Eurocities: The role of cities in promoting social entrepreneurship
EUROCITIES has prepared a publication on the role of cities in promoting social entrepreneurship.
The report has analyzed good practices from 11 cities across the EU, among those Goteborg and Malmö. The report looks into the tools cities use to promote support the social economy – funding, network of social economy actors, infrastructure and impact hubs – as well as the success factors, bottlenecks and challenges, and puts forward several recommendations.
“Cambridge Judge Business School has collaborated with Esme Learning to launch executive education programmes to empower working professionals’ careers.
The multi-year collaboration commences with two inaugural six-week online executive education programmes in startup funding and RegTech, which start in October 2021.
The programme will help professionals understand how to fund a venture and navigate critical inflexion points along a company’s growth trajectory to achieve a successful exit or long-term operational viability.
The programme will also walk learners through, step-by-step, how to improve their funding outcomes for their entrepreneurial project.
“You will learn how to structure your project so it is more investable, communicate the investment merits of your project, be more efficient in the fundraising process, and improve the terms of investments,” notes the course description.
Margaret Thatcher Professor of Enterprise Studies in Innovation and Growth and Entrepreneurship Centre co-director Stylianos Kavadias notes: “This programme equips you with knowledge that fuses together the two important perspectives that drive successful development for startups — the fundraising skill set and the managerial competencies and skills that will help you balance the steps forward and the decisions needed to go from pre-seed through exit.”
RegTech: AI for Financial Regulation, Risk, and Compliance will prepare risk, compliance, innovation, and data sector business leaders to navigate the industry’s complexities, including technologies such as AI and machine learning that support automated regulation.
In this programme, professionals will learn to identify new applications and revenue opportunities for RegTech solutions, including technologies such as big data, cloud computing and AI.
University of Cambridge Judge Business School management practice professor Robert Wardrop notes: “This programme is a good example of the application of data science to solve real-world problems — in this case, challenges around regulatory change, regulatory compliance and risk management for firms operating in the economy.”
Both programmes will feature high-quality video instruction; interactive, timely media such as podcasts and articles; and correlating formative assessments that test knowledge retention.
The startup funding course begins on October 13, 2021 while the RegTech course will begin on October 20, 2021. Registration for both programmes will close one week after they begin.
Both programmes cost 2,200 US dollars respectively. Successful programme participants will receive a certificate issued by the Cambridge Judge Business School. “
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
The Academy is the first fully online management training programme focusing exclusively on social innovation. We are co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
What is social innovation? In short, any innovation that is social in its ends or in its means, or simply any working, innovative solution to help address a pressing societal challenge e.g. climate change, social exclusion, mobility or health issues.
In practice, social innovations take form of social enterprises, corporate innovation projects, non-profits, public sector programs, grass-root movements or community initiatives. Social innovation has been gaining momentum around the globe, from Europe to United States, from Africa to Canada, and from Australia to South America.
By training social innovators of the future, the Academy aims to help the most pressing global challenges.
Our team led by Limitless® brings together partners of the highest calibre including Impact Hub, one of the largest network of impact changemakers in the world, Sinnergiak Social Innovation, one of the top social innovation institutes and the co-founder of Social Innovation Community, and the editor of Harvard Business Review in Poland, to name a few, supported by tens of organisational Friends.
Our goal: reach thousands of aspiring social innovators and help them gain the skills and knowledge required for their dreams to become a reality.
Watch the introductory presentation to find out:
what social innovation is, exactly
what social innovation is not
what you can gain from social innovation
a brief history of social innovation
the global outlook, trends and challenges
social innovation types, features and approaches
social innovation process (the social innovation spiral)
actors involved
forms of user involvement
social innovation drivers
… and what it all means for you!
The presentation is the place to start if you want to quickly learn the basics and get to speed.
Socialiniam verslui būdingas labai platus veiklos spektras. ES valstybėse narėse socialinis verslas dažniausiai veikia trijose srityse: integracijos į darbo rinką, asmeninių paslaugų ir socialiai atskirtų vietovių vystymo bei aplinkosaugos. Atsižvelgiant į socialinės ekonomikos raidos tendencijas ES, socialinio verslo plėtra Lietuvoje taip pat turėtų vykti šiomis kryptimis – skatinant tradicinį privatų verslą įsitraukti sprendžiant socialines problemas ir skatinant nevyriausybines organizacijas savo veikloje taikyti verslo modelius. Nors Lietuvoje socialinis verslas yra dar vystosi pamažu, trūksta geros praktikos pavyzdžių, stokojama skatinamųjų ir finansinės paramos priemonių, faktinis socialinių verslų skaičius šalyje nuolat auga. 2018 m. pabaigoje, VšĮ “Versli Lietuva” duomenimis, Lietuvoje veikė beveik 90 socialinių verslų.
