholder engagement. This idea is reinforced by the opinion on social impact measurement of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC.

yy guidance to assist social enterprises, funders, fund managers and investors in all EU Member States in complying with the standards proposed;

yy the development and consolidation of measurement frameworks with stakeholder participation; yy the development of reporting formats;

E O F C H A n G E s 1. 4. 3. Indicators for a socially innovative society In the wake of demands from stakeholders, the issue of social innovation

In EU policymaking, this has recently become apparent in initiatives like the Communication on the social dimension of the EMU

new sources of finance are appearing (EU funding possibilities, crowdfunding, more access to public procurement, etc.)

The press has echoed more than usual to the financing of the social economy in general but also to associated financial innovations such as social impact bonds or crowdfunding.

As explained in sub-section 1. 4. 2, several activities have been developed at European level. For example, the Social Business Initiative has launched 60 http://ec. europa. eu/commission 2010-2014/president/news/archives/2013/10/pdf/20131002 1-emu en. pdf. 61 EU

and the Rockefeller Foundation on one of the first significant (despite the small sample) pieces of research on investments intended to create a positive impact beyond financial returns.

and manage social performance was the best guarantee against the risks to see exploitation of poor people for the sake of profit and system drifts.

for a long time, tried to develop new thinking to modernise European economies and their social model to meet societal expectations.

E C a D E O F C H A n G E s lic services. For instance, the impact of new technologies researched

The same goes for social innovation schemes to empower people to improve the provision and delivery of services.

yy The Commission launched a pilot European Public sector Innovation Scoreboard (EPSIS) with a view to improving its ability to benchmark the innovation performance of the public sector in Europe.

weak 64 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/innovation-scoreboard/index en. htm. 65 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise

and entrepreneurship (government itself needs to become bolder and more entrepreneurial). Recommendations for new public sector innovation architecture in Europe The report identifies several actions that should be taken rapidly (either at EU level

and facilitate innovation in the work of the Commission Services. yy Enabling Innovation: to establish a network of Innovation Single Contact Points in all Member States;

to establish an Accelerator for Digital Innovation and a Public sector Angel Fund. yy Informing Innovation:

and the development of ethical goods and services pose at local level and which many cities or local communities need to address.

examples of practical developments mainly supported by the EU Structural Funds are meant to emulate new ideas and entrepreneurship. 71 http://ec. europa. eu/regional policy/sources/docgener/presenta/social innovation/social innovation 2013

a factual Europe-wide study on A Map of Social Enterprises and their Ecosystems in Europe,

innovation, including in the areas of theory building and conceptualisation, local welfare systems and services,

Identification of social enterprises to develop an operational definition that can be used to identify, measure and map social enterprise across Europe

and thus provide the basis for carrying out the remaining research tasks; Task 2: Measurement, characterisation and mapping of social enterprise to collect (through primary and secondary research) and analyse data on the scale, characteristics and patterns of development of social enterprise in each country studied;

Task 3: Legal and standards mapping to map (a) legal‘labels 'and frameworks designed exclusively for social enterprises where these exist;(

b) corporate law aspects of the three legal forms most commonly used by social enterprises in each country studied;(

c) legal and regulatory barriers to creation and growth of social enterprise; and (d) marks, labels and certification systems designed for social enterprises;

Task 4: Mapping of public policies and social investment markets to provide an overview of national policies,

schemes and actions aimed at promoting social entrepreneurs and social enterprises and supporting the development of a conducive ecosystem (where these exist);

and, the current state and dynamics of social investment markets in Europe; and Task 5:

Developing recommendations for EU action to develop recommendations for future research and policy action to support the growth of social enterprise in Europe.

This is the very first time that researchers have carried out such a systematic and broad overview of existing traditions and legal,

public policy and investment conditions for the development of social enterprises. 72 http://ec. europa. eu/internal market/social business/docs/expert-group/20131128-sbi-sector-mapping

-study en. pdf. P A r T I s o C i a L I N N O V A t I O N,

However, in view of increasing demand from policymakers and practitioners alike for social innovations and the emerging possibilities for new research avenues on social innovation, including in Horizon 2020,

wider groups of stakeholders and the broader public in a comprehensive way. The point that comes to the fore is that this report is a stocktaking exercise,

where stakeholders can more easily be mobilised on concrete issues. In order to scan the scope of empirical developments

and networks to fight social inequalities and stimulate social cohesion at local level. 3. 2. 1. The social economy According to the EU Social Business Initiative,

the social economy employs over 11 million people in the EU, accounting for 6%of total employment.

The social economy can clearly play a role in regional development. For instance, the Emilia romagna region has published a study on the importance of the social economy 73 Jane Jenson

and Dennis Harrisson in Social innovation research in the European union Approaches, findings and future directions-Policy Review http://ec. europa. eu/research/social-sciences/pdf/social innovation. pdf. 74 Its first results were presented

Its main conclusions are that public policies are the fruit of the combined contribution of public authorities and social economy organisations in the provision of public utility services, in

and deliver services in new and additional fields. In so doing, new forms of cooperation are established with civil society and stakeholders.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supports the development of social enterprises as it does for other types of businesses.

Financial support can be delivered directly to individual companies, through social enterprise intermediaries, such as social enterprise or cooperative development agencies,

and through financial institutions. There are increasing numbers of financial institutions that specialise in investing in social enterprises and many of the new ethical banks specialise in this type of investment.

The European Social Fund (ESF) also supports social enterprises. Firstly, it can strengthen administrative capacities and support structures

which promote social enterprises. This can be carried out in particular through education and training, for example, through the integration of social entrepreneurship in the curricula of specific vocations,

or the provision of training improving the business skills of social entrepreneurs. Networking and the development of partnerships

as well as the setting up of business development services for social enterprises can be supported too. Secondly, the ESF can mobilise extra funds targeted at the development of the social economy and the promotion of social entrepreneurship and easily accessible for social enterprises.

The social economy has different traditions in different parts and Member States of Europe. Some countries, like France, have a strong tradition of‘économie sociale et solidaire'.

'They are gearing up with social innovation in its‘newer'meaning and initiatives are linked sprouting,

often with the Structural Funds. For example, Avise75 has launched a call for proposals with the aim to accelerate social innovation in the social economy,

and thus help to find new answers to unmet needs in fields like employment, housing, ageing, childcare, etc.

Market access for social enterprises is restricted still (even if the provisions of the new directives on public procurement76 adopted by the European parliament

and the Council in early 2014 will noticeably improve the context). Sometimes they are unable to compete for public tenders against other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) because of interpretations of national rules.

Member States and Managing Authorities and other public contracting bodies can use the purchasing power of large and small ERDF projects to stimulate social innovation in employment and inclusion of marginalised groups.

The example below from the City of Nantes illustrates how a procurement framework has opened a space for social enterprises to work directly with the private sector in helping disadvantaged people into employment.

They form the bottom of the enterprise pyramid and are the seeds from which most SMES and even large companies grow.

133 enterprises were mobilised through these works; 75%of beneficiaries were accompanied by a local insertion company (a type of training and employment social enterprise.

40 S O C i a L I N N O V A t I O N A d E C a D E O F C

the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Investment Fund (it is financed out of the ERDF);

yy The EU PROGRESS Microfinance facility a fund managed by the European Investment Fund with a total fund of EUR 160 million.

/The Kiút Programme, self employment and microcredit for Roma in Hungary Kiút aims to support Roma to work in the formal economy by starting up a business.

2. 3. Incubation The world of social innovation has a number of incubators and centres

Workplace innovation concerns not only the private sector but also large parts of the social economy such as charities and foundations as well as the public sector. Celebrated examples include Google,

A Social Innovation Park in the Basque country Denokinn brings together social enterprises, public authorities and the private sector to scale up successful innovations after they have been piloted.

which the cars could be put together in work inclusion social enterprises by those excluded from the labour market.

'Results-based entrepreneurship in The netherlands Results-based entrepreneurship (RBE) aims at stimulating technological and social innovation within SMES.

Advisers work with management and staff combining strategic advice with social innovation (improving communication, raising personnel involvement, etc.

The improved teamwork promotes a collective ambition for the company's success encouraging new ideas, products and services.

institutions, economy, education, culture. Portugal has to restore economic growth, employment, and make long-term structural reforms at all levels,

but especially at institutional and economic levels (public sector, public services, competition, etc.).To help address this challenge,

and even though its action is limited to Lisbon, the SCML opens up to the world, collects best practices

an innovative way to address senior and junior unemployment through intergenerational entrepreneurship. The BIS also promotes social business by bringing together people who have interests in sustainable business.

and a creativity competition was held in about 250 schools. A social investment fund is being launched,

which is necessary and the main current concern for the BIS. A key obstacle is the lack of Portuguese legislation in this area so far,

since test persons were still able to listen to the environment parallel to receiving instructions via their fingers,

From 2008 the social enterprise I-Cane Social Technology BV continued the work of the I-Cane foundation.

but is unattractive for those who seek a quick return on investment. Via support from the Social Economy network in The netherlands, Belgium and Germany,

the funds were raised to meet the matching requirements of EU ERDF (OP Zuid) and national grant arrangements.

close user interaction and cooperation between social enterprises and knowledge institutes can deliver world-class break out solutions.

cities in Europe have poor communities living in difficult environments. Over the past 20 years

The centres responded to a number of challenges identified by migrant clients by providing various immigration-related services in one space,

who play a central role in service provision because of cultural and linguistic proximity to the service-users and facilitate interaction between state services

and retail companies involved as well as foundations, welfare organisations and other stakeholders. The neighbourhood management offices work on a wide range of tasks

setting up communication structures; informing the population and administration; organising offers of cultural activities; promoting the local economy;

forming a link between the neighbourhood, city and other levels of decision-making; and developing projects.

