In the framework of the SocialTech4EU project, funded by the European Union, through the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), 100 social enterprises from the EU were awarded for financial support for training.
Empowering 100 Social Enterprises Across 19 Countries: €3,000 Training Grants
The call was open until 21 April 2023 for all social enterprises across EU and non-EU countries eligible for COSME programme. The awarded SEs are from Italy, Romania, Germany, Sweden, Spain Belgium, Poland, Greece, Croatia , Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Türkiye.
Social entrepreneurs are very excited about this opportunity as these trainings will help them grow their businesses and upskill their teams. Most of them aim to have training that will help them develop new products and services, improve their marketing strategies, enhance their brand positioning and growth, or acquire knowledge about innovation and new business management tools.
The research on the needs and barriers preventing social enterprises from innovating, embracing the twin transition (which was carried out at the start of the project and involved over 350 EU social enterprises), revealed that lack of skills was in the top 3 barriers which hinders innovation and digitization. The need for training was in the top 3 priorities to accelerate innovation and digitization. In this context, the financial support for trainings offered by the SocialTech4EU project is very relevant to the main project’s goal – to support social enterprises to innovate, to scale, to become more resilient and to accelerate the twin transition.
Each social enterprise will have 3,000 euros available for training (for one or more courses and for one or more employees in the team).
The trainings will take place between August and October 2023, and the suppliers must be selected from the Map of Social Economy Stakeholders and Support Providers – a tool that was created within the project.
Training providers, business accelerators/incubators, research centers, and universities are invited to join the Map of Social Economy Providers
Organisations that want to appear in this Map can register throughout the entire project duration (here is the Registration link). The following categories are eligible: training providers, business accelerators/incubators, research centers, universities. In addition, this Map can be a useful tool for any social enterprise that is looking for partners to support them in scaling, growth, and twin transition.
Innovation Open Call within SocialTech4EU: further support up to € 20.000.
The awarded SEs are further eligible to apply for the Innovation Call – Financial support for to carry out a feasibility study, in collaboration with providers (also from the Map), for the development of an innovation project for their organisation.
Applicants to this Call can request financial support up to € 20.000. At least 20 social enterprises will be selected (only the awarded SEs in the first call can participate in the call. Deadline to apply is 18 October 2023.