Welcome to #socialinterreg.

Social innovation matters, and transnational cooperation can help generate and stimulate social innovation. With the #socialinterreg campaign, we want to showcase the added value of social innovation projects in Interreg, especially in the light of the programming process for the next funding period 2021-2027. Learn more about the benefits of #socialinterreg. Explore the profiles of around thirty social innovation Interreg projects. Check their video stories to find out what social innovation means to those who are behind these projects. Engage in the discussion using the hashtag #socialinterreg.

Problem retrieving data from Twitter

Why Social Innovation?

Social innovation is a complex concept, and there is a vast number of definitions. For the purpose of this project, we have decided to adopt the most simple one: social innovations are “innovations that are social both in their ends and their means” (Murray et al., The Open Book of Social Innovation 2010).

In the context of European Territorial Cooperation (Interreg), this means that we are talking about novel approaches (products, services or models) that

  • meet social needs related to the large societal challenges such as demographic change, migration and climate change in cities and regions of the EU and
  • are being created and implemented not in a traditional for-profit setting but in collaborations and networks of the public, private and third sector and – more and more often – citizens and users of services.
If seen in this way, social innovation projects contribute to the overall goals of European Territorial Cooperation and the specific objectives of the various Interreg programmes. They create growth and jobs, foster social inclusion, make cities and regions (including rural areas) more attractive places to live in and bring the European idea and values closer to people who may not be so familiar with or positive about the EU.

We therefore advocate the continuation of support for social innovation in the new Interreg funding period 2021-2027!

Social Innovation Projects

We have collected brief profiles of around thirty Interreg projects that deal with social innovation in one way or another. Please feel welcome to browse through these profiles to explore the wealth and variety of social innovation(s) in Interreg. Click here for extended search options.

SEMPRE
SEMPRE (Social Empowerment in Rural Areas): Outward migration and economic downturn adversely affect the provision ...
SEMPRE Accelerators
SEMPRE ACCELERATORS for Service Co-Creation: SEMPRE Accelerators empowers providers and users of social services to ...
W-POWER
W-POWER (Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in sparsely populated Northern communities): W-Power aims for equal opportunities and ...
Arrival Regions
ARRIVAL REGIONS: The successful integration of migrants can have positive spin-off effects on regions with ...
DelFin
DELFIN (Promotion of Social Entrepreneurship in Rural Regions): European rural regions are facing several societal ...
INDEED
INDEED (Innovation for Dementia in the Danube Region): In times of ageing populations, dementia becomes ...
SENSES
SENSES (Strengthening Social Entrepreneurial Landscape through Involving Socially Responsible Corporate Practices in Entrepreneurial Competences and ...
BaltSe@nioR 2.0
BALTSE@NIOR 2.0 (Providing More Senior-friendly Public Spaces through Increased Capacity of Baltic Sea Region Companies ...
BaltSe@nioR
BALTSE@NIOR (Innovative Solutions to Support Enterprises in the Baltic Sea Region in Product Development Aimed ...

Social Innovation Spotlight

With the Social Innovation Spotlight, we want to give the voice to Interreg people and projects working with social innovation. If you want to feature your project here, just send us an email for the details and tell us about:

  • What does Social Innovation mean to you?
  • What did your project achieve through social innovation?
  • Why is it worth to systematically fund projects working with social innovation?

For ARRIVAL REGIONS, social innovation means developing new and clever ideas, concepts and solutions to deal with major societal challenges – for example immigration of foreign nationals and their integration in rural regions.
Learn more about ARRIVAL REGIONS

ASIS (Alpine Social Innovation Strategy) – For ASIS, social innovation stands for human-centered innovation with a positive impact on society, representing new practices and approaches to societal challenges.
Learn more about ASIS

Jakob from MAMBA explains why social innovation matters in rural mobility and the accessibility of services in peripheral regions. MAMBA aims at improving quality of life in rural areas with new, creative answers to common rural mobility and accessibility challenges.
Learn more about MAMBA.

For Renata from EmPaci (Empowering Participatory Budgeting in the Baltic Sea Region), social innovation means mapping inspirations and designing creative solutions to tackle challenges on both micro and macro levels – as they do it in EmPaci.
Learn more about EmPaci

SIforREF stands for “Integrating Refugees in Society and the Labour Market Through Social Innovation”. For SIforREF, social innovation is a tool to combat the marginalization and involve policy makers and local communities into the integration process.
Learn more about SIforREF.

Gabor from Excellence-in-ReSTI, social innovation is a means to tackle problems related to inequality or education. For this purpose, Excellence-in-ReSTI introduced a new e-learning programme – which also includes a learning module dedicated explicitly to social innovation.
Learn more about Excellence-in-ReSTI.