2015 m. balandžio 3 dieną Ūkio ministras įsakymu patvirtino Socialinio verslo koncepciją. Iki šiol socialinis verslas nebuvo reglamentuotas, todėl nebuvo sudarytos tinkamos sąlygos jam skatinti ir valstybės pagalbai gauti. Beto Ūkio ministerija kartu su Jaunųjų profesionalų programos „Kurk Lietuvai“ ekspertų komanda parengė Socialinio verslo gidą. Šiame leidinyje pateikiama kuriant socialinį verslą reikalinga informacija. Gide apibrėžiama socialinio verslo sąvoka, išryškinami šio verslo skirtumai, lyginant su kitais socialinės ekonomikos subjektais, parodoma socialinio verslo nauda.
Can you imagine the new opportunities for the social enterprises in the circular economy sector if some other countries would follow the Sweden’s lead to make certain services VAT exempt? Would you stop throwing things away and get them repaired instead, if it were cheaper to do so? This is the qustions being asked and debated in the Sweden at the moment.
As posted by the BBC, the Swedish government likes to think its citizens would, and is putting the idea into practice. The country’s Budget for 2017 will cut the VAT rate charged on minor repairs to things like bicycles, shoes and clothes.
Tax refunds will be offered to people who get their white goods repaired, like washing machines and dishwashers.
The VAT rate will be cut from 25% to 12%, and the tax refund will let people reclaim half the labour cost of a repair to white goods and kitchen stoves.
The idea of encouraging people to be less wasteful in their everyday lives has been promoted by the Swedish Green party, which is a partner in the country’s ruling minority coalition government, along with the Swedish Social Democrats.
Sustainable consumption
One of the six Green ministers is Per Bolund, the deputy finance minister.
He told the BBC that the plans are part of a wider strategy which the government is launching for sustainable consumption.
“The emissions from Sweden affecting the climate are decreasing but emissions from consumption are increasing,” he says.
“We see an interest in more sustainable consumption from the Swedish consumer and this is one way for the government to make it more affordable.”
Swedish taxpayers can already reclaim 50% of the labour cost of paid house work, such as employing a cleaner, from their income tax bills.
So the minister is confident the new plans will work.
“Consumer are quite active in changing both what they buy and how they buy in Sweden, to change the environmental impact, so we see a huge increase in the sale of organic food, and we also see that the interest in the “sharing” economy and the “circular” economy is growing quite rapidly,” he says.
The latest plan is also being promoted as a way to create more jobs for people who do not have high educational qualifications.
“We believe that getting lower costs for labour is a big part in making it more rational to repair rather than just to buy cheap and throw away,” the minister says.
“If we don’t change the economic incentives the change will never come,” he adds.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Deficit ‘wiped out’
The cost to the Swedish government of these tax incentives is not huge.
It will be 270m kronor (£24m) per year for the lower rate of VAT on minor repairs, and 190m kronor (£17m) per year for the tax refunds on the repair of white goods.
Another reason for the Swedish government’s innovation in this area of tax policy is that the economy and government finances are currently very robust.
The economy is expected to grow by about 3.5% this year.
In 2017 the government expects its income from taxes to outstrip its spending by 7.4bn (£667m) Swedish kronor, helping it to cut the national debt.
“The Swedish economy is very strong,” said the finance minister Magdalena Andersson.
“We have the highest growth in our region, unemployment is falling and the large deficit we inherited when we took power has been basically wiped out.”
Although young people constitute a substantial part of citizens worldwide, they are not fully recognised in policies and strategies, as a separate group of interest. They play a crucial role in societal and economic development and are often referred to as „agents of change“. Simultaneously, the unemployment of youth is one of the greatest global challenges.
Social entrepreneurship is a way to address this problem, contributing to sustainable and inclusive job creation.
Existing forms of youth engagement in economic activities are not sufficient and often not adequate for the targeted audience. Entrepreneurship education has very formal frames and structures, and it is rarely fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and attitudes among youngsters. There is an agreement, however, on the strong impact of youth work in entrepreneurship and culture. It develops transversal skills, gives an opportunity to exercise skills in practice and increases cultural activities which influence young people’s creativity.