Their unique strength is that they will address weaknesses in the European research and innovation system (notably, under-investment,

and services, responding to the ageing challenge at both EU and global level, thus creating new opportunities for businesses.

This is to be realised in the three areas of prevention and health promotion, care and cure,

which has used this fund to co-finance a living lab focused on health and welfare services.

The new cooperation Model improves business opportunities for companies and attracts new companies to the area.

The Living Lab on Wellbeing Services and Technology, a social innovation that produces user-driven innovations This Living Lab was a finalist of the Regiostars 2013 competition.

It is an innovation platform that enables a new way of producing services for elderly people in a functional Public-Private-People partnership.

Users participate actively in product development service design and usability testing processes. The testing of welfare services and technologies takes place in real life contexts, in elderly people's homes and service homes.

The new collaborative structure consists of different stakeholders such as municipalities, suppliers, citizens, the third sector, universities, regional developers, specialists, financiers and regional, national and international networks.

The created concept has increased trust between the actors. 46 S O C i a L I N N O V A t

I O N A d E C a D E O F C H A n G E s 3. 3. 5. Social innovation and the environment

as well as declines in biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services, for example, flood protection through wetlands. Although these drivers are environmental,

Some examples of forms of environmental social innovation include wood recycling social enterprises organic gardening cooperatives, low-impact housing developments, farmers'markets, car-sharing schemes, renewable energy cooperatives and community composting schemes. 83 In some sectors social innovation

The SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 project85 was a European social platform that invited a range of stakeholders to participate in the development of a vision for sustainable lifestyles by 2050.

As such, it suggested that social innovations should be given the opportunity to test small-scale initiatives, which could be scaled up into large-scale sustainable solutions

and ensure implementation. 82 cf. http://ec. europa. eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/IR10. pdf. 83 cf.

Most of them consider social innovation to be linked to the social economy and/or work organisation,

It includes the rectors of the three universities, the chief executive of the cooperative group Mondragon, representatives from three ministries as well as chief executives from leading enterprises in the region.

It is also exploring strategies to support the creation of new social firms (work integration social enterprises.

Ageing and new in-house services to help people to live in at home as they get older with a good quality of life and services.

Providing opportunities for societal actors businesses and policymakers to leave their own‘comfort zone'and experiment and test new solutions in collaborative, open-sourced platforms.

such as the health sector, to change environments into those facilitating more active and healthy lifestyles. 48 S O C i a L I N N O V A t

and services established in the postwar welfare traditions or the more recent managerial culture of public and private services are the following:

investing in capabilities rather than spotting deficits; preference for open approaches, avoiding targeting with stigmatising effects;

. 4. Social entrepreneurship to revive the social economy Beyond the priority measures in its short-term action plan,

the Social Business Initiative (SBI) has engendered powerful and sustained momentum for social entrepreneurship. One of the most iconic stages of this phenomenon was unprecedented an event held jointly by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC

More than 2000 social entrepreneurs and supporters representing the rich diversity of the social economy came together to affirm that social enterprises must play a bigger role in the future of Europe

88 http://ec. europa. eu/internal market/conferences/2014/0116-social-entrepreneurs/index en. htm.‘A call to action to realise the potential of social enterprise Governments

and public bodies have started to recognise the power of social entrepreneurship. Steps are being taken in many Member States

and regions to encourage the growth of social enterprises. At EU level, the SBI has made a positive start in promoting ecosystems for social enterprises

but we must not lose momentum. Therefore, 1. The EU must follow through on all the actions in the SBI.

and deliver on the actions suggested in Strasbourg. 3. There must be a stronger engagement at EU, national, regional and local levels with the social enterprise community in the co-creation of new policies to support social enterprise,

suited to the local context. 4. The Commission must ensure that its commitment to create an ecosystem for social enterprise is mainstreamed in its policies. 5. In partnership with the social enterprise sector,

Member States, regional and local authorities must fully support the growth of social enterprises and help them build capacity.

For example through legal frameworks, access to finance, business start-up and development support, training and education and public procurement. 6. The European institutions and Member States should reinforce the role of social enterprises

notably where the social economy is developed less. 7. The Commission, the Member States and regions must boost cooperation between social enterprises across borders and boundaries,

to share knowledge and practices. Similarly, all public authorities should cooperate better between themselves and enhance their capacity to support social enterprise growth. 8. Public

and private players must develop a full range of suitable financial instruments and intermediaries that support social enterprises throughout their lifecycle. 9. Social enterprise still needs further research and national statistical collection for a better understanding, recognition and visibility of the sector, both among policymakers and the general public. 10.

In this new Europe, all players need to look at growth and value creation from a wider perspective,

and is involved actively in social entrepreneurship through a substantial number of opinions and the Social Enterprise Project.

Nine EESC members are involved directly in Make it happen through actions that involve strengthened cooperation with social enterprise supporters, the participation of the project group members in European events,

and the consultation and involvement of various social economy stakeholders and supporters of social enterprise.

the EESC has called for a more supportive environment for social enterprises and for their better integration into all EU policies.

The main actions points guiding the Social Enterprise Project are therefore as follows: 1. Co-creation of new policies to support social enterprise 2. Partnership to support social enterprises 3. Development of a second phase of the SBI.

Following an ongoing local strategy, the Social Enterprise Project is also taking part in local events spread around Europe to conduct fact-findings missions,

collect best practices and investigate policy ideas and recommendations for the EU institutions. 4. Conclusion:

responding to social demands, societal challenges or engaging systemic change. Going systematically through the barriers identified then,

Eusef, Easi, public procurement, crowdfunding. Progress is being made through innovative financial schemes, the interest of a large community of financial actors and a wide-ranging and active debate (within GECES, G8, etc.

on the establishment of a methodology to measure the impact of social enterprises on the creation of socioeconomic benefits and their benefit for the community;

and the harnessing of contributions to expansion capital from a variety of sources. The Social Business Initiative has addressed also the question of the status of social enterprises (mapping)

and the idea that innovations have‘social'roots is progressing among mainstream innovation corporations and public and private stakeholders.

This was particularly clear during the annual EU Innovation Convention 2014.90 As a result, the EU landscape for social innovation is fragmented less today;

European population ageing will have direct consequences for the working population and social welfare systems, health services and pensions in terms of demand and expenditure.

while offering opportunities for business to thrive: Europe's economy is expected to continue its decline,

and policymakers should focus on a‘new growth paradigm'centred on society, not growth. Instead of focusing efforts on creating wealth,

Innovation will continue to depend on R&d investment, which should continue to increase in advanced economies

and to further develop in China. In Europe, however, R&d expenses will decrease notably because of the increase in China,

I O N A d E C a D E O F C H A n G E s 2020 Strategy should aim to invest in human capital

Aside from fixing the economy, the report argues that the real challenge for European policymakers will be to break the trend of rising poverty risks,

increasing income inequality and longterm unemployment without relying on economic growth as a panacea. Investing in health and education, preferably as early as possible (e g. through early childhood education and care interventions) will help reduce costs in the long term,

Similarly, more transparency in decision-making processes and structural/institutional reforms that recognise the emergence of new actors/stakeholders on the scene (NGOS, civil society, business associations, etc.

and new forms of communication will be necessary. What will social enterprise look like in Europe by 2020?

The second of the aforementioned studies is The british Council's‘think piece, '93 commissioned to contribute to the previously mentioned Strasbourg event.

It provides a basis for discussing what will shape social innovation and the growth of social enterprises in the near future.

How will social enterprise respond to economic conditions, social and environmental challenges, government policies, technology and investment over the next years?

Social enterprises are on the rise throughout the EU, with governments and investors increasingly recognising the sector as a valid alternative to both private and public sector business.

By 2020, associations and charities will be part of the‘social enterprise spectrum, 'generating most of their income through trading activities.

Enterprises from the private sector will have to demonstrate their credentials, and could be better at this than traditional social enterprises.

Public, private and social economy organisations will be encouraged by investors, funders, and governments to produce social value results in the long 93 cf.

Mark Richardson Richard Catherall What will social enterprise look like in Europe by 2020? British Council, January 2014. http://www. britishcouncil. org/sites/britishcouncil. uk2/files/what will social enterprise look like in europe by 2020 0. pdf. P A r T I s o C i a

L I N N O V A t I O N, A n E w P A t H 55 term.

environmental and social issues) will become mainstream in the social economy. From grants to investment:

one of the most important drivers will be the development of the social finance sector. The traditional model of foundations will become outdated

since more and more enterprises will try to maximise their social impact while delivering a financial return.

