Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The European Social Innovation Competition has selected 30 semi-finalists with ideas on turning local challenges into opportunities for young people in the economy.

Young people are the future. They should have the opportunity to fully participate in the economy. How? By acquiring the right skills, having a well-paid, rewarding job, and creating value for themselves and their community. At the same time, our economy is changing. New technologies, ways of working or migration impact places and communities, bringing both new opportunities and challenges.

The 30 selected projects have been chosen from over 700 entries by the judging panel. They come from all corners of Europe and Horizon 2020 associated countries, with 20 different nations represented.

This year, innovators were asked to take a place-based approach. This meant in order to be successful in the competition, innovations were required to take place in a certain location and respond to specific local conditions, challenges and opportunities.

Full profiles of the 30 semi-finalists are available on the competition’s website.

What’s Next for the Semi-Finalists?

These 30 semi-finalists will attend a social innovation mentoring academy in Cluj in July, where they will receive coaching to progress their ideas. Following the academy, they will submit a detailed development plan of their idea. From these plans, 10 finalists will be selected. Three winners will then be awarded a prize of €50,000 at the awards ceremony in Brussels in October 2017.

The European Social Innovation Competition, launched in memory of Diogo Vasconcelos, is a challenge prize run by the European Commission across all European countries, now in its sixth year. The competition is open to applicants from EU member states and countries associated to Horizon 2020.

Source: eusic.challenges.org