Social innovation initiatives across Europe are receiving a significant boost to their capacity for sharing good practices, networking and expanding on project successes – thanks to the new Social Innovation Match (SIM) space on the ESF+ website. SIM was launched on the occasion of the first European Employment & Social Rights Forum. The event was organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, (DG EMPL), and took place in Brussels on 16 and 17 November 2022.
SIM offers an invaluable platform for the growing social innovation community to promote and develop their work – enabling the transfer and scaling up of social innovation initiatives. The online space will also allow stakeholders to search for initiatives developed and tested in other countries, facilitating their contact with other organisations and searches for potential partners. This can also enhance opportunities for growing social innovation, of the central aims of the ESF+.
The ESF+ is Europe’s main instrument for enabling social innovation, and the fund will therefore act as a thematic focus. Through the ESF Social Innovation+ initiative, the fund aims to expand good practices in fields including employment, education, skills and social inclusion across Europe. SIM is expected to be a tool for work across the field of Social Innovation – with wide coverage beyond ESF-funded initiatives.
At the time of SIM’s launch, 100 local, national and European initiatives are already visible, with a further 50 in the process of publishing. These include projects across the spectrum of Social Innovation, such as ResQ club – a project working to advance Finland’s green revolution – or EU-wide projects such Smart Co-op, which aims to ensure Europe’s growing numbers of self-employed have adequate levels of social protection. Eventually, the goal will be for social innovation stakeholders to upload their initiatives directly to SIM, approved by national validators or – in the case of transnational projects – by the European Competence Centre for social innovation (depending on the scope of the initiative).
SIM will be a critical asset to organisations looking to develop social innovation across the EU, at a time when social innovation projects will be vital to Europe’s continued recovery and growth. In addition to enabling the ESF+ to continue to deliver funding to EU-wide, multi-national projects that develop, replicate and scale up innovative solutions, the new service will aim to enable the collection, assessment, validation and dissemination of suitable tools and methods for social innovation for future initiatives – whether or not they are funded through the ESF+.
