Standardized European Evaluation and Development System for Social Enterprises (SocialSeeds)

Due to the recognition that social enterprises (SEs) can play an important role in overcoming current societal challenges, the interest in them  has increased throughout Europe in recent years. Thus, the Interreg Europe project SOCIAL SEEDS brings together regional and national policymakers dedicated to social change in their regions and countries by improving regional policy instruments. The project also aims to provide policymakers with an evidence-based diagnostic tool that will increase the effectiveness of local and regional action to stimulate growth and employment (especially for marginalized social groups) in social enterprises, and improve their ecosystems in European cities and regions. Therefore, a public measuring and labeling system will be developed specifically for social enterprises. Policy makers can then use this system when choosing policy measures, effectively contributing to the development of the SE sector. In addition, all SOCIAL SEEDS project partners of the will develop regional action plans to serve as a basis for further activities and to support policy tools for SEs.

In 2021, the project consortium was selected to conduct an additional study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social economy.

The SEZ is supporting as a project partner:

- Development of an evaluation system for social enterprises and their regional ecosystems.

- Development of a regional action plan for the promotion of social entrepreneurship in Baden-Württemberg

- Conducting a study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social economy

• Project name acronym: Social Seeds
• Funding: European Commission, Interreg Europe
• Funding budget for all partners: 1,396,800 EUR
• Participating countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia
• Project duration: original project 04/2016 – 03/2021, additional activities 10/2021 – 09/2022