In the course of the 10th edition of the international research conference that our partner EMES organises every two years, WISESHIFT had a very rich presence. In addition to presenting the research being undertaken as part of WISESHIFT, we organised a panel with other sister Horizons projects and our three partner umbrella organisations were part of a “practitioners’ lab”, a unique format aimed at maximising the interaction between researchers and practitioners.
Firstly, the research panel devoted to WISESHIFT aimed at bridging the study of WISEs and multi-level perspectives on sustainability transitions offering some methodological considerations and initial results of our project. Three papers were presented, namely:
- “The landscape of WISEs in EU Member States: country commonalities and variations from a multi-level perspective” by Giulia Galera, Giulia Tallarini, EURICSE and Mary O’Shaughnessy from UCC
- “Explorations of the transformative power of WISEs in 8 European countries” by Francesca Petrella, LEST (AMU/CNRS), Ela Callorda Fossati and Marthe Nyssens from UCLouvain
- “The contribution of WISEs to sustainable and inclusive transition: how to co-construct a self-assessment tool with transition intermediaries” by Coralie Helleputte, Marthe Nyssens, Ela Callorda Fossati from UCLouvain
The panel closed with the response from Advisory Board members of our project who were present at the conference.
Secondly, the panel entitled “Boosting the potential of the social economy to overcome social exclusion, provide quality jobs and promote greater sustainability” brought the four ongoing projects funded under the topic call “The role of social economy in addressing social exclusion, providing quality jobs and greater sustainability” (HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-09): ASSETS, DICES, SONYA, and WISESHIFT. With a growingly consolidated research tradition across EU Member States, the “SE field” overall and the Social Economy in particular are also facing a new set of questions and challenges that are mobilizing new generations of researchers who are studying the dynamics, typologies and developmental trends of SE ecosystems and the way in which they will interact with other agents and institutions over the next decades. Although the SE field had not been systematically included in the last EU Horizon Programmes, the past years have seen explicit recognition of the Social Economy. These four international comparative projects propose comprehensive analyses of the contribution, the kind of services and comparative advantages with other sectors in countering social exclusion in the EU, in Associated Countries and in Third Countries.
The four projects included in this panel cover a wide range of activity fields (from elderly care to agrifood or recycling) both in urban and rural areas as well as numerous issues cutting across the SE field (work quality, sustainability, participatory governance or democracy) from various theoretical and methodological approaches (multi-level perspectives, social impact assessment, etc.). Although the projects are in their initial stages, identifying common areas of inquiry and action and research and dissemination and exploitation synergies among this project cluster should be encouraged since the offset. This is the purpose of this panel. Considering the critical moment for Europe, the combined explanatory potential of these research initiatives should contribute to understanding the lights and shadows of Social Economy in Europe as well as the levers and untapped potential. Moreover, it should help overcome the territorial gap in the development and consolidation of Social Economy ecosystems across Member States and regions.
Lastly, ENSIE, RREUSE and SEE brought the WISESHIFT perspective to the Practitioners’ Lab number 2. This session brought together insights from different perspectives. The session about accelerating and funding social enterprises across the globe featured participants from Bertelsmann Foundation, IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, second-hand social enterprise network RREUSE, community-support organisation Humana People to People, the European Network of Social Integration Enterprises, and Social Economy Europe. The key questions they addressed provided valuable insights into the role of social economy actors in driving fair, green, and digital transitions at scale. Discussions went into effective policies, partnerships, and funding mechanisms that enable these transitions. Participants explored how synergies between the social economy and the circular economy can be harnessed to promote development, equality, and resource justice. The participants also delved into how impact investors can assess the results of their investments on social and environmental goals. Furthermore, the importance of a clear legal definition, certification, and ecological, social, and solidarity criteria in facilitating the social and solidarity economy was emphasized. Bertelsmann’s IMMPACT Guide was showcased as a tool for providing tailored support to teams, while the IKEA Social Entrepreneurship programs were discussed in terms of their ability to support social enterprises across different regions and effectively manage and measure their impact.
In all, this event proved to be a unique forum for showcasing the various angles of a multi-layered project like WISESHIFT. Across session formats and with a multiplicity of voices from our members and partners WISESHIFT contributed to production of knowledge around WISEs and the social economy for the well-being of societies and the planet.
