AdvancementS in Social Economy through Technological Solutions

Project Information

ASSETS

Grant agreement ID: 101177874

DOI

10.3030/101177874

EC signature date 29 September 2024

Start date 1 November 2024

End date 31 October 2027

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 2 999 503,75

EU contribution

€ 2 999 503,75

Coordinated by

ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ASSETS (AdvancementS in Social Economy through Technological Solutions)

Reporting period: 2024-11-01 to 2026-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Social Economy (SE) sector constitutes over 10% of all EU enterprises, sustaining around 13.6 million job positions. Despite its significant role,Social Economy Organizations(SEOs) face substantial policy and legal challenges,
including funding shortfalls and difficulties in scaling, underscoring the need for thorough investigation. While often acknowledged as innovative contributors to social inclusion, some criticize them for allegedly advancing a neoliberal
agenda. Controversies persist, primarily due to challenges in measuring the social impact of SEOs and discerning their outcomes compared to mainstream social inclusion providers. To delve into this discussion, there is a pressing need to
enhance evaluation tools for measuring the impact of SE on social inclusion. Although various approaches exist, they are primarily linked to improved accountability and external evaluation guidelines, commonly overlooking local needs and
specificities. Concurrently, transnational reports indicate that SE employees, on average, receive lower compensation, experience more precarious jobs, and face informal working conditions. Therefore, there is an urgent need to broaden
the scope of social impact assessment beyond service beneficiaries, incorporating the impact on SE employees. In this context, technological advancements hold the potential to support SE progression, with platform cooperatives
emerging as influential contributors committed to citizen involvement and improving members' working conditions through collaborative governance. Against these backdrops, ASSETSemploys a four-step strategy to exploreSE'simpact
on social inclusion, quality job provision, and sustainability: conducting research and case studies spanning regions both within and outside the European Union, improving evaluation tools through local integration and technological
advancements, and creating a digital collaborative platform to engage stakeholders and enhance working conditions within SE.

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

During the reporting period, the project delivered substantial scientific and technical progress across its research and analytical work packages. A strong evidence base was established through the completion of systematic and narrative literature reviews, regional examinations, and mixed-methods data collection campaigns across the participating countries. These activities generated a comparative understanding of the role of Social Economy Organisations (SEOs) in promoting social inclusion and quality jobs, as well as of the political, regulatory, and labour conditions shaping the social economy across regions. In parallel, cross-regional research integrated qualitative interviews and quantitative indicators into a coherent comparative framework, while the research on practices beyond the EU expanded the project’s analytical scope with additional international case-based insights. As a result, the project produced a solid empirical and conceptual foundation for the next phases of policy analysis, methodological development, and validation. At methodological level, the project achieved significant progress in the design and preparation of context-sensitive evaluation approaches for SEOs. The Living Labs were successfully established and used as structured co-creation environments to support the participatory design of tools and case-study methodologies. Building on the literature review and co-creation processes, the project further developed and adapted Social Return on Investment (SROI), Social Network Analysis (SNA), and a working conditions assessment survey, ensuring their relevance to local contexts and stakeholder needs. In addition, a shared methodological architecture for the six case studies was completed, including common analytical tools, Theory of Change reconstruction, systemic diagnosis methods, and KPI frameworks. Initial pilot implementation and usability testing confirmed the overall relevance and feasibility of the tools, while also identifying concrete refinements needed in relation to indicator flexibility, methodological guidance, and result visualisation. These outcomes significantly strengthened the project’s scientific robustness and operational readiness for the next implementation phase.On the technical side, the project translated its methodological results into concrete digital specifications and development progress. User requirements for the mobile application, AI-supported functionalities, and community-oriented digital environment were systematically collected and analysed, and these were transformed into technical architecture and functional specifications. The design of the mobile application was completed, and the core assessment methodologies developed by the project were integrated into the application logic through standardised workflows, enabling SEOs to carry out structured self-assessments of social impact and working conditions.

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)

The project has already generated a substantial set of scientific, methodological, and technical results that create a strong basis for long-term impact. At scientific level, the main results include the completion of comparative literature reviews, cross-regional examinations, and mixed-methods data collection across the participating countries, which together provide a robust evidence base on the role of Social Economy Organisations (SEOs) in fostering social inclusion, quality jobs, and locally embedded development. At methodological level, the project has produced context-sensitive evaluation frameworks combining Social Return on Investment (SROI), Social Network Analysis (SNA), working-conditions assessment, Living Lab methodologies, and systemic case-study tools. At technical level, these results have been translated into the design and development of the ASSETS mobile application and related digital components, with the evaluation methodologies already integrated into the application architecture. Taken together, these results position the project to deliver practical tools for SEO self-assessment, organisational learning, and policy support, while also producing transferable knowledge for researchers, public authorities, and ecosystem actors. The potential impacts are significant across scientific, societal, organisational, and policy dimensions. Scientifically, the project contributes new comparative knowledge and integrated methodologies for understanding and evaluating the social economy across diverse territorial contexts. Societally, the Living Labs and case studies are already strengthening participatory knowledge production, stakeholder engagement, and local capacity-building, thereby improving the conditions for more inclusive and democratic social innovation processes. To ensure further uptake and success, several key needs have been identified. First, continued pilot implementation and demonstration are essential in order to further validate the tools under real-life organisational conditions, refine usability, and build user confidence. Second, additional work is needed to finalise and integrate the AI chatbot, community portal, and broader digital cooperative platform so that the project results can evolve from stand-alone tools into a coherent and scalable ecosystem. Finally, successful uptake will require sustained engagement with SEOs, policymakers, and support organisations to ensure that the tools respond to real operational and governance needs.