Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IBESI (Integrated Baltic Ecosystem for Social Innovation)
Período documentado: 2023-01-15 hasta 2024-01-14
Integrated Baltic Ecosystem for Social Innovation (IBESI) is a Horizon Europe project aimed at raising awareness and facilitating access of Baltic States’ social entrepreneurs to the resources of local and pan-European innovation ecosystems. In light of the lack of social enterprises (SEs) with profit-generating business models and their poor integration within existing entrepreneurship ecosystems, the project will take on several initiatives over the next 24 months to achieve its three expected outcomes:
1) Improved 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, the project includes the organisation of three training modules in regional hubs, two topical hackathons for potential social innovators, and two acceleration programmes for SEs in the region with 1:1 mentoring sessions, thematic workshops, and interactive keynotes.
2) Wider access to alternative financing
To improve SEs’ confidence to apply various financial strategies within the framework of the project, the project established three types of activities for more comprehensive access to alternative financing sources for SEs. These include launching crowdfunding pilots with SEs, engaging investors in international skill-sharing workshops to stimulate impact investments, and creating a practical roadmap on alternative financing mechanisms available in the Baltics for easier orientation among the various existing options in place.
3) Tested innovation models with the potential of scaling up and replication
Following the need to facilitate the transnational exchange of best practices about fostering social innovation ecosystems and provide foundations for future coordination between policymakers, the project will organise hybrid study visits for sharing and transferring best policy practices from the Nordic regions to the Baltic context, follow-up workshops for embedding learnings, and compile a report on best policy practices.
The project consortium comprises 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
1) Improved 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, the project includes the organisation of three training modules in regional hubs, two topical hackathons for potential social innovators, and two acceleration programmes for SEs in the region with 1:1 mentoring sessions, thematic workshops, and interactive keynotes.
2) Wider access to alternative financing
To improve SEs’ confidence to apply various financial strategies within the framework of the project, the project established three types of activities for more comprehensive access to alternative financing sources for SEs. These include launching crowdfunding pilots with SEs, engaging investors in international skill-sharing workshops to stimulate impact investments, and creating a practical roadmap on alternative financing mechanisms available in the Baltics for easier orientation among the various existing options in place.
3) Tested innovation models with the potential of scaling up and replication
Following the need to facilitate the transnational exchange of best practices about fostering social innovation ecosystems and provide foundations for future coordination between policymakers, the project will organise hybrid study visits for sharing and transferring best policy practices from the Nordic regions to the Baltic context, follow-up workshops for embedding learnings, and compile a report on best policy practices.
The project consortium comprises 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
During the first period of the project the following activities were carried out:
- 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. the secondary goal was to also transfer knowledge to and build capacities among traditional innovation actors, e.g. hub managers, about social entrepreneurship. Three 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 hackathons – “Impact Hackathon” and “Impact Crash Course” were conducted. The goal of the “Impact Hackathon” was to support the development of early-stage business ideas and potentially the creation of new social enterprises. The aim of the “Impact Crash Course” was to help existing NGOs to take the next step to become more entrepreneurial by developing new revenue streams and business models and thus increase their financial stability. 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. The first batch was highly successful, supporting 15 teams, both impact businesses and non-profit associations, over a span of five months.
- 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 social enterprises in the Baltic countries. Encompassing public and private sources from within the entrepreneurship ecosystem, it outlines various instrument types. Prior to the IBESI project, such comprehensive material did not exist for the SEs in the region.
- Altogether the various activities connected the social innovation stakeholders with the wider innovation ecosystem through trainers, mentors, and investors of various backgrounds.
- 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. the secondary goal was to also transfer knowledge to and build capacities among traditional innovation actors, e.g. hub managers, about social entrepreneurship. Three 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 hackathons – “Impact Hackathon” and “Impact Crash Course” were conducted. The goal of the “Impact Hackathon” was to support the development of early-stage business ideas and potentially the creation of new social enterprises. The aim of the “Impact Crash Course” was to help existing NGOs to take the next step to become more entrepreneurial by developing new revenue streams and business models and thus increase their financial stability. 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. The first batch was highly successful, supporting 15 teams, both impact businesses and non-profit associations, over a span of five months.
- 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 social enterprises in the Baltic countries. Encompassing public and private sources from within the entrepreneurship ecosystem, it outlines various instrument types. Prior to the IBESI project, such comprehensive material did not exist for the SEs in the region.
- Altogether the various activities connected the social innovation stakeholders with the wider innovation ecosystem through trainers, mentors, and investors of various backgrounds.
The project is still ongoing and this section can be filled out as part of the final report