Social Innovation – emerging flagship

In June 2021 BISER along with the EUSBSR Policy Area Education Coordinator, Social Innovation Center, REM Consult and European Social Fund Agency from Lithuania established a working group working on new EUSBSR Flagship project on social innovation. Our initiative is a step further to our cooperation within the Baltic and Nordic Soecil Entrepreneurship Support Network www.socialenterprisebsr.net

This initiative plan to build on several initiatives, ongoing or finalized projects such as for example SEMPRE (social empowerment in rural areas) and the BSR Social Entrepreneurship Network. Furthermore, It aim at providing a platform for collaboration between the Social Innovation Competence Centre projects in the Baltic Sea Region linking them to other relevant initiatives in the framework of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.  

BACKGROUND
ESF+ policy brief 2020 and Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) COM/2018/382 final.
SOCIAL INNOVATIONS mean activities that are social both as to their ends and their means and in particular those which relate to the development and implementation of new ideas (concerning products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs and create new social relationships or collaborations, thereby benefiting society and boosting its capacity to act: (i) testing innovative solutions before scaling them, (ii) finding new ways of collaboration between the public, private and third sector, and (iii) supporting the transfer of learnings and innovations across borders, are the three principal areas to be addressed by the ESF+.
SCOPE
Following the ESF+ policy brief and outlines, the aim of the flagship BSR SOCIAL INNOVATION is to deliver policy briefs and new methods targeting our complex societal challenges. Stakeholders will be invited to co-create, cross-sectorial, transnational, and multilevel. Besides co-creating solutions, the flagship will offer exchange on good practices related to how to organize and promote social innovation. Potentially, the flagship will be cross-Policy Areas besides PA Education, Science and Social affairs support PA Innovation and PA Culture.