The UK government announced on 26^th March that £9.5billion of EU money will be spent across the UK over the next 7 years. A discussion on EU Structural & Investment Funds (SIF) 2014-2020 took place that day in London, attended on behalf of Euclid Network by Executive Director Filippo Addarii. You can find Filippo's follow-up note, which has also been sent to BIS and some other Whitehall departments, here.

Euclid Network has called for more money to be set aside to allow for social innovation to lead the way for civil society. We recognise that Michael Fallon, the lead minister, has been listening to social enterprises and charities, with this money representing the possibility of making a real difference to people's lives.

Euclid Network has also been looking to explore what the UK can learn from elsewhere in Europe and vice versa, and as such we have been gathering ideas and good practice. Following a request last week, we've a received a range of feedback detailing examples of best practice in using EU structural funds to foster social innovation, social enterprise and impact investing. Thank you to all those who gave their valuable input; a selection of the comments are below.

Relevant European readings can be found at the bottom of the page.

In its last report Social Innovation Europe addresses the need for systemic innovation, innovation that addresses a whole system and all its interrelated parts (i.e. entire health systems, including hospitals, doctors, insurance, care services, infrastructure, technology etc.).

But why is systemic innovation important? Europe has seen an increase in complex challenges, from high unemployment to climate change. Public institutions are overwhelmed with the tasks faced and the market does not seem to be able to pick up neither, in a climate of economic crisis. What is already happening on a large scale is social innovation, i.e. different initiatives that try to tackle these challenges on the ground. However, in order to be effective, these thousands of initiatives in Europe need to be connected and coordinated. Systemic innovation involves the fundamental transformation of the systems of society on which we depend (healthcare, housing, education, or energy). No single organisation or sector can achieve this, but it needs complex interaction of public policy and reforms to legislation, change to business cultures and practices, as well as shifts in consumer attitudes and behaviour.

This report (download here) discusses strategies for systemic innovation and policy recommendations how systemic social innovation could be supported at European level.

On the 21st March, an event took place to present the results of a year's work on an initiative to make social innovation part of the Italian government's new agenda. The event saw Fabrizio Cobis, director of Ministry of Education and Innovation, deliver a moving admission that this year working with social innovation agenda was a life journey that changed his view and erased the distinctions between citizens and public administration.

On behalf of Euclid Network, Filippo Addarii was invited to attend the event, which was presented by minister Profumo, to report on EU policies.

Filippo said: "I must confess that for once in my life I agreed with the vision of an Italian politician, and felt proud of my folk. Bravo minister!

Bravi the young team he selected a year ago to develop the first Italian social innovation agenda. Dario Carrera, president of Euclid Network's Italian partner ISIN is one of those young experts and he involved many Italian and foreign members of Euclid Network in developing the agenda."

Today saw the launch of the digital platform for next month’s Mediterranean Forum in Marseille, annalindhforum.org, with the latest information on the Forum’s strategic debates, ‘Agora’ workshops and ‘Medina’ good practice exchange.
To read more, click here.
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