Hybrid models of social investment (Social Investment Bonds, Social Impact Bonds) will emphasise new tools(‘investment readiness,

pressure on investors to consider social impact in investments and growing involvement of social enterprises on financial services delivery.

new national and EU funding priorities could exclude innovative social investments; innovative social enterprises will have to make an international impact thanks to social franchising.

Complex networks: social enterprises will be concerned more with the importance of their impact (through changing government practices and business, through developing effective solutions that work.

This consciousness will result in highly networked micro-social enterprises. Social entrepreneurs will be connected with micro-social structures and work with public, charitable,

academic and profit-oriented sectors. Thus, this collaborative approach (crowdsourcing, funding, etc. will be an interesting alternative to traditional political investment.

Indeed, effective social enterprises will be considered as models and will spread more rapidly than classical mechanisms (e g.,

, social franchising. And European funding will encourage this kind of collaboration across international boundaries. The way forward The European union is at a decisive moment in its history in terms of the policies it intends to take tomorrow

the European commission should keep improving synergies between its different services. Focus on knowledge Improvements in recent years to impact measurement

Finally, the growing role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in social innovation should be incorporated better in the way we understand

Support, encourage and improve the business environment The Single Market Act (I & II) and the Social Business Initiative have made already many improvements for European businesses that want to promote

What is also at stake is the emergence of a different conception of the economy,

a shared economy that is not focused exclusively on growth. yy Finally, empowering the citizen remains at the very heart of social innovation issues.

This section is the result of close cooperation among all the European commission services involved in integrating the social innovation dimension in the policies for

refocused political attention on an environmentally and socially sustainable economy and changes inherent to the digital age.

The Social Business Initiative and The Employment and Social Investment packages, which frame and fund a new approach to social policies.

the removal of many obstacles to competition and job creation. These efforts are combined and coordinated in order to make the desired impact;

At the heart of these, the European Semester95 is a yearly cycle of economic policy coordination involving EU-level policy guidance by the European commission

and budgets, ensuring de facto a better coordination of national efforts to overcome the crisis. It is worth noting that responses to the crisis had prompted the Member States to seriously tighten their economic policy coordination.

The Single Market Act and the Social Business Initiative are designed to address the social economy,

whereas the Social Investment Package (SIP) brings fresh impetus to social policy. 1. 1. Europe 2020 flagship initiatives96 The Europe 2020 Strategy has identified new drivers to boost growth and jobs in seven

which aim to make the EU economy more efficient (a resource-efficient Europe, an industrial policy for the globalisation era), foster innovation (a Digital Agenda for Europe, Innovation Union) and fight unemployment and exclusion

and participation) and social issues need innovative solutions (innovation is an effective way to address evolving social issues and making the most of our human capital).

which supports the shift towards a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy, provides a long-term framework for embedding the smarter use of resources as a principle to take into account in the design of economic and social policies.

A major societal challenge is the transformation of the European energy system into an almost CO2-emission free economy(-80/95),

which includes four major roadmaps (moving to a competitive low-carbon economy, a Single European transport area and a resource-efficient transport system,

and the energy and resource-efficient Europe roadmaps) 97 and a recent Communication A policy framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030.98 The relevant issues for social innovation in the implementation

of this flagship initiative are first its reliance on the cooperation of stakeholders, starting with consumers,

workers and consumers to fully exploit the benefits that an economy can generate. Mutual societies, cooperatives, third-sector organisations in general and social business are an integral part of this wider economy and,

while this initiative does not explicitly mention social innovation or flag it up as a priority,

it entails crucial elements to create a better regulatory and financial environment for the development of social innovation. 97 COM (2011) 112,144, 885,571, 244.98 COM (2014) 15.62 S O C i a

as well as standard setting, streamlining legislation, the Communication on encouraging entrepreneurship throughout the EU100 or the COSME (Competitiveness and SMES) programme, 101

which has a direct or indirect impact on organisations in the social economy which may be prime movers on social innovation.

and in particular for social policy experimentations. 103 It is important to remember that Europe's economy represents 500 million people,

and global competition in order to unleash digital potential and spread the digital culture across the EU. While not explicitly making a case for social innovation in its seven priority areas and 101 proposals,

more secure (regulatory environment, protection of property) and knowledge-based (digital skills and jobs) digital environment.

and commitment of various Commission services around a common agenda and contributed to a collaborative approach

improving the regulatory environment, promoting digital skills and jobs and ensuring security and the protection of property.

105 It is a comprehensive package of actions aimed at achieving an innovation-friendly environment within the EU. Innovation is taken in its widest meaning:‘

‘our future standard of living depends on our ability to drive innovation in products, services, business and social processes and models'.

the role of the third sector in socioeconomic development and social entrepreneurship; and yy the launch of a pilot action on networks of incubators for social innovation, to assess,

support and scale up social innovations across Europe. In addition, commitment 27 of the Innovation Union flagship initiative,

Many have launched e-government strategies aimed at moving existing services online and beyond that to develop new internet-enabled services.

At EU level it is important to develop a better understanding of public sector innovation, to give visibility to successful initiatives,

and benchmark progress. Much will depend on creating a critical mass of public sector leaders who have the skills to manage innovation.

as well as opportunities to exchange good practice. This commitment has been translated into the following actions: yy piloting a European Public sector Innovation Scoreboard as a basis for further work to benchmark public sector innovation

and explore with Member States whether it is appropriate to bring together new learning experiences and networks for public sector leaders at European level;

and yy involving the social partners in examining how the knowledge economy can be spread to all occupational levels

the five European Innovation Partnerships, established as socially innovative processes to foster the cooperation of all the stakeholders on a particular issue at different levels of government. 107 1. 1. 5. Youth

and employment and creating bridges between these issues and the stakeholders. This initiative, through its focus on young people,

opportunities to learn later in life and early school leavers have focused a lot of attention and youth unemployment is also being tackled through more workplace and entrepreneurial learning experiences and more possibilities for self employment.

The attraction of young people to meaningful employment makes a case for developing a sustainable framework for social enterprises and social innovation initiatives.

Moreover, youth creativity is seen now as a crucial source of competitiveness in the fastest growing innovative sector of the global economy.

All these elements can apply to the development of social entrepreneurship and jobs in the social economy as well as in other purely commercial sectors.

This aspect has been developed in the Communication Rethinking Education-Investing in skills for better socioeconomic outcomes,

of non-formal and informal learning110 also makes an essential contribution to the Europe 2020 Strategy goals by increasing the opportunities for skills acquired outside formal education

and facilitate a partnership approach between stakeholders (civil society, social partners, Member States). This flagship initiative identified commitments for the Commission in five areas, two of which relate very directly to social innovation:‘

and reforms'by supporting experimentation and‘promoting a partnership approach to the social economy'to harness its potential. 111 110 http://eur-lex. europa. eu/Lexuriserv/Lexuriserv. do?

Communication and awareness raising about ongoing social innovation A high-level steering committee 'which will provide advice and guidance on developing actions.

U P O L I C i e S 67 Promoting a partnership approach to the social economy Actions under the European Platform against Poverty for Working in partnership

and harnessing the potential of social economy are: ll Measures to improve the quality of the legal structures relating to foundations,

the Social Investment Package112 and a distinctive initiative carried out yearly: the Poverty Convention. 1. 2. Consolidating the Single Market:

Single Market Acts and the Social Business Initiative The social economy is addressed in the Innovation Union flagship initiative, 113 in the Single Market Act I114 and II, 115 in the Employment

which encourage Member States to boost labour demand and job creation through promoting and supporting self employment, social enterprises and business start-ups.

The Single Market Act I, adopted in April 2011, defined twelve projects to facilitate the deepening of the Single Market to re-launch Europe's growth and social progress by breaking down hurdles to free circulation for the benefit of businesses,

as well as social entrepreneurship. As a response to the wide interest shown in the consultation process for the Single Market Act I,

the eighth priority recognises the need to encourage‘new emerging business models, in which social, ethical or environmental objectives are pursued alongside financial profit'.‘

'‘Social entrepreneurship is deemed to represent a real source of jobs and greater social inclusion'.'The two most needed assets since Europe is fighting the crisis. One of the issues where EU action can bring added value is, in particular,

to help the development of ethical investment funds by taking advantage of the tremendous financial leverage of the European asset management industry,

which represented EUR 7. 000 billion in 2009.112 See 1. 4. 113 Communication Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative Innovation Union-COM (2010) 546,6. 10.2010.114

Communication Single Market Act: Twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence: Working together to create new growth-COM (2011) 206/4, 13.4.2011.115 Communication Single Market Act II Together for new growth-COM (2012) 573,3. 10.2012.116 Communication

Towards a job-rich recovery-COM (2012) 173,18. 4. 2012.117 Communication Social Business Initiative-COM (2011) 682 25.10.2011.68 S O C i a L

I N N O V A t I O N A d E C a D E O F C H A n G E s The Single Market Act

I therefore announced a Communication, the Social Business Initiative (SBI), 118 which was adopted by the Commission on 25 october 2011.

