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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SocEn (Peer Learning on Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Support)

Teaser

Summary

The creation and development of social enterprises can be a significant mechanism to generate and sustain regional economic growth and competitiveness. The European Union considers social enterprises as the main interpreter of social innovation, even if there is not a unique legal form to describe them. The description of social enterprise given by the European Commission is: â€œSocial Enterprise is an operator in the social economy whose main objective is to have a social impact rather than make a profit for their owners or shareholders. It operates by providing goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion and uses its profits primarily to achieve social objectives. It is managed in an open and responsible manner and, in particular, involves employees, consumers and stakeholders affected by its commercial activitiesâ€.

Social companies and social entrepreneurs are essential for the regional economic and social development because their outcomes include not only business performance, as well as social and/or environmental gains. They constitute a model that serves as a basis for a future transformation of the economic system, trying to look for a more sustainable development path.

Nevertheless, social companies and entrepreneurs present significant barriers to develop successfully their businesses, such as the lack of business management skills, the difficult access to finance and the absense of political strategies.

It is therefore necessary to set regional strategic plans between local authorities and institutions, business support organizations and others stakeholders in order to stimulate and support the increase of social enterprises.

The objectives of the project are:
â€¢ To improve the actions of the institutions for a more effective promotion and support of social entrepreneurship.
â€¢ To improve the capabilities of the support institutions with the aim of increasing the number of innovative SMEs with social outcomes, and promoting their growth and development.
â€¢ To develop capacities for designing, implementing and evaluating a specific program that supports social entrepreneurs.
â€¢ To provide institutions with the most appropriate tools for the strengthening and consolidation of social companies.

The exchange of experiences is essential to provide new ideas on promoting social entrepreneurship and social enterprises to the regions interested on this issue. Mobilising the maximum number of stakeholders as possible will facilitate the development and implementation of new programmes or measures. Moreover, the possibilities of success of any project will increase significantly if the regional business fabric has support institutions to which to turn when necessary.

Work performed

The methodology followed for the purpose of this project is â€œTwinning Advancedâ€, which combines elements of traditional peer reviews and twinning in small learning groups of interested agencies. During 12 months and through the use of â€œTwinning +â€, the partners have seeked, identified and shared best practices to support social entrepreneurship and social enterprises based on its experience in entrepreneurship and business development within the social impact framework.
The result is documented in this Design Option Paper (DOP), which identify and document the best practices, guidelines and implementation alternatives that we have experienced and would recommend to other innovation support service agencies.

The final objective of the project is that the lessons learnt for analysing good practices could be used by other business supporters actors. The DOP should be a realistic roadmap for a more appropriate and effective support to social entrepreneurs and companies. For that reason, the DOP will be widely diffused among the target public and stakeholders.

Final results

It is expected that the number of innovation agencies engaged in peer learning activities significantly increases.

As mentioned earlier, the main goal of the project is to enhance the innovation support actions, activities and services addressed to Social Entrepreneurs & Companies by the three entities of the consortium and to integrate new knowledge within the three European regions involved.

Social Entrepreneurs & Companies outcomes include business performance as well as social and/or environmental gains which are crucial aspects of the regional economic and social development.

Having identified this common innovation support challenge, the project provides the opportunity for these three entities to engage in a peer learning activity and jointly learn from one another, as well as design and implement better practices.

The results of the peer learning are taken up by national and regional innovation support programmes, including those co-financed by European Structural and Investment Funds. Agencies are encouraged to engage more frequently in this king of projects and activities.

A broad range of new topics and approaches in innovation support to SMEs is investigated and developed by peer learning activities of national and regional innovation agencies. Workshops and forums organized by the project will generate a number of new ideas which could be the source for initiating or improving the innovation support to SMEs and Entrepreneurs by the entities of the consortium.
Joining forces and collaborations as proposed in this project will bring enormous opportunities for the partners to make contributions to future standards by promoting open workshops and with interaction of all the stakeholders.