Integrated Baltic Ecosystem for Social Innovation

Project Information

IBESI

Grant agreement ID: 101096680

DOI

10.3030/101096680

Project closed

EC signature date 23 November 2022

Start date 15 January 2023

End date 14 January 2025

Funded under

• European innovation ecosystems

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 498 927,50

Coordinated by

BALTIC INNOVATION AGENCY OU
Estonia

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - IBESI (Integrated Baltic Ecosystem for Social Innovation)

Reporting period: 2024-01-15 to 2025-01-14

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Integrated Baltic Ecosystem for Social Innovation (IBESI) aimed at raising awareness and facilitating access of Baltic States’ social entrepreneurs to the resources of local and pan-European innovation ecosystems. Te project took on several initiatives over 24 months with the objectives to:
1) To strengthen the social economy of the Baltic States and improve connections with innovation ecosystems
To expand entrepreneurs’ knowledge about social innovation, support the creation of new SEs in the nascent Baltic market and foster greater interconnectivity among SEs and innovation actors
2) Enable wider access to alternative financing
The project launched crowdfunding pilots with SEs, engaged with investors in international skill-sharing workshops to stimulate impact investments, and created a practical roadmap on alternative financing mechanisms available in the Baltics.
3) Test innovation models with the potential of scaling up and replication
The project organised workshops for sharing and transferring best policy practices from the Nordic regions to the Baltic context.
The project consortium included four experienced social economy and innovation support organisations from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden. All partners of the consortium have long-term experience and are among the key organisations operating in the social economy sector in the Baltic Sea Region: Baltic Innovation Agency, Social Enterprise Estonia, Katalista Ventures, Reach for Change

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The training module “Social Enterprise from Niche to Norm” was developed for existing traditional business hubs. The main objective of the training pilots was to inform traditional startups and businesses about social entrepreneurship and social innovation concepts. 3 pilots were conducted, once in each Baltic State.
Three virtual workshops were organized for the investor community to draw in experience from the Nordic region for building capacity and interest among existing and potential Baltic SE investors.
Two SE hackathons were conducted. These supported the development of early-stage business ideas and the creation of new SEs as well as assisted existing NGOs to take the next step to become more entrepreneurial by developing new revenue streams and business models. 29 teams benefited from the hackathons.
The “Impact Valley Accelerator” aimed to support the development and growth of social enterprises/impact businesses to help them become more financially resilient, scale, and eventually fundraise. Both patches were highly successful, supporting 30 teams.
The project ran a “Crowdfunding pilot” to introduce crowdfunding as an alternative form of finance to over 30 social enterprises. The evaluation provides rich findings to improve future alternative finance SE support programmes in the Baltics.
A Scaling Social Innovations event series was organized for regional policy makers and other social innovation stakeholders. The goal was to facilitate exchange of best practices in supporting social innovation. Over 80 participants.
An “Alternative Finance Roadmap” was published. The main goal of the roadmap is to provide a quick overview of key funding and financing instruments accessible to SEs in the Baltic countries.
The “Social Innovation Best Practices” report showcases best practices in social innovation across the Nordic and Baltic regions and serves as a practical resource for policymakers, social entrepreneurs, and stakeholders.
A “Replication Toolkit” was created which includes the project’s main insights and materials: https://bia.ee/ibesi-replication-toolkit/.
Throughout the project, the consortium fostered interlinkages between various actors in the Baltic ecosystem through the ‘Impact Community’ on Slack. Community of 600+
Altogether the various activities connected the social innovation stakeholders with the wider innovation ecosystem through trainers, mentors, and investors of various backgrounds.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

- SE training module “Social Enterprise from Niche to Norm” for traditional business hubs - The designed curricula has high replicability in other contexts as it is well suited for introducing social entrepreneurship to unfamiliar audiences. The backbone of the programme is a rich selection of local SE examples and the training incorporates interactive learning methods.
- Impact Hackathon/Impact Crash Course - A novel methodology for working with early stage social entrepreneurship ideas. The 2 week long "hackathon" programme helped rough ideas to become more mature, with some leading to the set up of new legal entities and continued work in the area. The Impact Crash course was an interesting approach to help existing NGOs to take the next step to become more entrepreneurial and increase their financial stability.
- Impact Valley Accelerator - The Impact Valley Accelerator methodology is worth replicating as it proved to be very successful. It is unusual to have a 30/30 retention of teams in a programme throughout. Impact Valley has several characteristics that distinguish it from other accelerator programmes. 1. strong emphasis on impact (framework, measurement, impact investing) 2. extensive 1on1 chief mentoring that helps to guide teams towards the right direction and to unlock several business cooperation doors. 3. multiple networking opportunities with the investor community. The participant and mentor feedback was also very positive, two teams have already raised funds and several are in the process.
- Alternative Finance Roadmap - Prior to the IBESI project, such comprehensive material did not exist for the SEs in the region. The main goal of the roadmap is to provide a quick overview of key funding and financing instruments accessible to social enterprises in the Baltic countries. Beyond being a guide for SEs it also is a great basis for those who want to do further research or advocate for new financial instruments (as the report hilights the fundinging gaps in the ecosystem).
- The Replication Toolkit - It is a simple and easy way to summarize a project's core results on an attractive web-based landing page - is a replicable model for other projects in any area; especially for CSA projects. It is a method to further work with the project results, to replicate them and ensure sustainability of project results.

Impact Valley Demo Day Networking (16.05.2024)

Impact Valley Demo Day in Vilnius (16.05.2024) (photo by Gražvydas Jovaiša)

Scaling Social Innovations hybrid event in Stockholm (22.05.24)

Impact Valley Demo Day in Vilnius (05.12.23) (photo by Gabrielius Jauniskis)

Project logo

Social Innovation Best Practices

Alternative Finance Roadmap

Impact Valley Demo Day in Vilnius_2 (16.05.2024) (photo by Gražvydas Jovaiša)

Scaling Social Innovations hybrid event in Tallinn (23.05.24)

Scaling Social Innovations hybrid event in Riga (23.05.24)