The SBI aims to create a favourable environment for the development of social business in Europe,

and of the social economy at large. Social enterprises seek to serve the community's interest (social, societal,

environmental objectives) rather than profit maximisation (see box). They are often innovative, through the goods or services they offer,

and through the organisation or production methods they use. They often employ society's most vulnerable members (socially excluded persons.

yy Improve their visibility (mapping of social enterprises, database of labels, support for local and national authorities to build integrated strategies for social enterprises, information and exchange platform.

yy Create a simplified regulatory environment (including a proposal for a European Foundation Statute, revision of the public procurement rules

and state aid measures for social and local services). Since then, a lot has been achieved. The EU institutions have delivered in all three areas.

In the Single Market Act II, the Commission also committed to developing a methodology to measure the socioeconomic benefits created by social enterprises. 118 Communication Social Business Initiative-COM (2011) 682,25. 10.2011.119 More information

. htm. Definition of social enterprise in the SBI The Commission uses the term‘social enterprise'to cover the following types of business:

Those where profits are mainly invested with a view to achieving this social objective, and where the method of organisation or ownership system reflects their mission,

Businesses providing social services and/or goods and services to vulnerable persons (access to housing, healthcare, assistance for elderly or disabled persons, inclusion of vulnerable groups, child care, access to employment

and/or Businesses with a method of production of goods or services with a social objective (social and professional integration via access to employment for disadvantaged people in particular due to insufficient qualifications or social or professional problems

leading to exclusion and marginalisation) but whose activity may be outside the realm of the provision of social goods or services.

on 16 and 17 january 2014 the European commission, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the City of Strasbourg hosted a large European interactive event on social entrepreneurship and the social economy121

and experts to implement a set of concrete and tangible actions stemming from the declaration. 1. 3. The environment

Central government purchasing under the Public Procurement Directive should (with exceptions) be limited to products, services and buildings with high energy efficiency performance.

Enterprises must also play their part in improving energy efficiency with an energy audit every four years (energy audits are not compulsory for SMES.

along with a network tariffs design that encourages offering consumers services that allow them to save energy

(e g. by way of demand response) and from emerging technologies (such as home automation), and reduce the costs of the operation

Enabling both energy and ICT/telecom companies to compete in providing energy-related services will ensure that innovative services (such as effective support of demand response) will be available to consumers,

and do not hamper demand response. In Horizon 2020 the smart grids research project and projects addressing nontechnical barriers to energy efficiency will continue establishing a dynamic market of energy services. c. The emergence of the energy-literate prosumer The EU

's ambitious targets and research support schemes for renewable sources of energy, along with policies to support Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the Member States,

the Social Investment Package (SIP) The adoption by the Commission, in February 2013, of a new approach to social policy, formalised in the SIP, marks another turning point for the recognition of the value and support for social innovation

The SIP provides a strategic social and health investment approach to the modernisation of these policies.

focusing on simple, targeted and conditional social investment and a systematic approach to the role of social protection throughout the different stages of life.

and Investment funds (in particular the ESF) can make to social investment in the next financing period. 127 126 4 491 signatories from regions,

to design social policies around strategic social investment; to address gender challenges in a more coherent manner,

or on the reorganisation of last support mechanisms and services to avoid poverty and exclusion,

a social investment approach will be monitored during the semester and this would include how the Member State has benefited from social innovation in this regard.

The SIP Communication urges Member States to pursue active and enabling policies oriented towards social investment

using the opportunities of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing; yy ensure adequate and predictable financial support for these strategies,

yy fully take advantage of funding opportunities provided by the ESF and ERDF, as well as other European Structural and Investment funds (ESIF) and the new Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (Easi), to test new approaches to social policies (such as ICT-enabled innovation)

and develop innovative ways of securing additional private financing for social investment. P A r T I I M A i N d E V E L O P m E N t S i N e U P O L

How to better confront bottlenecks on social innovation in implementing the SIP (consolidation of partnerships, improving sustainability of financing, mainstreaming ICT's potential, improved evaluation of social policy reforms supporting investment.

in order to reduce differences in investment in social policies. The findings of this conference provided an input for the meeting of the Employment, Social policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO)

which adopted a specific set of conclusions on the SIP‘Towards social investment for growth and cohesion'.

which a specific guide has been disseminated to national stakeholders. The framework also requires the tested approaches to be scaled up.

and makes the case for social innovation through investment under the Structural Funds. Furthermore, the Ad hoc Group on Trans-nationality and Social Innovation offers a forum for discussion between the ESF managing authorities and the Commission.

and yy funding opportunities through PROGRESS/Easi (cf. 2. 3) and ESIF (i) to test new approaches to social policies

and develop innovative ways of securing additional private financing for social investment, (iii) to facilitate the exchange of experiences

such as Social Impact Bonds (SIBS) and (iv) to provide support services for social policy experimentation in the EU (communication, training tools,

provisions concerning the Investment for growth and jobs goal and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006;

The commitment ceiling amounts to 1. 00%of EU Gross National income (GNI) compared to 1. 12%for the 2007-13 MFF.

and jobs by enhancing the role of smart solutions and innovations in all sectors, for a greener agriculture, a more socially cohesive environment-conscious and internationally prominent Europe.

and the real economy. It is the EU's principle investment tool for delivering the Europe 2020 goals:

creating growth and jobs, tackling climate change and energy dependence, and reducing poverty and social exclusion.

which the public authorities can organise support for social innovation in the programming of their investments.

and support. 2. 1. 1. European Social Fund Taking into account the financial and economic crisis

which has accentuated the gap between the important long-term returns on human capital and social investments on the one hand and the necessity of keeping public budgets in balance on the other hand,

the new generation of ESF funds will support the implementation of the policy orientations set out in the Social Investment Package Communication,

129 including through social innovation, the social economy and social entrepreneurship. With a view to that challenge

the Social Investment Package (SIP) has encouraged Member States to use European funding, most notably the European Social Fund (ESF), more extensively,

and the Commission advocates allocating at least 25%of cohesion policy resources to the ESF to support human capital investment and social reform.

and services that need to be brought to the market to serve the fast-developing needs of society.

The first will consist in developing new products and services, the second in strengthening the use of existing applications in a number of relevant settings, such as ehealth, elearning and einclusion.

The ERDF can also contribute to the development of social enterprises by developing new business models and innovative solutions to address societal challenges.

or urban development focus or where the actions aim to develop new business models for social enterprises.

In addition to innovations to develop new products, services or ways of working, this can include finance for business advice and guidance (business planning, coaching and mentoring, support with marketing) as well as for premises for start-up centres, incubators and single enterprise business premises.

The bulk of ERDF finance is allocated either at national or regional level. There are also other territorial levels at

For instance, support for social issues can be programmed together with other investment priorities at the level of functional regions or at the urban level.

The new rural development regulation provides enhanced opportunities to support innovation and has a great potential to boost social innovation.

Under this priority, interventions will concentrate on fostering innovation, cooperation and the development of the knowledge-based economy in rural areas.

Other relevant measures for innovation include knowledge transfer and information actions, advisory activities, farm management and farm relief services

investments in physical assets (e g. investments in new technology to improve the farm's efficiency),

including those on the margins of economic growth. LEADER also encourages interregional and cross-border cooperation and joint action between rural areas.

in order to increase the involvement of stakeholders, improve the implementation of the programmes and foster innovation.

This is translated into support for projects that demonstrate the economic/commercial potential of new technologies, pilots of new services with end users,

and services that improve people's daily lives and create business opportunities. The take-up of social innovation in Horizon 2020 is across all areas where appropriate.

Specific actions supporting social innovation are included also under the‘new forms of innovation'call under Societal challenge 6:

evaluation in final stages) and another five projects on social policy experimentation supporting social investment were funded under the 2013 call (budget of EUR 4. 2 million).

or are becoming relevant to shaping social policies and services. For instance, the empirical knowledge built by projects such as HOPE in stations,

aimed to strengthen the integration of services delivered to homeless persons in and around train stations;‘‘Models of mentoring for inclusion and mentoring'(UK),

which promotes a peer mentoring model to support target groups in transition from a‘closed'community (e g. prison, addiction treatment centres, military service, mental health and rehabilitation services) to the open labour market;

and services at EU and national level since it offers effective solutions to tricky social problems.

Europe 2020 challenges and the implementation of the Social Investment Strategy. 133 See Annex IV to the first BEPA report on social innovation.

Comparative studies show that Housing First is more effective than traditional services and can also be more cost-effective:

achieving better outcomes for the investment made and in some cases generating cost offsets and even savings.

evaluation, and larger-scale implementation of new social policy initiatives, in line with the Social Investment Package (SIP;

explore the role of public-private partnerships in welfare reforms and investment in human capital;

For example, one-stop-shop approaches to services design, or home-based strategies for long-term care, independent living and active ageing.

social policy innovation is an essential element for structural reforms in the Member States, in line with the social investment approach.

