Project summary

The SEED2SCALE project aims to establish and activate 5 National Competence Centers for Social Innovation (NCCs) in the involved partner Countries: Croatia, Greece, Italy, Romania and Slovenia. It builds on the legacy of the SEED project developed between 2021 and 2023 in 4 of the mentioned Member States (all except Croatia) where the blueprints for the Competence Centers were outlined in a co-design process involving not only the project partners, but also a wider ecosystem of stakeholders.

The ambition of SEED2SCALE is to reach a more mature stage of the National Competence Centers for Social Innovation, where each of them can rely on a defined legal framework and has developed and implemented effective and shared governance and business models. This process includes a deeper analysis of the contextual frameworks in each Country, as well as a constant dialogue with the ESF+ Managing Authorities and the ecosystems of innovation (including lower level of governance, the private for profit sector, the nonprofit sector, community-based groups, individual innovators). This exchange will be crucial in the process of better defining the competences that the NCCs have to develop to play a relevant role in fostering new relationships within the SI ecosystems, identifying, supporting and upscaling best practices, offering professional resources, raising the awareness and knowledge of the impact of the Social Innovation approach on a number of policies.

By adopting the systemic approach, SEED2SCALE implements the following actions to reach the expected outputs:

• The establishment of 5 National Competence Centers for Social Innovation with defined organisational structure, mission and governance.
• The activation of the Core Competences that each NCC should offer, through a needs assessment, the development of the Competences Portfolio and its testing, validation and consolidation through the performance of 5 pilot projects in the Partner Countries.
• The collaboration with an extended network of public authorities and national stakeholders in co-designing National Strategies and Action Plans on Social Innovation. This activity includes the effort to involve the private sector in the financial sustainability of Social Innovation policies and actions that will be identified in the National Strategies and Action Plans.
• The development and implementation of Online National Platforms as NCCs resource center hubs, meaning the online interface where information, services, resources, tools, best practices will be available and easily accessible (in national languages) for a growing audience of potential beneficiaries.
• The participation in a transnational network of organisations committed to create NCCs in all EU Member States and the development of opportunities for peer learning and transnational exchange of knowledge.

Coordinator Contact Details

Project main results:

• 5 running National Competence Centers on Social Innovation in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and Romania
• 5 pilot capacity building programs
• 5 National Strategies and Action Plans for Social Innovation
• 5 national online platforms
• 2 festivals on social innovation