Which strategies can stimulate the competitiveness of social enterprises in Emilia-Romagna?
The Italian version of the “Study of the Social Enterprises ecosystem in Emilia-Romagna”, published in the regional series of social sector, is now online.
The “Study on the Social Enterprises Ecosystem in Emilia-Romagna” realized by ERVET has been published within series of the regional thematic publications concerning on social issues.
The publication, written within the framework of RaiSE project has the objective to highlight the main needs expressed by social cooperatives and enterprises in terms of policies and incentives for the improvement of their competitiveness and sustainability.
The research was carried out following two paths of investigation: scientific and on the field.
First of all, existing documents and surveys on the field were analyzed with the contribution of AICCON - Italian Association for the promotion of the Culture of Cooperation and Nonprofit and the project regional stakeholders. The main stakeholders of the project are the Emilia-Romagna the regional services for Social Integration, Contrast to Poverty and Third Sector Policies, the regional service for Education, Training, Employment and Knowledge; Legacoop Sociali Emilia-Romagna, Confcooperative Emilia-Romagna, Third Sector Forum, ASTER, ANCI Emilia-Romagna (National Association Italian Municipalities).
Successively, 21 direct interviews to managers of social cooperatives and enterprises were carried out with the objective to make the main challenges to competitiveness and the training needs of social enterprises emerge more clearly.
The research study produced some useful policy indications that might be included in the regional support policies. In particular, the need was emphasized from the side of social enterprises, to implement services and actions aimed to:
- education, training and skill development
- research and technological transfer
- identification of new organizational models
- creation of networks and clusters
- promotion of innovative impact finance tools
- enhancement of co-design processes even through public-private cooperation