Social services represent a smart and sustainable investment as they do not only assist people but also have a preventive,

Social services are fundamental for the social investment approach and for the social protection systems as they,

The SIP stresses in particular the critical role of high quality, integrated and personalised services in developing people's skills and capabilities,

in improving their opportunities and in helping them make the most of their potential throughout their life course.

Integrated services are likely to reduce the administrative burden of delivering support as multiple visits, duplication of services,

and health services continued to generate a third of the new jobs created in the EU between 2000 and 2011

Integrated services also facilitate information and knowledge sharing between professionals. Furthermore, an integrated approach would also better serve the citizens, especially the populations in need of priority services such as the homeless.

Developing innovative approaches in the provision of social services could also boost the EU's employment and job creation prospects.

The opportunities for job creation in the social services sector are important due to the development of new needs driven by the demographic changes, economic and social consequences of the crisis, growing inequalities, technological developments or changing

Services can be provided by public as well as private organisations, especially social enterprises and NGOS. Social enterprises and NGOS, generally strongly embedded in the local territories, offer specific services to local communities.

Other actors, such as the work integration social enterprises (WISE), have a double function of providing social services to the community and of integrating low-skilled workers into the labour market.

Building partnerships, especially at local level with these actors enhances the coherence of the social service delivery

and social entrepreneurship axis of the Employment and Social Innovation (Easi) represented the first EU-wide initiative specifically designed for this sector.

and the European Investment Bank (EIB) and operates as a guarantee instrument to microcredit organisations

yy explore the role of public-private partnerships in welfare reforms and investment in human capital;

the competitiveness of SMES135 COSME136 is the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMES) running from 2014 to 2020.

and by investing in funds that provide venture capital and mezzanine finance to expansion and growth-stage SMES;

yy improving access to markets, particularly inside the EU but also at global level, e g. via the Enterprise Europe Network137 (600 partner organisations in 54 countries;

and yy promoting entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture. The promotion of social innovation in this programme can be carried out in the four strands through financing,

This programme is also open to social entrepreneurs. 135 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/initiatives/cosme/index en. htm. 136 More information on http://ec. europa. eu

/enterprise/initiatives/cosme/index en. htm. 137 http://een. ec. europa. eu/.86 S O C i a L I N N O V A t

Erasmus+will provide opportunities for young Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad.

training and youth systems by testing the effectiveness of innovative measures and paving the way to their scalability through European Structural and Investment funds (ESIF).

It will also support innovative business models relying on digital technologies which contribute to empowering artists,

transnational exchanges of experience and know-how about new business models, peer-learning activities or testing of new and cross-sectoral business approaches to funding,

thus contributing to economic growth and job creation. In particular it will continue the exploration, made in a 2011 report by the European Expert Network on Culture,

of one form of social innovation crowdfunding looking at related concepts of social payments, social money and social banking.

This will, inter alia, inform the Commission's follow-up work to the Communication Unleashing the potential of Crowdfunding in the European Union141. 2. 4. 5. Innovation for a Sustainable Future The Eco-innovation Action Plan (Ecoap) The Eco

and uptake of innovations that benefit the environment and relieve pressure on increasingly scarce natural resources.

Ecoap also presents opportunities to create growth and jobs. Eco-innovation is essential for the transition to a resource-efficient circular economy.

It includes innovations in terms of products, technologies, business models but also social innovations. Ecoap targets those drivers of

and barriers to eco-innovation that fall outside the scope of more general policies such as the Europe 2020 Strategy for growth and jobs. 140 http://ec. europa. eu/culture/creative-europe

http://ec. europa. eu/environment/ecoap. 88 S O C i a L I N N O V A t I O N A d E

yy mobilising financial instruments and support services for SMES (Action 4; yy promoting international cooperation (Action 5;

social innovations as a concept to respond efficiently to pressing social demands, to address societal concerns,

Drawing from the inputs of the Commission's services the presentation adopted here reflects the four categories of issues that hamper the growth of social innovation in Europe:

pages 123-124) in terms of getting stakeholders to meet, debate and receive guidance. It will be clear

and creating an optimised regulatory environment. 90 S O C i a L I N N O V A t

the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the City of Strasbourg hosted a large interactive European event on social entrepreneurship and the social economy.

and defined the way forward for the social entrepreneurship sector in a final declaration (The Strasbourg Declaration) summarising the outcome of the discussions and making ten precise recommendations for the sustainable development of the social economy.

This declaration represents the views of stakeholders from the social enterprise sector. At the time of writing

and stakeholders together to network on regional policies issues, create partnerships and learn to work together.

Social innovations and social entrepreneurship feature either in specific workshops or as an issue in workshops on local development.

The 2014 edition of OPEN DAYS will be held under the slogan Growing together Smart investment for people.

with opportunities to look into new instruments such as Integrated Territorial Investments and Community-led Local Development, financial instruments, etc.

The event provided an opportunity for a detailed discussion on the contribution of social innovation to increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of social policies.

The outcome was used in the implementation of the Social Investment Package. 143 For a fully representative list of social innovation events

and full list of projects at http://ec. europa. eu/digital-agenda/en/collective-awareness-platforms) provide rich opportunities to share new insights and knowledge amongst academies

innovation (Brussels 19-20 may 2014) On 20 february 2013, in the Social Investment Package, the European commission drew attention to the

The conference was attended by over 300 participants from a large spectrum of public and private stakeholders (policymakers, NGOS, social entrepreneurs,

and social investment in implementing structural reforms at the national level and delivering on the Europe 2020 Strategy objectives.

In line with the Social Investment Package, social policy innovation must be embedded in policymaking and connected to social priorities.

and thus help to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of social protection systems and services to the benefit of citizens.

The annual Poverty Convention provides another opportunity to share social innovation solutions to challenge exclusion.

'while a fringe event was organised by social innovation stakeholders to discuss social innovation and the social economy as a solid response to the need for job creation.

cultural policymakers, stakeholders, artists, cultural professions and citizens meet at this forum in a variety of formats:

and more effective creative new ways to deliver services that are tailored to the increasing needs and demands of individuals.

New information and communication technologies are one way to help to achieve this; another is experimentation with new institutional models based on social innovation.

This is essential to boost the economy while safeguarding Europe's social model. In July 2013 the Bureau of European Policy Advisers held a high-level seminar on public sector innovation attended by the President of the European commission (cf. part I,

and estimated that the collective investment at EUR 5 billion over five years would be needed for the implementation of the recommendations, an investment

Also under Horizon 2020, a new prize for the European capital of Innovation will enhance the role of cities as ecosystems driving innovation.

pg=expert-groups. 148 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/public-sector-innovation/index en. htm#h2-1. http://ec

. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/public-sector-innovation/index en. htm 94 S O C i a L I N N O V A t

This guide provides examples of projects financed by the ERDF and ESF in the 2007-13 period and a step-by-step approach to the design and implementation of a favourable environment for fostering and up-scaling social innovation at local level.

They either mobilise the specific expertise of stakeholders in a focused way through expert groups and networks or else they adopt a wider as well as more experimental approach to using new participatory tools of a digital or other nature.

The European union offers a particularly rich and complex environment which gives an exemplary value to

sur l'Entrepreneuriat Social)- This multi-stakeholder group was set up for six years (2012-18) to advise

It is composed of 44 rigorously selected experts from various European stakeholders and representatives from all the Member States and EU Institutions, plus observers from other European countries.

and discussing issues related to the development of social entrepreneurship in the EU. Its work can be followed online151.

The Enterprise Policy Group bringing together decision-makers from Member States and the European commission on SME policy, industrial policy or competitiveness and innovation-related actions has touched upon social innovation on several occasions.

Citizens will identify barriers to growth, job creation and investment, and ultimately propose new policy or legislative approaches.

The Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs154 is a leading multi-stakeholder partnership launched in March 2013 to tackle the lack of ICT skills and the several hundred unfilled ICT-related vacancies.

'a. The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) was established as a pilot partnership between all the stakeholders concerned,

it is driven a stakeholder approach to research and innovation that aims to break down silos, bringing together all relevant actors across policies,

More than 3000 stakeholders who share the goal of improving people's health, delivering high quality and sustainable care to older people

and have developed Action Plans, in line with the Commission Communication of Febru P A r T I I M A i N d E V E L O P m E N t

Scaling up innovation and creating a critical mass for stakeholders has been a guiding principle of the EIP.

and demand side to facilitate the entire innovation process from research to market and large-scale deployment.

It has also put the issue of active and healthy ageing high on the agenda of the relevant public stakeholders (Ministries of Health

and aims to foster competitive and sustainable agriculture and forestry that works in harmony with the environment.

This objective and the general EIP conception were established in the Commission Communication of 29 february 2012

and innovations that can achieve more with less while respecting the environment. Social innovation stresses the need for social and political changes in the context of rural development and producer-consumer relationships.

