RaiSE interregional meeting in Edinburgh

Scottish Enterprise hosted the fifth project meeting on 12-14 September 2018.

This RaiSE meeting was integrated with the 10th Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF). This provided RaiSE partners and their regional stakeholders the opportunity to participate in a programme with over 200 sessions and hear presentations led by Government Ministers, social enterprise leaders, practitioners, policy makers, and academics - all dedicated to enhancing the impact and competitiveness of social enterprises across the world.

Wednesday 12th September 2018

Good Practice Workshop

Darah Zahran (Scottish Enterprise) welcomed everyone in Scottish Enterprise premises in Edinburgh. The first workshop, focused on the second Good Practice identified by each region, was facilitated by Wolfgang Haider (ZSI). After each presentation, a peer review was then provided by a nominated regional partner.

SCOTTISH ENTERPRISE: Firstport. Programme and bespoke business support for start-up social enterprises and new social entrepreneurs.
IFKA: “FelVállal”. Consortia implementing a national project that has been designed to promote flexible/family-friendly labour forms.
ERVET: “La Città Verde”. Deliver innovative and efficient services in the field of waste management, green care, urban waste treatment and outdoor furniture promoting the work inclusion of disadvantaged people and circular economy processes.
WESTBIC: Community Services Programme (CSP). Programme that co-founds salaries (financial) and business support (non-financial) to help to deliver a community service, that responds to the goals/challenges identified in a specific group.
ACCIÓ: “Ateneus Cooperatius” Network. Proximity cooperative centres that develop projects and activities to boost the social and cooperative economy in a specific territorial demarcation.
ÖREBRO: The Partnership for Social Innovation. Forum for discussion and action, to find and create new solutions to societal challenges.

Study Visit

Project Partners and Regional Stakeholders participated in a walking tour of Edinburgh’s central landmarks led by a social enterprise, Invisible Cities. The purpose of this tour was to learn more about the socially-led business activity of some key enterprises while viewing some historical parts of Scotland’s capital city. The social enterprises visited were Social Bite, The Melting Pot, Grassmarket Community Project and Harry’s Bar.

Thursday 13th September 2018

Internal management meeting

The RaiSE internal management meeting was held during the second day of the World Forum. Clàudia Danesi (ACCIÓ) welcomed the partnership and provided an overview of the meeting. Paula Santarén (ACCIÓ) explained in detail the current status of the project and the next steps:

Financial management & reporting: improvements & Lessons learnt from Progress Report 2, internal deadlines for future progress reports.
Project management: edition of the Good Practice Guide, Phase 1 Analysis Report (P1AR) and introduction to Action Plans.
Next events & Project meetings: EU Week of Regions & Cities 2018 - INTERACT contest “6 projects, 1 slam” (Brussels, 10th October 2018); Workshop “Cohesion Policy meets Social Enterprises” (Brussels, 11th October 2018); RaiSE project meeting in Ireland (Westport, 28th-31st January 2019); Interregional exchange final conference (Brussels, May 2019).
Communication: update on numbers and next steps.

Phase 1 Analysis Report and Action Plans

Wolfgang Haider (ZSI) explained to the partnership the objectives of Phase 1 Analysis Report (P1AR) that ZSI will prepare by December 2018:

identify strategic challenges ahead in the strengthening of SE regional policies
summarise activities, results and lessons learnt
Prepare/draft the Action Plans for their implementation

Project partners are in charge of writing specific parts of the P1AR. By 20th November 2018, everyone has to submit to ZSI the “National and Regional Framework conditions”.

RaiSE Thematic Workshop: Internationalising Social Enterprises

This Thematic Workshop explored the current Scottish policy and infrastructure for supporting social enterprises to internationalise and expand into overseas markets. In addition, delegates were informed of policy and activities for inward investment encouraging social enterprises based overseas to consider Scotland as their base for operations as they expand into other European countries.

Friday 14th September

All delegates were able to enjoy the final day of the conference including a participative session on Cross-Border collaboration. This session was sponsored by RaiSE with Maria Barasci from IFKA representing the programme as one of the main speakers alongside.