Kennisland to co-organise the European Social Innovation Competition for another 3 years

Kennisland has been involved with designing and organising the European Social Innovation competition++EUSICRead more about Kennisland’s role in organising the European Social Innovation Competition. since the inception of the programme in 2013++First editionThe competition has evolved a lot since the first Academy in 2013. Check out this report on the very first edition. . With this annual competition, we crowdsource the best early-stage social innovation ideas in Europe for a particular topic. Thirty semi-finalists are then selected to receive a mentoring programme, and eventually four winners each receive a € 50.000 euros prize. This month we received the great news that we can continue our work on the competition for the coming three years, as the proposal written by our consortium was selected as the winning bid by the European Commission (DG GROW).  

We will continue our collaboration with the lead partner en renowned UK innovation agency Nesta for designing and implementing the competition the upcoming years. We are also happy to kick off our collaboration with new European partners, namely the communications agencyKennisland is responsible for the mentoring programme for the 30 semi-finalists of the competition. Scholz and Friends, Ashoka Spain and the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL).

Kennisland is responsible for the mentoring programme for the thirty semi-finalists of the competition. Over the last few years, we have supported hundreds of social innovators on issues like increasing social impact, strengthening their project organisation, improving communications, and financial viability. Every year, the competition addresses a different topic: for instance digital inclusion (2017), the integration of refugees and newcomers (2016) and news ways to grow (2015).

By advancing our work for the competition we can continue to empower social innovators all across Europe to effect positive social change in their communities.By advancing our work for the competition we can continue to empower social innovators all across Europe to effect positive social change in their communities. Additionally, we hope to contribute to fostering the movement of social innovators in Europe, and to effectively translate the social and democratic value of these activities to a European level by collaborating with the European Commission. By way of organising the competition, we as an organisation continue to adapt and improve our methodologies for strengthening social innovation, by learning from all the different European partners and social innovators involved.

In short: a lot to look forward to. More information++More information will follow soonIn the meantime, follow us on Twitter for the latest updates. on the 2018 edition of the European Social Innovation Competition will follow soon!