It is designed to boost opportunities for innovation in the water sector to facilitate the development of innovative solutions

and approaches that contribute to economic growth, solve societal challenges, create jobs and enhance Europe's competitiveness.

as well as demand-side interventions (e g. standards, public procurement, regulatory measures). For this reason, the EIP brings together EU countries, companies,

This includes applied innovation, better planning, a more participatory approach, higher energy efficiency, better transport solutions, intelligent use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT),

and organisations to generate prosperity and harness opportunities together. The Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group has been developing

and methodologies to help achieve broader scale innovation that actively involves broad sets of stakeholders.

and experience into a holistic approach consisting in innovation experiments where new services, products and processes are designed

and tested through users A Living Lab is an open innovation ecosystem in a real-life setting where user-driven innovation is the co-creation process for new services, products and societal infrastructures.

anticipate possible challenges and opportunities, and generate ideas to inform policy thinking, in the first instance in 2014, around the renewal of the European parliament and the Commission.

and engaging a wider number of stakeholders in the co-creation of the futures that we all want,

At the end of the two-day event in Strasbourg, the Commissioner for internal market and services, Michel Barnier, made the following statement during the closing ceremony:‘

17 january 2014). 3. 1. 5. Create an optimised regulatory environment The third strand of action of the Social Business Initiative is to improve the situation on the ground for social enterprises.

to offer legal forms that can cater for the specific needs of social enterprises and improve the way public authorities take into account the needs of social enterprises,

namely through public procurement and state aid regulations. 3. 1. 5. 1. Simplification of the European Cooperative Regulation The Commission's policy concerning cooperatives is to guarantee that enterprises of this type,

independently of their size, can continue to operate in the market by preserving their social role, particular style of functioning and ethics.

The working group discusses the themes of enterprise education access to finance and business development support.

This will include, inter alia, expanding existing entrepreneurship education activities and developing new ones; taking advantage of innovative financing mechanisms and existing EU programmes such as COSME and Horizon 2020;

making better use of the Enterprise Europe Network; and sharing the best practices of successful cooperatives already operating in the Member States.

and focus their work on areas that are important for European citizens and the European economy, for instance, re-163 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/craft/social economy/doc

/coop-communication-en en. pdf. 164 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemdetail. cfm? item id=5876 to celebrate the UN 2012 International Year of Cooperatives in Brussels in April 2012 and in Nicosia in September 2012.165 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/sme

/files/sce final study part i. pdf. 166 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemdetail. cfm? item id=487.167 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/sme/public-consultation/past-consultations/index en. htm. 168 http://ec. europa. eu

/enterprise/policies/sme/files/smes/1 en act part1 v7 en. pdf and http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemdetail. cfm?

item id=3318.169 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/public-consultation-files/summary replies en. pdf http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise

/newsroom/cf/itemdetail. cfm? item id=5876.170 http://ec. europa. eu/internal market/company/societas-europeae/./102 S O C i a L I N N O V A t I O N A d E C a D E O F C

H A n G E s search, social and health services, culture or the environment. However, they often find it costly and difficult to operate outside national borders due to the diversity of national civil and tax laws.

This leads to uncertainty about legal and tax treatment abroad. In addition, they sometimes find it difficult to raise funds from foreign donors, to

The Commission services are currently in the process of producing all the documents required to move forward quickly with drafting the regulation and the directive,

3. 1. 5. 4. European Statute for other forms of social enterprises such as nonprofit enterprises Various stakeholders'organisations have requested the adoption of a new proposal for a European Association,

innovative and inclusive economy. yy As far as the award criteria are concerned, the focus is on the most economically advantageous tender.

services or supplies to be purchased such as the inclusion of vulnerable and disadvantaged people or the use of nontoxic substances. yy The concept of‘lifecycle costing

and costs imputed to environmental externalities (including the CO2 footprint) linked to the product, service or works during its/their lifecycle. yy To favour social inclusion and support social entrepreneurship,

should also benefit social businesses. yy In the framework of the new simplified regime applicable to social and health services,

all quality and continuity criteria they consider necessary for the services in question. Furthermore, Member States may also eliminate the price as sole award criterion for such services. 104 S O C i a L I N N O V A t I O N

A d E C a D E O F C H A n G E s yy Finally the adoption, for the first time,

and services. 3. 1. 5. 6. Increasing and including new aid categories in the revision of the General Block Exemption Regulation for state aid The new General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER),

Furthermore, since employees are long-term shareholders, broadening employee shareholding would also stabilise capital markets. ESO is of particular importance for SMES (financing and business succession.

Despite their positive effects, as acknowledged in numerous EU reports, opinions and recommendations, ESO schemes are used only extensively in a handful of Member States (such as the UK and France).

available to support the development of the social investment market and facilitate access to finance for social enterprises through quasi-bond instruments from 2014-20.

For the same period, the Structural Funds have been reformed to enable Member States to earmark Structural Funds to finance social enterprises. 3. 2. 2. Access to venture capital The European Venture capital Funds174

Small start-up businesses often have difficulty getting funding. This is an issue for the European economy as small businesses are among the most important drivers for growth and employment.

European Venture capital Funds (Euveca which along with Eusef175 became available on 22 july 2013. Euveca invest in unlisted companies with limited access to capital,

which employ fewer than 250 people and have an annual turnover of less than EUR 50 million

or are worth less than EUR 43 million. At least 70%of a Euveca must be invested in these companies

If they meet these criteria they can then market their Euveca to investors across the EU who are able to make an investment of at least EUR 100 000.3.2.3.

the European union Social Entrepreneurship Funds (Eusef) On 22 july 2013, a new European investment fund specifically designed to enable investment in social businesses became available.

The European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (Eusef) can be marketed to investors who are able to make a minimum investment of EUR 100 000 across the EU,

A t I O N A d E C a D E O F C H A n G E s goods and services to vulnerable,

and services that embodies its social objective; or provide financial support only to social businesses that are trying to achieve those ends.

one of their innovative features is that they can distribute profits to investors but only if the payment does not in any way undermine the primary objectives of the social businesses where the funds had been invested.

and are granted typically to micro and social economy enterprises or to others which are considered not bankable

The Progress Facility is being replaced as from 2014 by the microfinance and social entrepreneurship axis of the Easi programme176,

which will support the development of the social investment market, facilitate access to finance for social enterprises,

extend the support given to microcredit providers under the current European Progress Microfinance Facility and provide funding for the capacity-building of microfinance institutions.

and social entrepreneurship axis is around EUR 193 million for the 2014-20 period. This budget will be evenly spread between microfinance and social entrepreneurship,

with a minimum of 45%going to each. Crosscutting projects will account for up to 10%.%Alongside the main funds that support economic development across all EU countries, three financial initiatives have also been developed.

Three initiatives JASPER, JESSICA and JASMINE177 were developed in the 2007-13 programming period by the European commission, the European Investment Bank Group and other financial institutions.

The European microcredit facilities Initiative Meaning Initiator (s) Aim Budget JASPERS Joint Assistance in Supporting Projects in European Regions European commission, European Investment Bank

JESSICA Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas European commission, European Investment Bank, and the Council of europe Development Bank Supports sustainable urban development and regeneration through financial engineering mechanisms.

JASMINE Joint Action to Support Micro-finance Institutions in Europe European commission, European Investment Bank Seeks to improve access to finance for small business. € 200 million The JASMINE

Moreover, the evaluation demonstrates that the services of JASMINE are highly relevant for enhancing the performance, professionalism and capacity of the sector.

Finally, there is still a growing demand for JASMINE's technical assistance. One of the important contributions within the JASMINE initiative has been to develop a set of standards

and promoting good governance in this sector. b. European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision In close collaboration with many actors and stakeholders from the sector,

and the (heterogeneous) operating environment. It was deemed necessary to ensure more consistency and to recognise best practices in this emerging and growing sector.

and the technical assistance and business development services of JASMINE help (non-bank) microcredit institutions to provide small loans to those who lack access to traditional capital (like social entrepreneurs).

New ideas (products, services and models) to address pressing social demands can be financed better through these initiatives. 178 ICF CHK, Evaluation of the JASMINE Technical assistance Pilot Phase, Final Report, 14 november

The European commission's microcredit circuit. 3. 2. 5. Crowdfunding for social entrepreneurs The European commission recognises the potential in crowdfunding to help bridge the finance gap for projects such as social enterprises,

The European commission conducted a public consultation exercise on crowdfunding in late 2013 to explore the benefits

The consultation revealed that stakeholders believe that crowdfunding offers numerous important benefits to a wide range of actors

But stakeholders also identified certain challenges that needed to be addressed. These include a lack of awareness,

lack of information concerning the rules applicable to crowdfunding, potential risks, such as the risk of fraud or misleading advertising,

or investment risks related to financial-return crowdfunding, as well as the high cost of cross-border operation for crowdfunding platforms that host campaigns offering financial returns.

The European commission adopted a Communication Unleashing the potential of Crowdfunding in the European Union179 on 27 march 2014.

This Communication sets out the policy approach of the Commission to crowdfunding and a set of measures to promote the growth of this form of finance,

while addressing the above challenges. During the course of 2014, the Commission set up an expert group, the European Crowdfunding Stakeholder Forum,

in order to help it to raise awareness, promote education and training for users of crowdfunding, and assess the existing self-regulatory frameworks in terms of improving transparency and reducing the risks of fraud.

