+RESILIENT puts together a 4-helix partnership of 8 MED countries to tackle the need for innovation conducive to increased socially-responsive competitiveness of SMEs & stimulate new jobs, especially for companies operating in the social economy. It aims to kickstart a process of policy change at regional level in the involved areas resulting in the integration of successful elements into the new Cohesion policy (EU2020+). It is an integrated project that establishes a structural approach to policy & practice improvement of emerging dynamics in social innovation through an overarching process based on the intertwined use of open data & the creation of a transnational socially-responsive value chain. This includes studying existing initiatives, adapting and testing, with the final objective of capitalizing them in the MED area
PROJECT’S PILOT ACTIONS
Pilot Actions focus on improvement of service for ad through social enterprises and companies for social return on the identified social needs and in the sectors as identified in the use case scenarios. Testing of services based on open data and innovative schemes (skills, financial, technical, ICT driven) with the identified stakeholders within the SVR clusters. The testing phase will implement a Participatory System based on available knowledge and open data and create meaningful links with the multisectoral nature of enterprises investing in social return that are linked to the blue and green (circular economy or sustainable tourism), cultural and creative industries and sectors linked to smart specialisation and innovatoin skills and jobs
Pilot action in Istria
Regional coordinator for European programmes and funds of the Region of Istria has started implementation of preparatory activities of its pilot action „Innovations for Sustainable Regional Development” in February 2020. A motivational meeting with Istrian high schools’ principals and teachers was held in Pula in order to inform them about the pilot action activities and goals. The aim of the pilot action is boosting research potential of youngsters through development of innovative research and development initiatives related to urban topics such as social entrepreneurship development, e-health, public transport, sustainable usage of urban infrastructure, innovative models of education, environment protection, etc. The pilot action will result in innovative ideas in form of scientific papers presented, tested and published in open databases.
Pilot action in Aragon
Currently the regulations for public subcontracting are stricter and stricter. In addition, it has been encouraged from EU to set social clauses in the call for tenders, setting a set of social obligations for the companies answering the calls. One if these clauses may be reserving a percentage of the contracting for inclusion companies. In the Spanish case, for instance, a minimum percentage of participation of special centres for employment must be fixed for every public call for tenders. With this situation, Aragon’s pilot action, framed within the maco-scenario “Support to SMEs with social vacation and responsiveness”, focuses on obtaining a list of entities that belong to the third sector and the services/products they offer, in order to reach the right ones to get an offer from them.
Pilot action in Veneto
Skill mismatch is the misalignment between the demand for specific skills and profiles by companies and the supply of human resources. The overall objective is to identify a new way to produce and implement social innovation practices at regional level, which aim to be co-created, based on open data and consistent with the framework of existing policies. This objective will be pursued through the establishment of an innovative Community of Practice of strategic actors from the 4-helix model. These actors will play a role of “generators” of innovative ideas and services on the specific theme of skill mismatch, in a cooperative and mutual-learning perspective and with shared responsibilities. The first step for the implementation of the pilot action consists of structuring the Community. After the preliminary activities of stakeholder mapping, analysis and engagement, two focus groups will take place on 4th and 5th March 2020. The aim is to deepen the issue of mismatch at a regional level and explore possible shared strategies, so that the needs of the companies and workers – especially those at highest risk of social and economic exclusion – can meet each other more effectively. The first meeting will be dedicated to companies and labour market, while the second one will include social economy and VET providers.
The second initiative will be an Open Data Lab, with interactive activities during which participants not accustomed to working with the ODs will directly experiment and contextualize the use of data in their daily activities.
Stay tuned!
Pilot action in France
The action that Aix-Marseille University (AMU) will be developing will be a part of a larger project called “Opération Désert Alimentaire” which aims at identifying and mapping out areas of Marseille where access to quality food is scarce. AMU had a coordination meeting with different actors that will be involved, including local authorities. The main point of discussion was around the next co-design workshops which will be held in the upcoming months. The first workshop will be mostly focused on what role professional enterprises and stakeholders can have in the pilot action and the second workshop will be dedicated to the inhabitants of the identified areas of Marseille.
Pilot action in Slovenia
Foundation PRIZMA began with their pilot action activities and recruited the Municipality of Maribor in the pilot action process as a key stakeholder. 3 meetings were held with the stakeholders, including the Municipality of Maribor, and laid foundation for the strategy of social entreprenurship in the city, which will serve us as a building block fort he first 3 phases od the social innovation process we want to test in our pilot action. We also came to a conclusion that in collaboration with the Municipality, it woul be wise to map all the premises that could be available for social innovators and entreprenerus, as well as for the Social Innovation Hub that we will try to establish.
Pilot action in Croatia
The Foundation for partnership and civil society development in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Economy Pula organized a round table on the topic “Social entrepreneurship in Istria”, where we received some very concrete suggestions on how best to systematically support and encourage the development of social entrepreneurship. In cooperation with the Faculty of Economics and Tourism „Dr. Mijo Mirković“ 6 short lectures on new reflections on society development were held; . Changes in society are essential if we are to develop sustainable communities. It is necessary to support new concepts, methods, programs, it is necessary to support the development of social innovations as a possible response to the current social situation. New reflections on the development of society are indeed a pressing need of today. We are faced with the problem of lack of innovative ideas, which are the key ones for the development of social innovations, therefore we organized a workshop by Ranko Rajović on ways and methods of developing a high level of thought operability and connecting information, which gives creativity and innovation. These methods also help organize teamwork, come up with new ideas, and incorporate brain reserve capacity. Besides that, the Foundation organized two more workshops. One was about Crowdfunding and the second was about How to make a good pitch and how to brand a project. Furthermore, in November 2019. the Foundation for partnership and civil society development (Istria, Croatia) has launched a public call for social innovation ideas called „3DI“ as part of the +Resilient project. The Foundation was looking for ideas that will create new innovative solutions to address society’s needs.
Pilot action in Italy
ANCI’s Pilot Action supports Social Innovation and Urban Regeneration. The pilot action is carried on in collaboration with the Municipality of Brindisi, with regard to the Urban Laboratory Palazzo Guerrieri which the Municipality activated in 2019 to support young and innovative entrepreneurs, regenerating and re-using a historic building in the city center as community hub, co-working and start-up incubator. ANCI supports the Municipality of Brindisi in a research and monitoring activity that will increase the knowledge at disposal of the local administration and assess the results of the Laboratory, to adapt and plan future actions accordingly. An activity that in a phase of great difficulty for the local economies due to the pandemic aims at contributing to a debate on how the Municipalities can activate new sustainable development policies. The activity also includes moments of exchange and comparison with other Municipalities engaged in the field of social innovation, through the collaboration with the “Valore Comune” project of IFEL- Istituto per la Finanza e l’Economia Locale. The activities will continue until October, when the results will be presented and shared with the European network of the Project + Resilient.
