The Social Innovation Forum 2024: Advancing Social Innovation and Skills in Europe
The Social Innovation Forum 2024, a cornerstone event within the ESF+ SI+ initiative, will take place on 1–2 October 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. This year’s forum will focus on Social Innovation & Skills, with key topics including the skills necessary for the success of social innovators and how social innovations contribute to the acquisition of these skills.
The event will be opened by Stefan Olsson, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission (Brussels, Belgium), and Lina Nevinskienė, Director of the European Social Fund Agency (Vilnius, Lithuania), entrusted entity to indirectly manage ESF+ Social Innovation+ initiative.
The first keynote speaker, Ciprian Stănescu, President of Social Innovation Solutions (Bucharest, Romania) and also President of the Global Shapers Bucharest Hub, will explore the essence of social innovation, distinguishing it from traditional approaches, and will look at who key innovators can be. The second keynote speaker, Aymeric Marmorat, Director of the Bachelor’s Program in ACT at ESSEC and CY Cergy Paris University, will delve into the relationship between social innovation and sustainability education. This will be followed by a brief complementary intervention from Philippe Eiselein, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Entrepreneurship at Odisee University of Applied Sciences (Brussels, Belgium).
Over the course of two days, more than 250 participants from ESF+ Managing Authorities, ESF+ implementing partners, organisations and projects benefiting from ESF+ funding, DG EMPL policy and geographical desk officers, the five ESF+ Communities of Practice (CoP), and the ALMA Network will actively engage in a series of plenary sessions, workshops, and showcases highlighting promising social innovation practices from across the European Union.
One of the Forum’s highlights is the Social Innovation Match (SIM) database, which offers a unique platform for social innovators across Europe to scale up and showcase their initiatives. Social innovators were invited to nominate their best practices by uploading case studies to the Social Innovation Match platform and completing a nomination form. A total of 69 nominations were received from 19 EU countries, leading to 35 social innovators participating in the Social Innovation Forum’s Social Innovation Market, an interactive networking event.
Participants of the Forum will participate in a series of workshops. The first session will focus on reviewing the 2024 shared events and outputs, to foster collaboration among ESF+ Communities of Practice and Networks. They will evaluate work programmes to strengthen group coherence. The second session of workshops will focus on developing skills in social innovation across various themes. Participants will explore strategies to enhance synergies between grants, capacity building, and networking within the ESF+ SI+ initiative. Moderated by thematic experts, this session will include feedback and best practice reviews, ensuring participants gain valuable insights and practical strategies. Furthermore, the participants will have the opportunity to learn more about five promising social innovations from the Social Innovation Match (SIM), that tackle pressing societal challenges, honouring the dedication and accomplishments of those who drive positive change. They will also engage in a panel discussion on solutions for turning Social Innovation projects into real-world solutions.
The event will conclude with an overview of the current activities and future plans of the European Competence Centre for Social Innovation and closing remarks by Ruth Paserman, Deputy Director-General of DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission (Brussels, Belgium).
Please find the agenda attached.