European Social Economy Regions

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1 European Social Economy Regions Karditsa, Greece, May 2018 Karel Vanderpoorten European Commission - DG GROW Unit Clusters, Social Economy and Entrepreneurship

2 Agenda 1. Social economy 2. Social Economy in the EU Policy 3. Social innovation & Smart Specialisation 4. Some messages of support

3 A fair share The European social economy provides: - over 13.6 million paid jobs in the EU - equivalent to about 6.3% of the working population of the EU-28 - more than 82.8 million volunteers, equivalent to 5.5 million fulltime workers - more than 232 million members of cooperatives, mutuals and similar entities And the 'social economy' covers over 2.8 million organisations in the EU

4 Social Economy in the EU After the Communication on a Social Business Initiative (2011), new engagements since 2015: Council Conclusions on the Social Economy (2015) together with: EP resolutions, EESC opinions, CoR opinions; GECES report and recommendations (October 2016); "Start up and Scale-up" Initiative (October 2016); Series of actions coordinated by the launch of an Internal Task Force between different services (January 2017). Side event to the European Social summit - 16 November 2017 "What role for SOCIAL ECONOMY in the future of work?" - - Potential of Social Economy to create growth and sustainable jobs - - Role of cooperative societies and on how to create favourable ecosystems for Social Economy

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6 Social Economy and Social Enterprises going forward

7 Five pillars of the GECES Report Implementation of actions scheduled for by the scale up and start-up initiative. Five pillars to be developed: 1. Access to finance; 2. Access to markets; 3. Improving framework conditions; 4. Social innovation, technologies and new business models; 5. International dimension.

8 Pillar 1: Access to finance To implement this pillar the Commission used the EFSI & EaSI program to develop and stimulate the use of different financial instruments and grands such as: Guarantee schemes Capacity building investments Equity for social impact pilots Projects grants to develop markets (social finance intermediaries) Operating grants for EU-level networks; Grants to reduce transaction costs of financial intermediaries for small investments / microfinance.

9 Pillar 2: Access to markets Improve market conditions: Implementing the revised rules on qualitative public procurement Reinforcing the cooperation between traditional enterprises and social economy enterprises Study on best practices, a high-level conference on the topic mid Identifying entry points for social enterprise/social innovation in Corporate Social Responsibility policy and related actions. Stimulating cross-border activities for social economy and social enterprises.

10 Pillar 3: Improving framework conditions Support building regulatory frameworks such as: Guidelines, policy tools and mapping studies to assist Member States in developing regulatory frameworks; Promoting social economy clusters & statistics in different Member States; Two Pilot Projects towards cooperatives: - "Transfer of businesses under form of cooperatives"; - "Reduction of young unemployment and the setting up of cooperatives".

11 Pillar 4: Social innovation, technologies and new business models Initiate social innovation and new business models: Reflecting on the use and impact of new technologies regarding: o 'Sharing Economy' Start-up initiative Financing the future of European Entrepreneurship; o Support for social innovation (Social Innovation Challenge Platform (matchmaker + re-granting for projects) o May 2017: Stakeholders conference "New technologies and digitalisation: opportunities and challenges for the social economy & social enterprises". Followed by a tender in October 2017

12 Pillar 5: International dimension Promoting social economy and social enterprises in: - neighbourhood/enlargement policies and programmes; - development policies and SDG's (sustainable development goals) - International Finance Organisations and Donor Communities Including the role of social economy and social enterprises in our Economic Diplomacy - P.e.: UNTFSSE, ILGSSE, G20, G7, ILO

13 Social Innovation New times require new solutions!

14 Encouraging innovation, uptake of new technologies and use of new business models by social start-ups European Social Innovation Competition Session 2017: digit (finished) - Session 2018: locality (closed) Launch of the "Horizon prize for social innovation" on the mobility of older people Open till 02/2019 Setting up of the Social Innovation Challenge Platform;

15 PS3 Smart specialisation enabling each region to identify and develop its own competitive advantages Create Partnership and bottom-up approach: Local authorities, academia, business spheres and the civil society, working for the implementation of long-term growth strategies supported by EU funds.

16 Digital Innovation Hubs Who? Every company, small or large, high-tech or not, What? Explore digital opportunities. Where? DIH: Technical universities /research organisations Hubs One-stop-shops *technology-testing, *financing advice, *market intelligence and *networking opportunities.

17 Strong pan-european network of DIHs The European catalogue of DIHs a repository that includes more than 450 existing hubs across Europe The Digitising European Industry initiative aims to ensure the presence of a DIH in every region by Launched training programmes for new DIHs

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19 Examples: EU funded projects - connecting digital social innovation actors 1) Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social 2) The DSI4EU project: digitalsocial.eu 3) Digital social Innovation ecosystems More than 1,000 rising examples of digital social innovation organisations across Europe, and the hidden links among them.

20 Be Innovators We encourage your initiatives which foster (social) innovation More cooperatives must embrace new markets and technologies, such as sharing or collaborative economy' Social Economy can demonstrate the development of these new technologies and markets without causing negative externalities and with attention to social added value

21 Create new models of cooperation 1) Cross border cooperation: - strategical partnerships or share knowledge and experience. Cooperatives must dare to act in a European context. Not only between Coop's, but also with other Social Economy entities and traditional businesses. The European Cooperative Society. It aims to facilitate cooperatives' cross-border and trans-national activities. 2) Strategical cooperative models with traditional companies: - influence with your values - find new markets & networks - find new business opportunities Study: "how to support further enhancing of business co-operation between social economy enterprises and traditional firms". Active and Assisted Living (AAL) Programme

22 A small dessert European Solidarity corps - Opportunities for young people to volunteer or work in projects in their own country or abroad that benefit communities and people around Europe. - Age 18 to 30 (registration from 17 years old) - After simple registration could be selected and invited to join a wide range of projects. - Examples: helping to prevent natural disasters or rebuild afterwards, assisting in centres for asylum seekers, or addressing different social issues in communities. - Projects supported by the European Solidarity Corps can last from two to twelve months. - Organisations of all types can get involved with the Corps by applying to join or seeking funding through one or more of the following EU programmes linked to the Corps (8 programs such as Erasmus and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) 8_youth-03_esc_in_action_10.pdf

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