Events – Page 2 – Better Incubation

EVPA/Social Value UK : Social Impact Measurement and Management Online Course starting 14 September 2021

Posted on August 9, 2021 by Michaela Lednova

Are you interested in taking part in a dynamic and interactive training on measuring and managing social impact?

Are you eager to learn more about how to maximise your impact?

This training is a great opportunity to fully immerse into measuring & managing the impact you generate!

It is a comprehensive online training consisting of self-paced preparation learning, online live sessions and homework assignments. The course has been developed and will be delivered together by European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) and Social Value UK. The interactive live sessions will take place on 14, 16, 21, 23 September 2021; each from 09:00-12:00 CEST (Brussels time).

If you want more information or to register consult EVPA website. Places are limited, make sure to book yours as soon as possible but at the latest until 29 August.

Posted on August 9, 2021

Registrations open for the Madeira Startup Retreat

Posted on July 23, 2021July 23, 2021 by Michaela Lednova

The Incubation Center for startups and business in Madeira Island (Portugal) has launched the registration for the 4^th Edition of Madeira Startup Retreat, a 6-week acceleration program for 10 travel & tourism startups.

This acceleration programme not only enables and improves company culture, but also promotes leisure & networking opportunities to all participants. Selected startups will take part in special curated workshops and mentoring sessions from experienced professionals, while exploring opportunities to grow and scale.

Each startup will be granted €2.500 euros for expenses.

Promoted by Startup Madeira, Turismo de Portugal and NOVA School of Business and Economics, the event will take place from October 6^th to November 19^th, 2021, in Madeira.

The registrations are now open. The interested participants are invited to register until August 20^th2021 at https://retreat.startupmadeira.eu/registration/

If you have any questions about the event, please contact Micaela Vieira, info@retreat.startupdadeira.eu

IN-CUBA Conference to discuss Disability and Entrepreneurship

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Better Incubation

Entrepreneurship is rarely thought about for people with intellectual disability.

Even if there is an openness to supporting people’s ideas and ambitions, setting up and management may be seen as a heavy burden, and the necessary support to do so very difficult to find.

Sometimes, however, what is needed is just a change of perspective to expand the concept of enterprise to embrace something creative, personally fulfilling and validating that is attempted or undertaken, particularly if it requires boldness or courage. Then you need a group of visionary partners that are not afraid of breaking barriers and are willing to involve users and their families in a new adventure; one that develops an “incubator” methodology focussed on people with intellectual disability and based on the principles of co- production.

That was the starting point of IN-CUBA interreg project. Three years, and several focus groups later, they are ready to present the
results of this adventure together with the voiceof its protagonists .

The moment is particularly apposite as we have just seen the launch of the new European Disability Strategy , which will
provide a strong framework for all the EU initiatives in these fields in the next ten years.

We are therefore happy to invite you to the IN-CUBA Conference to discuss Disability and Entrepreneurship through the initiatives
carried out within this Project, present the results of this action, and foster exchanges between all the stakeholders involved: organisations from the social sector, incubators, educators, users, representatives of the public sector, and policy makers.

Check the full event agenda here

ABOUT IN-CUBA project

The IN-CUBA (Incubators for CO-productive Enterprises and Social Inclusion) Project wants to foster social inclusion by developing an incubation methodology based on co-production addressed to people with intellectual disability. Working on co-productive approaches has highlighted the capacity of users to become protagonists and have an active role, opening the doors to new possibilities and further developments. In fact, the scientific literature and several success stories confirm that, through the appropriate support, people with intellectual disability succeed in concretizing ideas through long-term projects, especially projects that lead to the creation of companies. This opens up new opportunities for the development of people’s employability and social inclusion. However, if at present national systems tend to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, these programmes are rarely accessible to people with intellectual disability and no measure is put in place to investigate the potential impact entrepreneurship can generate for them and their entourage.

An incubator is an organisation that helps new and start-up companies to develop by providing support services and enabling access to the resources they need. In the context of IN-CUBA however, we can define incubator as a support for the development of projects and ideas? a methodology based on co-production that supports the development of ideas and projects to transform them into enterprises (considered in its widest meaning).

IN-CUBA aims to support and assess new approaches to the access to entrepreneurship for people with intellectual disability reducing disparities and promoting inclusion. To these goals the action foresees to:

Develop a methodology based on co-production to incubate ideas, identify the ways and source of funding, and transform them in enterprises;
Enable users to be equal partners within the planning and development of a project, thus enhancing self-determination;
Provide opportunities for self-development and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities so that they can be acknowledged as people that can contribute to the development of their community.
Testing the results in dedicated pilot actions aimed at the setting up of enterprises;
Evaluate the impacts of the entrepreneurial process on the quality of life of the users as well as the overall impacts of the project in terms of social inclusion ;
Disseminate project experience and outcomes, also in view of enhancing social representation and promote the adaptation of methodologies at local level;
Promote the development, testing, and implementation of innovative practices in the field of training for professionalisation;
Promote activities that could better prepare professionals on equity, diversity and social inclusion in the training / learning environment.

