The conference of social innovators, visionaries, representatives of government, business and NGOs “Social Innovation Today and Tomorrow: solutions and opportunities” was held in Vilnius
On 25 April 2023, the European Social Fund Agency organised the first ever conference on “Social Innovation Today and Tomorrow: solutions and opportunities”. The event was the culmination of a successful two-year international project funded by the European Commission, the Pan European Social Innovation Lab (PEnCIL), with ESF Managing Authorities from Belgium, the Czech Republic and Finland as partners. This thematic conference attracted a lot of people interested in social innovation – social innovators, visionaries, representatives of government, business and non-governmental organisations. Participants had the opportunity to hear presentations on the peculiarities of the social innovation ecosystem in Lithuania and the European Union, and to be inspired by the success stories. The discussion on the future of social innovation and its opportunities was equally engaging, and focused on the value of social innovations and what is expected from their developers, what solutions or support social innovators are looking for from the public authorities, what can be the cooperation between the different sectors, and what is lacking today to ensure that the need for social innovations is felt by all and decisions are made as quickly as possible. The presentation “How to communicate Social Innovation to create value” also inspired the participants with good energy and a will to act. ESFA tasked with becoming the National Competence Centre for Social Innovation, aims to be an easily accessible, one-stop shop for all those interested in social innovation, plans to create a networking network of market players in the field of social innovation, to foster synergies between social innovations, to make social innovations more accessible and accessible to beneficiaries, to disseminate best practices and to develop cooperation with the National Competence Centre for Social Innovation in the EU Member States.