The Commission will also hold regulatory workshops with Member States to discuss any obstacles related to cross-border activities.

the work of various stakeholders and the regulatory workshops the state of EU and domestic regulatory frameworks applicable to crowdfunding,

Technical assistance Business Development Tools JASMINE European Code of Good conducts for Microcredit provision European Progress Microfinance Facility Microcredits institutions Entrepreneurship Social Innovation

the European Investment Fund (EIF), with the collaboration of private sector investors, launched the Social Impact Accelerator (SIA), a pilot initiative

which aims to address the growing need for availability of equity finance to support social enterprises.

The SIA operates as a fund of funds managed by European Investment Bank with funding from the EIB, the Crédit Coopératif and Deutsche bank.

It invests in social impact funds which strategically target social enterprises across Europe. Beyond simple financial return targets, these social impact funds seek to trigger positive societal change as part of their investment activity.

The SIA will also ensure that knowledge-sharing between private sector actors committed to social impact investing

in order to assess the volume of funds which are potentially available as a potential source of funding for social enterprises. 3. 2. 8. Best practice sharing between Member States regarding the use of capital accumulated in social enterprises

or appropriate to impose it on social enterprises. The locking of assets is a provision that exists in the legislation of some Member States,

which prevents the members of a social enterprise, whatever its business form, from distributing reserves and surpluses amongst themselves at the time of winding up and liquidation,

and used only to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. However, this rule is related to issues of ownership rights that exist in a number of Member States with respect to the assets of the legal entity.

i e. the conversion of a social enterprise into a company limited by shares, matched with the distribution to members of reserves accumulated over the years.

and protecting the mutual legal form and 180 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/mutuals/prospects mutuals fin en. pdf;

The synthesis report of the replies was published at http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/sme/promoting-entrepreneurship/files/mutual/mutual-sy-rep-11-10-13 en. pdf. 110 S

needs and contribution to the economy and wellbeing. While deeper and keener knowledge is addressed by research from a variety of angles181,

mapping the ground covered by the sector is a prerequisite for the development of capacity building tools like incubators,

and described below. 3. 3. 1. Recognising social innovators 3. 3. 1. 1. Mapping of the social enterprises sector, business models, economic weight, tax regimes, identification of best

yy to identify social enterprises; yy to specify the characteristics, business models and economic weight of social enterprises,

and assess barriers to starting, developing and expanding social enterprises; yy to map the legal frameworks and labels,

and identify legal/regulatory barriers; yy to map public policies and social investment markets that impact on the start, development and growth of social enterprises;

and yy to identify issues in the emerging ecosystems for social enterprises that are of relevance across the EU

and suitable and feasible actions to be carried out at EU level to enhance national and regional policies and actions towards social entrepreneurship.

This is the first time this research has been conducted at European level. It should provide a unique source of information for social innovators,

and certifications of social enterprises Key Action 6 of the SBI has to be implemented by the European commission after the completion of the‘Mapping of social enterprises'action.

On the new hand, labelling could be one efficient way to‘recognise'social enterprises throughout change without a uniform legal form.

The European Social Innovation Competition was launched on 1 october 2012 in memory of Diogo Vasconcelos182. In full complementarity with the Social Innovation Europe Platform, the Competition meets five objectives at the same time. yy It directly supports some projects with prize money,

mentoring support and networking/exposure opportunities. yy It enlarges the social innovation community and, by following up the projects selected throughout the Competition,

it provides concrete evidence that social innovation works. yy It creates greater awareness of the opportunities that social innovation can bring to develop new solutions to problems in Europe among politicians,

media, investors and EU citizens. yy It enhances transnational learning and cooperation to better value the societal potential in Europe for social innovation,

create synergies and attain critical mass. yy It generates, in itself, an innovative and open policymaking process at EU level, calling for ideas on a given social/societal issue in a crowdsourcing mode.

The first edition of the competition proved to be a success. Europeans were invited to develop ideas for creating new and better job opportunities.

and played a leading role in promoting new ideas, new collaborations and the concept of social innovation in Europe and EU policies. 183 More information on http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies

/innovation/policy/social-innovation/competition/index en. htm. 112 S O C i a L I N N O V A t

In addition to the three financial rewards for the winners, the competition also offers visibility, networking and mentoring for the 30 semifinalists.

The second edition of the European Social Innovation Competition was launched in Milan on 11 october 2013.

Like the first edition, the competition focused on the job challenge'.'This time, more than 1 200 ideas were received,

and a stronger mentoring component. 184 More information and the projects of the ten finalists of the 2014 Social innovation Competition can be found on europa. eu/rapid/press-release memo-14-287 en. doc.

The 2013 Social innovation competition winners receive their awards from European commission President Barroso. P A r T I I M A i N d E V E L O P m E N t S i N e U P O L

I C i e S 113 The Social Innovation Tournament The Social Innovation Tournament, established by the EIB Institute in 2012, encourages entrepreneurship and new thinking in order to tackle social challenges.

the environment and education through new systems, technologies, processes. The first two editions of the tournament attracted a lot of interest,

Projects were typically related to unemployment, marginalisation of disadvantaged groups, environment and access to affordable and good quality health and education.

or natural environment also compete for the Special Category Prize of EUR 25 000. Further awards include vouchers entitling a number of projects and their teams to benefit from subsequent coaching/mentoring services.

This initiative is open to European individuals or teams with not-for-profit and for-profit business models from (or residing in) the EU Member States,

candidate and potential candidate countries or the EFTA countries for projects to be implemented in one or more of these countries. 3. 3. 2. Networks 3. 3. 2. 1. Networks of Incubators for Social

Innovation As part of the Innovation Union flagship initiative's social innovation commitments, a pilot action on networks of incubators for social innovation supports two European networks

in order to assess, support and scale up social innovations all around Europe. For the purposes of this action, incubators include any organisation that acts as an incubator at local

or regional level, including universities and business networks. The two networks have a broad geographical coverage across the EU

from the local environments where they get started to their regions and other parts of Europe.

The TRANSITION185 and BENISI186 networks are two examples of such incubators. 3. 3. 2. 2. Social Innovation Europe (SIE) The platform187 was set up in 2011 as a pilot within the Social Innovation Initiative.

I O N A d E C a D E O F C H A n G E s The interactive online hub has acted as a communication channel connecting a diverse group of stakeholders,

There is an agreement between the different Commission's services to run the next phase under the new Financial Perspective 2014-20.

and researchers in providing evidence and methodologies that can support policymaking. 188 See the report on funding opportunities for social innovation (http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovation

the report on social innovation metrics (http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/files/social-innovation/strengthening-social-innovation en. pdf) and the report on systemic

innovation (http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/files/social-innovation/systemic-innovationreport en. pdf). Example of a social innovation research project to mitigate climate change A Decarbonisation Platform

distributed knowledge creation and data from real environments(‘Internet of things')in order to create new forms of social innovation.

reinforcing competition and economic interests (especially at industrial level), and stimulating collaboration among citizens and creating social value (also in relation to sustainability aspects).

two use cases will contrast the effectiveness of competition-based and cooperative approaches in a grassroots experiment to measure energy consumption (Energy Quest) and a large-scale awareness campaign (Earth Hour).

Analysing the results on the individual and collective level will provide actionable knowledge for a wide range of stakeholders.

Associate partners including the European Environment Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the World bank will provide a rich stream of input data

and yy demonstrating scalability, reusability of results and general applicability of the proposed solutions at local or regional level. 3. 3. 2. 4. Digital Social Platforms Digital social platforms (DSPS

They will be built with specific attention to the effective and large-scale involvement of stakeholders so far excluded from the debate on societal challenges.

Building on a growing social capital, the EIP's genuine focus is on long-term societal challenges related to an ageing population.

social inclusion and cohesion and puts into practice the‘partnership'principle (new administrative processes as well as the involvement of stakeholders,

‘an innovation that addresses a social demand (e g. care of the elderly) contributes to addressing a societal challenge (ageing society) and,

'Significant impact is expected from the transferability and scalability of the digital social platforms model, as well as of the services developed, to enlarged communities across borders. 3. 3. 2. 5. Workplace Innovation Network Workplace innovation is a change in structure, human resources management, internal decision-making, relationships

with clients or suppliers or work environment. It is a constant, reflexive process, grounded in continuing thinking, learning and improvements,

and involving employees and managers at all levels. Those innovations aim at improving staff motivation and working conditions, thereby enhancing labour productivity, organisational performance, innovation capability,

experience and learning resources amongst enterprises and other stakeholders. It is also a practical source of information about why

and how to implement workplace innovation in an organisation. 3. 3. 2. 6. Multi-stakeholder platform for corporate social responsibility In October 2011 the European commission published a Communication on Corporate Social Responsibility

Action 1 sets out to‘Create in 2013 multi-stakeholder CSR platforms in a number of relevant business sectors, for enterprises,

their workers and other stakeholders to make public commitments on the CSR issues relevant to each sector and jointly monitor progress'.

