Everything We Have Learned About SI Ecosystems

On 1st March 2023, 17 social innovation experts active in the public sector or non-governmental organisations like social innovation incubators or other umbrella organisations and networks came together in an online workshop conducted by TU Dortmund University (Social Research Centre) in the framework of the ESIA (European Social Innovation Alliance) project. The main aim of this workshop was to enhance capacity by sharing experiences on public support from both the providing side and receiving end and on basis of this exchange formulate a set of recommendations how public support for social innovation (ecosystems) can be fostered. Participants came from five consortia (ESIA, FUSE, SEED, PeNCIL, and BuiCaSuS) representing national competence centres in France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK.

During the workshop, participants shared best practices and challenges of public support from the three distinct but interrelated thematic angles:

1) Laws, Regulations and Innovation Strategies

2) Funding Programmes and Support Infrastructure

3) Collaboration, Co-Creation and the Role of the Public Sector

After sharing their experiences in the different member states, participants were encouraged to formulate their recommendations for improvement in these three areas. This brief report firstly sums up the findings from the discussion of experiences alongside the three thematic angles. Secondly, each thematic angle provides a set of recommendations for decision-makers to considerate against the background of continued collaboration in and among the national competence centres.

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