To these goals, a very committed partnership is engaged in developing a 36 Months action to help addressing diversity and promote shared values, equality, non-discrimination and social inclusion through innovative and integrated approaches. The Project is coordinated by APEMH with the support of ARFIE and it involves 8 partners from 5 European countries.

The project is based on research and analysis and real testing, and all the foreseen activities are based on co-production and will see users as protagonists.

Discover more on www.co-production.eu/in-cuba

Accelerating the SDGs – The role of Crowdfunding in Investing for Impact | EVPA report is out!

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Better Incubation

New research by EVPA explores how impact crowdfunding platforms achieve positive social change by financing social organisations or enterprises that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Crowdfunding’s role in the impact sector has grown in recent years thanks to its unique way of raising funds to support social organisations and enterprises, attracting retail investors and philanthropists to social innovation and enabling them to participate as funders of societal solutions. The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to accelerate this growth, with increasing demand from social start-ups struggling to access financial resources and rising public interest in crowdfunding.

The report “Accelerating the SDGs – The role of crowdfunding in investing for impact” focuses on impact crowdfunding platforms, i.e. investors for impact pooling and managing resources from individuals, as well as public and private sector agencies, to enable social purpose organisations to maximise their social impact, and taking a highly engaged approach to support their investees. Impact crowdfunding platforms can be either grant-based crowdfunding platforms or social investment crowdfunding platforms.

It highlights that crowdfunding platforms can amplify the impact they generate if they find ways to collaborate with other investors for impact, such as foundations, impact funds or financial institutions, or with different types of impact crowdfunding platforms.

For example, foundations can help crowdfunding platforms reduce the risk of campaign failure by providing anchor investments (e.g. providing the first 20-30% of the investment to trigger a campaign), or through match-funding instruments whereby the foundation can match the contribution of the crowd. Crowdfunding platforms can also cooperate by e.g. sharing deal flow with impact funds or banks and financial institutions that support social organisations and enterprises with different repayable instruments, such as debt or equity.

Collaboration between impact crowdfunding platforms and other investors for impact brings key opportunities to the impact ecosystem. Crowdfunding platforms can detect trends, such as the type of supporters attracted, provide insight to policy makers and generate indicators which can help forecast the potential market traction of a product or service. Collecting and leveraging data, for instance by sharing due diligence reports or campaign KPIs, will avoid duplicating efforts and facilitate the development of partnerships.

Establishing long-term partnerships is crucial to enable collaboration, learning from each other and sharing tools and expertise. However, this requires aligned strategies, trust and a significant time and human resources commitment.

“Crowdfunding platforms play a key role in creating positive societal impact and can be a catalyst for new forms of collaboration with different impact players”, said Roberta Bosurgi, CEO of EVPA. “Other investors for impact must be part of this process, to leverage the opportunities that crowdfunding platforms bring and collectively contribute to a sustainable, fair and inclusive future.”

Michele Scataglini, CEO and Co-Founder of Fund4Impact added: “Enabling matchups between startups and funders in a hugely diverse impact agenda across the world requires a digital platform harnessing crowdfunding technology and impact metrics. This not only creates rich data on trends that are valuable to social investors, foundations and all tiers of government, but also teaches startups to intuitively engage in impact measurement from the very beginning, embedding impact measurement within the DNA of the company.”

EVPA will present the new research piece “Accelerating the SDGs – The role of Crowdfunding in Investing for Impact” during a webinar on June 10th. The objective of the E-Talk is to provide a brief introduction into the growing field of crowdfunding, and present selected use cases and examples to illustrate how investors for impact can work alongside crowdfunding platforms.

Source: EVPA website

How to make social entrepreneurship more inclusive? The “Inclusive Social Entrepreneurship Webinar” will explore the role of entrepreneurship in achieving inclusive labour markets and a human-centred economy

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Better Incubation

Building on the Better Incubation initiative and the collaboration between the Caritas Europa network and the Better Incubation project partners, Caritas Europa organises the ‘Inclusive Social Entrepreneurship Webinar’, within the theme of achieving inclusive labour markets and a human-centred economy.

Caritas Europa is indeed a key partner of Better Incubation: we can count on the valuable presence of Shannon Pfohman in our Advisory Board, and 5 Caritas members participating in our Communities of Practise.

