European Social Economy Regions 2019 1 What is Social Economy ? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

European Social Economy Regions 2019 1

What is Social Economy ? ‘Social economy’ is an important part ▪ of the European socio-economic model. It includes a large variety of stakeholders such as cooperatives, foundations, social start-ups, social enterprises etc. (independently of their legal form); They operate a very broad number of ▪ activities , provide a wide range of products and services across the European single market and generate millions of jobs. 2

What is Social Economy ? Main objectives: to serve the members and not to obtain a return on investment as the traditional mainstream capital companies do. The members act in accordance with the principle of solidarity and mutuality , and manage their enterprise on the basis of 'one man one vote' principle . 3

What makes a social enterprise? • Combination of societal goals with an entrepreneurial spirit !!! • Main objective of a social enterprise is to have a social impact rather than make a profit for their owners or shareholders. It operates by providing goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion and uses its profits primarily to achieve social objectives. It is managed in an open and responsible manner and, in particular, involves employees, consumers and stakeholders affected by its commercial activities. 4

Social Economy – European perspective recent milestones Communication on a Social Business Initiative (2011); Council Conclusions on the Social Economy (2015) together with: EP resolutions, EESC opinions, CoR opinions; GECES report and recommendations (October 2016); " Start up and Scale-up " Initiative (October 2016); 5

Social Economy and Social Enterprises going forward 6

Presentation of the actions • Implementation of actions in five pillars : ➢ 1. Access to funding; ➢ 2. Access to markets; ➢ 3. Improving framework conditions; ➢ 4. Social innovation, technologies and new business models; ➢ 5. International dimension. 7

European Social Economy Regions Initiative - -Awareness-raising and better recognition of social economy at regional and - local level; - -Gradual setting-up a European social economy community; - -Identification of joint challenges and preparing the ground for regional and - inter-regional collaboration. 8

European Social Economy Regions 2018 Pilot (Bridging the gap – how to bring Europe closer to citizens) 9

European Social Economy Regions 2018 Pilot In a nutshell: 32 pioneering regions and cities from 14 EU MS; 2 concluding ESER events in Bilbao (Global Social Economy Forum) and Brussels (European Week of Regions and Cities) resulted in a strong demand for streamlined inter-regional collaboration; European Social Economy Missions Call 2019; Social Economy Summit 2020 (November 2020, Mannheim, Germany). 10

European Social Economy Regions 2019 55 regions and cities from 20 EU MS and COSME third countries ; ▪ ESER concluding event to be organised in October 2019 in Brussels with ▪ 70+ regions and cities participating in ESER 2018/2019; Future perspective: develop capacities for enhanced collaboration between ▪ social economy partners at inter-regional, regional and local level; Social Economy Summit : Mannheim, November 2020. ▪ 11

ESER 2019 12

ESER 2018: 32 regions and cities ESER 2019: 55 regions and cities 13

Thank you! Follow us on Twitter ! @SocEntEU #EU4SocEnt #ESER2019 And join our LinkedIn Community page: "EU for Social Economy & Social Enterprises" Website: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/social-economy 14