06/10/2021

Research to Build Resilient Social Economy Ecosystems in Europe

Research helps us better understand social entrepreneurship

Our current economic, ecological and social tensions attest to the urgency of fundamentally transitioning the way in which we organize economic activity and its relationship to society. Through a variety of initiatives in many different sectors of activity—work integration, social finance, short supply chains, recycling, personal services, collaborative economy, culture and many others—citizens, private sector actors, and public officials are discovering new opportunities to promote societal goals.

But these initiatives not only open up new activities that create jobs; through their values, they inspire trust among citizens and public authorities, contribute to the institutional plurality of our economic systems and open the door to citizen involvement, participation and empowerment. And although the social and ecological transition we need cannot fully take place without deep systemic transformations at the macro level, initiatives like these contribute to the evolution of production processes and consumption patterns.

In Europe, these initiatives fall under the broad umbrella of “the social economy.” With the preparation of a European Action Plan for the Social Economy under way, the “social economy field” is gaining momentum at the EU policy level. The challenge is, therefore, to take the full measure of its contribution and broaden its influence.

Please select this link to read the complete article from SSIR.