For Caritas Europa, an inclusive labour market, which respects the rights and dignity of every worker, is an essential part of a human-centred economy and a key way to foster a more inclusive labour market is through the promotion of the social economy and social entrepreneurship. However, there is still little focus on how to make social entrepreneurship more inclusive and how to develop the entrepreneurial capacities of under-represented groups such as women, migrants/refugees, people with disabilities, youth and seniors, so that they can also pursue social entrepreneurship as a career choice and support their local community. For these groups to be able to access capital, benefit from business support, develop relevant strategic partnerships, and have a strong ecosystem around them, we, as actors involved in social entrepreneurship need to understand their needs and tailor our approach accordingly.

The objective of this webinar is fivefold:

to have a discussion/exchange with strategic partners and EU policymakers on how to make social entrepreneurship more inclusive;
to offer a platform for Caritas members to present their experiences with inclusive social entrepreneurship;
to better understand how strategic partnerships can help drive social entrepreneurship for social inclusion;
to enable new innovative strategic partnerships between Caritas’ members and other stakeholders able to support them;
to better understand from European Commission representatives how EU policies can help advance inclusive social entrepreneurship and facilitate strategic partnerships at national and local level.

Check out the full event description and the programme here

Among speakers, there are also some participants of the Better Incubation Communities of Practises:

> Wingee Sampaio (Cartier Women’s Initiative) – EVPA member and Observer of Better Incubation CoP on Women
> Mariama Njie (Coventry University Social Enterprise CIC) – certified EU|BIC (EBN member) and member of the CoP on Migrants and Refugees

Partnerships for maximising social impact is the topic of the last appointment of the Digital Road to Mannheim event series

Posted on March 25, 2021May 20, 2021 by admin

The European Social Economy Summit: Digital Road to Mannheim will be hosted on April 29 with the theme Partnerships for maximizing social impact.

EBN’s Chiara Davalli will be representing EBN and the Better Incubation project in the panel Insight: Innovation Ecosystems for Social Change – towards a more inclusive and impact driven approach to innovative entrepreneurship at 12.00 CET

Description

There is an undeniable link between strong economies, prosperity, social fairness and sustainable development. In the sustainable transition, the entrepreneurial innovators providing new solutions to tackle the global challenges we experience in our local, regional and national environments are the key enablers. Supporting those who support this new innovative kind of entrepreneurs should be part of the equation. As vehicles for sustainable growth, social and inclusive entrepreneurs are the cornerstones of a rapidly growing social economy sector.

Social entrepreneurship, as a movement and as a term, is moving rapidly into the mainstream. Also, inclusive entrepreneurship, specifically targeting under-represented groups in society can help tackle the growing inequalities Europe is experiencing. Actively including migrants, women and youth has the power to stimulate economic activity through job creation and by empowering individuals. It is about fairness and equity, the realisation of individual aspirations, economic empowerment and growth. It is both a moral and economic imperative.

The next era of entrepreneurship is about raising the bar, levelling the playing field, expanding participation and scaling the networks of social, financial and knowledge capital that provide the foundation for successful and sustainable start-ups and scalable businesses. Business support organisations (BSO), in all their varieties, could expand their scope and increase their role by providing capacity-building and support services to innovative SMEs taking up the call to deliver in the sustainable transition.

Chiara Davalli, Senior Project Leader, European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN)
Ann Branch, Head of Unit, European Commission – DG Employment(tbc)
Kristian Mancinone, Social Inclusion Expert – ART-ER
Rocío Nogales Muriel, Executive Director – EMES

Better Incubation: a network of networks linking incubation actors for inclusive and social entrepreneurship

Posted on February 2, 2021May 20, 2021 by admin

EBN, Impact Hub and EVPA collaborate to formalise knowledge exchange under the Better Incubation programme, powered by the EU-funded Linking Incubation Actors for Inclusive and social Entrepreneurship Project.

During the event launch on 27 January 2021, Ann Branch (Head of Unit, EC, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) highlighted the perfect timing for such a pilot project stimulating mainstream BSOs to broaden their horizons to social and inclusive entrepreneurship: ‘The timing has never been better; it feels like we are beyond a ‘tipping point’ in the sustainability debate. We hope LIAISE can contribute to this bigger picture by bringing these two groups of entrepreneurs onto the radar of mainstream business incubators and mobilising the collective power of European networks’.

On EBN’s side (coordinating the action), CEO Laura Lecci declared to be proud of leading this network of networks and to connect ‘unusual partners’ at the regional and European level, making the most of the different perspectives, skills and expertise towards a more inclusive and sustainable transition: ‘Together with our partners EVPA and IHUB, and with the support of Caritas Europe, Cooperatives Europe, EMES and ENSIE, we will work to provoke an ecosystemic change in Europe’.

There is an undeniable link between strong economies, prosperity, social fairness and sustainable development. Supporting those who support Entrepreneurial innovators providing new solutions to tackle the global challenges should be part of the equation as both a moral and economic imperative.

Already at proposal stage, LIAISE already received more than 60 letters of Supports from European innovation and inclusion players willing to be part of this eco-systemic change.

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