'In 2013 the Commission services launched a specific ICT multi-stakeholder platform called‘Collective Awareness Platforms for Social Innovation and Sustainability'(CAPS)

sustainable lifestyles and wellbeing, recycling and sustainable consumption, green economy, etc.).191 COM (2011) 681.

and enable European enterprises in the ICT sector across the EU to apply corporate social responsibility policies by taking a strategic corporate approach to cooperation in partnership with other relevant stakeholders (e g. civil society, academia

The platform will provide an opportunity for enterprises and other stakeholders to identify and discuss constructively the current

and future challenges to which ICT can help to respond. It shall be focused forward-looking and on identifying emerging global trends and their potential impact on the ICT sector and society at large.

It is necessary to expand participation to a wider range of stakeholders in order to have a better understanding of societal needs and objectives.

In this context, the platform aims to expand the outreach of the discussions to all relevant stakeholders. 3. 3. 2. 7. Policy innovation design The SEE platform:

whereas creative societies engage citizens. 192 http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/design-creativity/index en. htm. Innovation Matters to people facing

and on encouraging sectoral stakeholder participation. It is supported by a number of recent policy documents including the Communication Rethinking education:

investing in skills for better socioeconomic outcomes which focuses on delivering skills for employment, such as digital or entrepreneurial competences, increasing the efficiency and inclusiveness of education and training institutions.

Public consultations are underway to explore the stakeholders'views on a new initiative on a European Area of Skills and Qualifications,

and to foster collaboration among stakeholders; the Council recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning emphasises the role that non-formal learning plays in increasing the employability and social inclusion of young people;

the communication, the Council conclusions and upcoming European quality framework on Early childhood education and care to empower children from an early age to improve their chances in life;

or cluster serving the local economy and society. The social dimension of higher 193 BEPA report 2010, page 38.

The alliance mobilises a multitude of stakeholders to jointly strengthen the quality, supply and reputation of in-company training as part of vocational education.

By bringing together stakeholders such as social partners, chambers of commerce, industry and crafts, education and training providers, youth organisations and businesses under one umbrella, innovative partnerships are created,

Employment & Entrepreneurship; Voluntary activities; Participation; Social inclusion; Health & Wellbeing; Creativity & Culture; Youth and the World.

attention was given also to social entrepreneurship. 122 S O C i a L I N N O V A t

the Europe for Citizens programme provided opportunities for stakeholders to engage in participatory processes aimed at defining policies of relevance to them196.

and the use of renewable energy in everyday life, exchanging local experiences and defining common communication and participatory strategies.

and give them the opportunity to put their questions directly to European commission leaders. To organise them, the Commission works closely with its representations in the Member States.

which a communication is planned for February 2014. It will be accompanied by a policy report containing all the conclusions of the debate with the citizens.

fuelled in social media. yy The economic crisis in Europe. has done the European union enough to solve the crisis?

The economic crisis has led to profound changes in the economic, political and social situation in the EU and in its Member States.

the other institutions and local politicians listen to the concerns and expectations of citizens on the financial and economic crisis, on citizens'rights and on the future of the Union by 2020.

the European Voluntary Service as part of the Erasmus+programme is the EU scheme providing volunteering opportunities for young people in Europe and beyond.

and (potentially) to support networks of social innovation incubators. As a bottom-up, beneficiary-driven programme, it will depend a lot on the proposed projects. 3. 4. Research Research on social innovation has been supported for almost twenty years by the social science

and various stakeholders, including end-users, citizens'groups, employees and policymakers to suggest research agendas in a certain field,

New research projects resulting from the last call under FP7 of the SSH programme (2013) and starting in 2014 will address various aspects and dimensions of social innovation as a driving force for social change, social entrepreneurship,

In an effort to bring some of the results of these projects to the attention of policymakers, stakeholders and the broader public,

The MML invite multiple stakeholders to set up frameworks of collaboration and aim to affect the governance of research

integrating critical analysis of current and previous work with future-oriented methodologies, new actionable knowledge and continual stakeholder participation.

EFESEIIS-Enabling the flourishing and evolution of social entrepreneurship for innovative and inclusive societies. The project provides advice to stakeholders on how to foster Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation;

drafts an Evolutionary Theory of Social Entrepreneurship to explain the different evolutionary paths of Social Entrepreneurship in Europe

and how Social Entrepreneurship and institutions co-evolved over time; identifies the features of an enabling ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurship;

and identifies the New Generation of Social Entrepreneurs, its features, needs and constraints as well as their contribution to Social Innovation.

SEFORIS-Social Enterprise as Force for more Inclusive and Innovative Societies. The project seeks to understand the potential of social enterprise in the EU

and beyond to improve the social inclusiveness of society through greater stakeholder engagement, promotion of civic capitalism and changes to social service provision through a. investigation of key processes within social enterprises for delivering inclusion

and innovation, including organisation and governance, financing, innovation and behavioural change and b. investigation of formal and informal institutional context,

including political, cultural and economic environments and institutions directly and indirectly supporting social enterprises. Third Sector Impact-The Contribution of the Third Sector to Europe's Socioeconomic Development.

The project will create knowledge that will further advance the contributions that the third sector

and volunteering can make to the socioeconomic development of Europe. These unique‘renewable resources'for social and economic problem-solving and civic engagement in Europe are needed more than ever at this time of social and economic distress

2) persistent multi-stakeholder constellations;(3) the mobilisation of multiple resources. Against the update of structural data, the project will test these hypotheses on the qualitative impacts of the Third Sector in terms of capital building (e g. social networks,

This specifically concerns healthy ageing, in line with the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) regarding innovative products and services, healthcare reform and active ageing lifestyles,

Through 7p7 research, the environment theme has demonstrated also an interest in including social innovation in its agenda, especially in connection with sustainable development.

Lead by a charity organisation (NESTA), this study maps DSI stakeholders to visible activities in the EU Member States today.

and the creation of alliances amongst all actors engaged in the services delivery chain. The pilots listed below aim to demonstrate the viability and deployment capacity of the proposed solutions and services,

and are to be seen also in the context of social experimentation. Some of the projects'outcomes also have the potential to be mainstreamed through the support of ESF policies and instruments.

The underpinning rationale is to boost innovation in the healthcare marketplace encouraging start-up development and SMES investments in R&d.

It had been estimated that across Europe by 2010 around one-third of EU citizens were unlikely to be using e-Government services.

and placing greatest demand on public service resources, and the health and social sector in particular. In this context, effective, flexible and sustainable service models,

and redeploying best practice e-Government ICT solutions for flexible, personalised and multi-channel services;

and material flows through a community's economy provides a systemic reading of the present situation for goal and objective setting and development of indicators for sustainability.

yy involve local and regional stakeholders in the project from the beginning; yy support the implementation of EU policy on urban environment;

and yy illustrate the economic advantages of accounting for environmental issues on a routine basis in urban planning decisions-making processes.

Public service providers are key players in the non-monetary economy. Nonetheless they do not pay enough attention to the need to account for their services on the peer-usage base,

involve citizens and give evidence of their role. CROSS207 (CIP ICT PSP) seeks to exploit these opportunities for services and applications in the field of non-monetary economy,

where new needs and practices are emerging, and where a new sector of the digital Single Market has the potential for sustainable,

The project focuses on nurturing an innovation ecosystem that generates digital services and applications making use of information generated by users in the smart city environment.

Sample activity areas considered for piloting are: yy mutual service communities for assistance to elderly people;

and yy communities of volunteers assisting persons with disabilities. 207 http://www. crossproject. eu/tag/non-monetary-economy/.

They followed innovation management principles and phases of ideation, concept development, experimenting, prototyping, testing, implementing, and scaling is where we are currently and that is one of our future challenges. 136 S O C i a L I N N O V A t I O N A d E C a D

DG Human resources and DG Communication jointly hosted an Internal Communication & Staff Engagement seminar‘The Commission's vision, values and purposes'with 160 participants from all across the Commission.

Three Directors-General, 40 senior managers and representatives of 4 key networks (internal communication, external communication, strategic planning and programming, HR), came together around our shared purpose

Director-General for Communication, opened the day. If you want to communicate on the big challenges facing Europe,

In fact it makes sense to see policy work, communication, civil society dialogue and education as part of the move to create a better European reality.

Finally,(c) giving citizens the opportunity to TAKE PART and INTERACT with each other and with the European political actors:

and beyond Europe for Citizens Two consultations in 2010 and 2011 (each with 120 stakeholders) on the future Europe for Citizens Programme allowed the team in charge (in DG Communication) to collect the key elements of the next

A n N e X I 137 In 2011, DG Agriculture consulted 230 key stakeholders from across Europe on Monitoring & Evaluation for the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013.

network correspondents in the European commission's Representations and services and other institutions to share what they had learnt from the current generation of programmes

the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, DG Communication's Europe for Citizens team and the Anne Frank House held a conference on the Holocaust and Human rights Education in Amsterdam.

that there are agreed protocols and channels of communication with the Institutions, and agreed upon obligations on both sides.

In turn, this dialogue should be linked, where possible, to broader consultations of stakeholders. It is vital that citizens receive an explanation within a reasonable time

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