Project description
Social finance as a way to improve society
Despite best efforts, countries often have underdeveloped regions where the public sector cannot address all issues. A likely solution for such regions is the concept of social finance (SF). SF is the use of private funding to boost local development and fulfil a region’s needs for public benefit. Beginning with the Italian region of Sardinia, the EU-funded COPERNICUS project will analyse and evaluate the best approaches regarding SF in order to support underdeveloped regions, contribute to the academic debate on SF and promote networking between involved parties for the benefit of society.
Objective
The purpose of this project is to analyze approaches, methods and instruments of Social Finance (SF) helpful to support Social Enterprises (SEs) localized in some marginal territory of the EU (and especially in Calabria). The project aims: 1) to contribute to the international academic debate on SF, with a focus on the role of SF for SEs through the analysis of the best practices useful for the improvement of the economic wellbeing; 2) to provide better theoretical and practical solutions, by designing tailored financial instruments for the SEs located in Calabria with the aim to develop and to test efficient ways to reduce social exclusion and to promote social innovation; 3) to promote a permanent network between the involved parties with the aim to encourage new financial approaches for a more inclusive society. The relevance of this research project is confirmed by: i) the role of SF and SEs in the European agenda, in the academic debate, and in the challenges for financial systems; ii) the need to overcome the limits of the mainstream finance and to conceptualize a new finance approach able to be a good finance for a more inclusive society, iii) the multidisciplinary approach to the field of SF that involves both social innovation and social entrepreneurship. The innovativeness of the project is related to: i) the combined research approach (deductive/inductive) useful for exploratory studies; ii) the international approach to the topic of SF, that will be explored in collaboration with one of the leading international researcher in the field of SF and one of the most prominent researchers in the field of impact finance. The research activities will be developed through: i) the outgoing phase at Waterloo University; ii) the return phase at UNICA/UNICZ (Sardinia/Calabria). The project will allow the construction of a permanent Excellency Laboratory in Calabria and will promote the development of SF and SEs in such marginal territory.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
88100 Catanzaro
Italy