Youth work and non-formal, as well as informal learning, play an important role in developing young people’s creative and innovative potential, including entrepreneurial skills underlined in recent youth policy and programmes at the EU and national levels. This brings us to the question of ”How to engage young people in this process successfully?”. The youth workers play a crucial role in the educational processes by introducing different initiatives (like youth cooperative activities) to the youth and providing information and advice on how to make a decision and provide the risk assessment, be creative and understand the market’s reality. But furthermost they help to develop social skills: establishing relations, leadership skills, conflict management and others.
The first chapter of the guide introduces social entrepreneurship and its importance for developing the skills and competencies of youth.
The second one presents the forms of learning methods: formal, informal and non-formal, their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.
The next chapter reflects on the qualitative research carried out by the project partners and presents points of view of experts invited to participate, aiming at explaining the ways in which social entrepreneurship of youth can be stimulated.
The fourth, last chapter describes the situation in the partner countries, as for approaches towards social entrepreneurship and interesting initiatives that are undertaken.
The guide “How to stimulate social entrepreneurship via nonformal and informal learning methods“ is being developed to assist youth workers (teachers, youth leaders, etc.). It identifies methods, techniques, and strategies for working with youth and promotes a holistic approach to young people’s entrepreneurial attitudes.
Skoll Foundation awards several organizations and individuals on their social impact ideas every year. The winners of 2022 have been announced, and in this article you will find out more about their innovative work and approach to tackling societal problems. These innovators drive stronger health systems, racial justice, climate action, civic engagement, and inclusive economic growth.
About the awards ceremony
The Skoll Foundation has announced the six winners of the 2022 Skoll Award for Social Innovation. The Awards highlight leaders and organizations that advance transformational social change around the world. Formerly known as the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, its recipients reflect the Foundation’s evolved strategy that extends beyond social entrepreneurs to also include movement builders, system orchestrators, and coalitions driving change in innovative ways.
Each of the 2022 Awardees leads an organization primed for even greater impact in their respective geographies across the United States, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, and countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Common Future connects a network of community wealth-building institutions in the U.S. with restorative and reparative capital to build an economy that includes everyone. It influences decision-makers across philanthropy, finance, and government to further support those solutions that build power in communities of color across the U.S. Common Future catalyzed a radical shift of $250 million in capital from traditional wealth-holders to communities of color.
Financing Alliance for Health is a Kenya-based, African-led partnership and technical advisory fund that works with governments, donors, and the private sector to address systemic financing challenges to scaling community health programs across sub-Saharan Africa. Financing Alliance for Health has contributed to securing more than $200 million in financing for at-scale community health systems. It has engaged governments across 12 countries, and contributed to the official recognition of more than 415,000 Community Health Workers in policy and practice.
MapBiomas is a network of NGOs, academic institutions, and tech startups, combining local knowledge with global technology to improve the quality, speed, and applicability of land-use mapping to fight deforestation and environmental degradation and protect biodiversity and water. MapBiomas has over 100,000 unique users annually, including government agencies and Brazil’s largest banks, meatpackers, and agricultural companies. The platform has prompted 8,100 actions against deforestation in Brazil.
NDN Collective builds indigenous power by moving capital investment to, increasing capacity of, and deepening political engagement within North American Native communities, accumulating the tools for achieving land sovereignty, and leveraging culturally grounded storytelling to create transformative narratives of Indigenous leadership and innovation. NDN Collective has granted over $28 million to nearly 600 Indigenous-led groups across the Indigenous world.
Noora Health improves patient outcomes and strengthens health systems by equipping families and loved ones with life-saving caregiving skills. Noora Health has trained nearly two million caregivers and patients across more than 200 hospitals and nearly 100 clinics in India and Bangladesh. Their intervention reduces cardiac surgery complications by 71 percent and newborn readmissions by 56 percent.
NOSSAS builds digital mobilization tools for real-world action to amplify civic engagement and resource a network of activism in Brazil. NOSSAS engaged over 1.2 million Brazilians in 18 cities, and successfully advocated for 25 public policy changes in 2020, across more than 200 citizen-led campaigns.
For more information on the social innovators driving transformational social change globally, explore Skoll’s 2021-2022 highlights.
This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.
