ESSENTIALS · Experiences of Social and Solidarity Economy: Networks of Incubators as TerritoriAL development Strategies

Experiences of Social and Solidarity Economy: Networks of Incubators as TerritoriAL development Strategies

The recent global economic and health crisis has revealed the shortcomings of our current development system. This has led to the need for an alternative or complementary paradigm, identified by several scholars in Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). Indeed, SSE may provide a viable solution to re-balance the economic, social and environmental objectives of the development system. Particularly, in Europe, SSE has gained political visibility representing an important pillar especially in terms of employment and social cohesion, focusing on the social enterprise hubs, incubators, and other scaling-up mechanisms. Specifically, several studies have shown that incubators, which are still increasing worldwide, encourage socio-economic development of a specific area or of a whole country, as for processes of social innovation and transfer of knowledge, and entrepreneurship. In light of this, this project has a twofold objective: (i) examine the contexts in which social incubators developed by investigating the case studies of Argentina and Brazil, where incubators have been promoting SSE networks since the 1990s; and (ii) carry out a comparative analysis with the European context, including the gender perspective. The main purpose is to identify and understand all the elements that allow social impact incubators to facilitate processes that contribute to the SSE networks promotion. The research involves two steps: Step 1 – to analyse the processes that underlie the development of an incubator and document its impacts through a comparative study; Step 2 – to understand how SSE networks can be replicated to promote European Goals, by running a pilot study at the University of Calabria (UNICAL). The main objective of the project is to provide insights into the study and interpretation of processes that contribute to the promotion of networks of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). The research also aims at identifying models that can lead to social inclusion and local development. Moreover, the project ESSENTIALS focuses on a specific experience: Social Incubators, in an attempt to encourage socio-economic development of a specific area or of a whole country, regarding processes of social innovation and transfer of knowledge. In particular, the specific objectives, of the project are: Objective 1. Map the incubators and compare the characteristics in Latin America and EU, understanding if there is a relationship between gender and organizational characteristics of an incubator (through WP1) Objective 2. Identify the factors that contribute to the creation of incubators and the impacts of incubators, including the elements that ensure gender equality, through a comparative study (through WP2) Objective 3. Analyse the European context considering the strengths and weaknesses identified and thus develop a pilot study (UNICAL), including the gender perspective (through WP3).

Data: CORDIS, © European Union