Social Economy

Context

The sector accounts for 2.8 million businesses, representing 10% of all European enterprises, and employs over 13.6 million paid employees (6.4% of the working population in the EU) and represents 8% of the EU’s GDP.

Year established: 2018

Regions (lead and partner)

Leading regions: Navarra (ES)
Partner region(s): Emilia Romagna (IT), Lapland (FI), Murcia (ES), Orebro Lan (SE), Slovenia (SI), Wallonia (BE)

Mission

The mission of the partnership is to stimulate cross-border operations for mutual and cooperatives to enable them to use the full potential of the internal market in order to expand the activities of social economy, through interregional collaboration activities. The partnership intends to deal with several challenges related to the underlying smart specialisation strategies and social economy such as how to:

develop social economy clusters;
create European value chains of social economy enterprises belonging to different regions in Europe;
improve the cooperation between enterprises and other territorial actors, especially those who have technological and innovative competences.

Objectives

The specific objectives and aims of the partnership include:

To target the existing fragmentation in social economy, implementing interregional social economy financing mechanisms that allow for sharing risks and facilitating access to financing under favorable conditions and exploring shared use of machinery and infrastructures,
To provide local actors with the necessary skills to generate and develop collaborative projects based on territorial potential,
To share and exchange best practices and experiences in the field of public policy to support social enterprises,
To support joint solutions to challenges hindering the development of the social economy, thus promoting new approaches to overcome a fragmented approach to related policies.

Main activities

Promoting knowledge transfer in the social economy through joint projects such as Interreg Europe RESEES (REINFORCE REGIONAL SOCIAL ECONOMY ECOSYSTEMS AND STAKEHOLDERS' CAPACITY) and PARI (Participatory Action for Regional Innovation).

Main focus working groups: Capacity building, entrepreneurship, sharing best practices in social economy.

Organisations involved

Belgium

Wallonia Region (BE)

Finland

Foundations from Lapland: Seita Foundation, Meriva Foundation, Eduro, Tornio Foundation, Foundation Oktetti, VATESfoundation (FI)
Vocational Schools (Lappia Vocational School, REDU Vocational School) (FI)

France

Regional Chamber for Social and Solidarity Economy of Nouvelle-Aquitaine CRESS (FR)
Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region (FR)

Italy

Entities and oranisations from Emilia Romagna: AICCON, Impronta Etica, ISNET, Focus Lab, Primo Miglio, Fondazione Democentre, Future Education Modena, Reggio Children, Cob Social Innovation, CISE Forlì-Cesena (IT)

Slovenia

Regional Development Agency Podravje – Maribor (SI)

Spain

ANEL (ES)
Gobierno de Navarra (ES)
Regional Government of Murcia (ES)
Associated Work Union of Cooperatives (ES)

Other

S3 Arctic Smart Rural Cluster or Circular Economy Centre Digipolis
REVES Network (European Network of Cities & Regions for the Social Economy)

Shared smart specialisation areas

Social Economy

Related projects

RESSES. This project aligns to the implementation of the European Social Economy Plan and the European Skills Agenda at regional level. Partners will identify experiences and good practices in the fields of four specific topics: SE promotion and awareness raising; capacity building and stakeholder's upskilling; networking and cooperation and measuring policies and social impact. https://www.interregeurope.eu/resees
ETESS - INTERREG POCTEFA project with the participation of Navarra region, Basque Country, and New Aquitaine): ETESS is a project of the first call of Interreg POCTEFA 2014-2020 which aims to improve the critical employment situation in Navarra, Basque Country and Pyrénées-Atlantiques based on the Social Economy. https://www.poctefa.eu/blog/noticia/el-proyecto-etess-de-economia-social-destacado-como-ejemplo-de-cooperacion-en-la-eurregion/
PARI. The PARI project is part of the European Commission's SMP - COSME program to create clusters of social and ecological innovation (CSEI) in rural areas. These clusters aim to address critical socio-economic and environmental challenges by fostering innovation and cooperation between various stakeholders, including social economy actors, local authorities, businesses and civil society organizations. https://www.navarraeneuropa.eu/proyectos-2021-2027/vias-para-la-innovacion-rural-implementacion-de-clusteres-de-innovacion-social-y-ecologica-para-mejorar-la-calidad-de-vida-en-las-zonas-rurales
EURORREGION: Navarra-Novell Aquitaine-Euskadi Strategic partnership in social and solidarity economy to develop and boost a Euroregional ecosystem based on a collaborative economic model with the aim of making it an international benchmark.

Contact

Sergio Pérez, sergio.perez.garcia@navarra.es
Antonio Martinez de Bujanda, ambujanda@anel.es
Javier Zubicoa, javier.zubicoa.leon@navarra.es
Iñaki Mendióroz, imendioc@navarra.es

Latest news and upcoming events

18th and 19th of March 2025, Emilia Romagna (ITA), Learning event RESEES Project ( Sharing and selecting Best Practices ( 4 Topics: SE promotion and awareness raising; capacity building and stakeholder's upskilling; networking and cooperation and measuring policies and social impact. )
30th and 31th of January 2025, Brussels (BEL), Identify and discuss best criteria for Local practices in CSEI model.