Clusters of Social and Ecological Innovation

therefore the work started from the 'Traditional Industrial Cluster' concept: "Clusters are groups of specialised enterprises, often SME's, and other related supporting actors in a location that cooperate closely Together, SME's can be more innovative, create more jobs, and register more international trademarks and patents than alone"

The working group developed on the basis of their activities the concept Clusters of social and ecological innovation.

Clusters of Social and Ecological Innovation (CSEI) group social economy enterprises, mainstream enterprises, civil society organisations, local authorities and education and research institutions that cooperate in a particular location to improve local economic, ecological and societal prosperity. The cluster offers a jointly managed legal entity or structure carrying supporting projects and services for the members. Fields of activity are very diverse, and in most cases cross-sectoral.

Most known activities of CSEI  focus on ecology, circularity, employment and job inclusion, local food and sustainable agriculture, incubation and social entrepreneurial support, education activities etc. The role of social economy enterprises is key in such clusters as they are usually initiators and wish to complement their individual economic activities with joint projects: mainly setting up joint services, pooling of resources and building a joint innovation capacity. The latter is usually driven by social innovation, potentially resulting in digital, technological, process, product and service innovations. Some cluster experiment specifically on more environmental or green innovations, mostly targeting circularity, biodiversity and clean energy provision. 

Often, CSEI grow out of grass-rooted experimental projects and become instrumental to regenerate economic activity, create new enterprises and jobs and revitalize socially and economically stricken areas. Other CSEI are initiated by local authorities, have similar objectives and are supposed to be driven by a strong public-private partnership.  For both, many CSEI should not be strictly seen as social economy populated structures, as they might include many ‘mainstream enterprises’ that subscribe themselves into the cluster’s ambition.

The model of a CSEI can be seen as a European concept inspired by the French ‘Pôles territoriaux de coopération économique (PTCE)[1] and a set of similar clusters collected during an explorative mapping by a dedicated GECES working group. The findings of this working group are published in a report expected for the summer of 2021. This report explored how CSEI arise, their purpose, structures, member services and financial means. This working group has also facilitated the access of CSEI to the new European Cluster Collaboration Platform, which will allow CSEI to enjoy access to cluster support measures and the wider EU cluster network. 

We welcome Social economy clusters to register their initiative in this platform and become a member of the European cluster community!

[1] In 2020 France counts 56 functioning PTCE, which is not considering those in a first stages of development. http://lelabo-ess.org/-poles-territoriaux-de-cooperation-economique-36-.html

If you are interested in CSEI or you want to flag our attention to your CSEI, please contact GROW-SOCIAL-ENTERPRISE: GROW-SOCIAL-ENTERPRISE@ec.europa.eu

Next to the report, you will also find an overview of cases that were collected across Europe and a set of thematic analyses contributed by experts in the working group.

The report is still under construction. A first draft will be shared will be shared with GECES members. A final version with thematic approaches will be finished by July 2021.

CSEI @EUSES Mannheim

The working group will organise a dedicated workshop during the European Social Economy Summit in Mannheim. The workshop will be on day 2 (27/5 from 11/30-13:00).

Program

The cluster model is characterised by a consistent set of common interests, values and principles and different forms of cooperation among its members to pursue them. Therefore, it can be a valuable model to social economy enterprises that search for new strategies and development perspectives, especially having as a background the socio-ecological transition locally.

Session overview

CSEI cases:

- Gerd De Wilde, Circularium - Brussels, Belgium

- Giovanni Ginocchini, Director Fondazione Innovazione Urbana Bologna - Italy

- Klastr sociálních inovací a podniků (Social Innovation and Enterprise Cluster: SINEC) - Czech Republic

- Hugues Sibille, Labo de l'ESS – Le modèle des PTCE & Rapporteur GECES Working group 'Clusters of Social & Ecological Innovation' - France

Panel discussion

Chair: Miss Vereadora Ana Umbelino, Rapporteur GECES Working group 'Clusters of Social & Ecological Innovation'

- Antonio Novo - European Cluster Alliance Antonio Novo, Spain.

- Peter Czaga - Policy officer DG GROW Cluster Policy, European Commission

- Katarzyna Rull Quesada, President of the UNIMOS Foundation (institutional coordinator of AgroBioCluster), researcher at the Warsaw School of Economics – Poland.

Registrations: https://www.euses2020.eu/#_tickets

• Public Procurement
• Skills
• Local Investments and local development
• Joint Investment schemes
• Inclusive Employment
• Quality assessments and labels
• Corporate environmental policy and projects

• Smart Guide on Cluster policy: https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/news/smart-guide-cluster-policy-published
• Cluster Observatory: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/cluster/observatory_en
• Overview of Cluster support programs in EU and beyond; https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/news/report-cluster-programmes-europe-and-beyond
• Cluster Conference 2019 (incl. workshop on social impact and shared value within clusters): https://www.eucluster2019.eu/en
• Partnership on smart specialisation - Social Economy: 6 regional clusters on industrial modernisation: https://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/social-economy
• A practical and hands-on guide for local economic development focussing on retail sector: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/d606c517-4445-11e8-a9f4-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
  • Related working group activities: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/content/workshop-revitalising-and-modernising-small-retail-sector_en