Réconcilier ESS et Tech : un défi clé de la transition numérique

Réconcilier ESS et Tech : un défi clé de la transition numérique

by | 21 Jul 2020 | Editorial, SOGA dans la presse

Réconcilier ESS et Tech : un défi clé de la transition numérique

Réconcilier ESS et Tech : un défi clé de la transition numérique. À l’heure où le numérique transforme les modes d’action collectifs, comment l’Économie Sociale et Solidaire (ESS) peut-elle tirer parti de ces outils sans dénaturer ses valeurs ?
Cet article du The Conversation signé Éléonore Delanoë et Arthur Gautier apporte un éclairage indispensable sur cette question.

Une révolution numérique qui bouscule l'ESS

Le numérique offre à l’ESS des leviers puissants : ciblage de publics désemparés, diffusion d’actions solidaires à grande échelle, transparence des financements, mesure d’impact grâce à l’intelligence artificielle…
Pourtant, son adoption reste inégale, freinée par des obstacles techniques, organisationnels et financiers.

Pourquoi l’ESS a tant à gagner (et à craindre) avec la tech

  • Inclusion et formation : La fracture numérique persiste parmi les publics vulnérables. L’ESS doit intégrer les compétences numériques mais aussi les valeurs et usages associés.

  • Modèles économiques adaptés : Les projets ESS reposent souvent sur des structures horizontales ou coopératives qui nécessitent des outils abordables, ouverts, et alignés sur leurs valeurs.

  • Transparence et confiance : Le numérique peut renforcer la confiance des donateurs et bénéficiaires grâce à des processus clairs et traçables.

Ce que cela signifie pour le SOGA

Cette réflexion rejoint notre conviction au Social Good Accelerator : le numérique n’est pas une fin, mais un moyen puissant d’inclusion, d’action collective et d’impact partagé.
Nos actions s’attachent à développer une tech qui respecte les principes de l’ESS : coopération, transparence, utilité sociale.

À lire ensuite

Consulter l'article complet de The Conversation

How EU institutions are preparing Social Economy response? Interview of Denis Stokkink

by | 13 May 2020 | Communs & plaidoyer, Editorial, Revue de presse



Denis Stokkink, Board member of SOGA EU, founding president of the Brussels-based European think & do tank POUR LA SOLIDARITÉ-PLS. An economist and lecturer in social economy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, he is also general rapporteur of the European Commission’s Group of Experts on Social Entrepreneurship (GECES). He gives us a progress report on the current state of play of the European institutions mobilised for the Social Economy and the role of GECES during the Covid crisis.

Can you tell us more about the genesis of GECES (2012-2017) ?

Denis Stokkink : “In its Communication on the “Social Entrepreneurship Initiative” (October 25th, 2011), the European Commission announced the establishment of a “Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group on Social Entrepreneurship” which will review the progress of the measures envisaged by this Communication. (…) this group could be composed of representatives from Member States, local authorities, social entrepreneurship organisations, the banking and financial sector, and the academic world”. 

This group of experts for the Social Economy at the European Commission (GECES) has therefore been set up for 6 years (2012-2017) in order to be consulted by the EU Commission in the framework of the social entrepreneurship initiative and on other issues related to social entrepreneurship and the social and solidarity economy.

The roadmap of this first GECES ended in 2016, with a General Report to the Commission. It listed, inter alia, five positive contributions of the Social Economy to the development of the EU and thirteen recommendations for concrete actions to take full advantage of the potential of social enterprises to address the four main problems faced by social economy actors and social enterprises: a lack of visibility, recognition and identity; difficulties in accessing finance; an inadequate legal framework and a serious lack of European programmes, networks and support mechanisms.”

What is the new GECES roadmap (2017-2023)?

Denis Stokkink : “In 2017, new commitments have been made and are being steered by the Taskforce co-chaired by Ann Branch (DG Employment) and Ulla Engelmann (DG Grow).

The new GECES has seen its members renewed and was constituted with the will to meet regularly the members to discuss the future of HE in Europe. Two subjects are the subject of a more developed consultation: solidarity finance (a report submitted at the end of 2019 will be presented at the European Summit in Mannheim at the end of November 2020) and ecological and social innovation clusters with Hugues Sibille, Denis Stokkink and Ana Umbelino as rapporteurs. A report with 30 good practices published in 2019, new report will also be presented in Mannheim.”  


How did EU Social economy experts respond to the Covid crisis and how do they prepare Mannheim European Summit?

Denis Stokkink : The GECES continues to work actively by exchanging between public and private experts and the European Commission on the possibilities of highlighting SSE. 

The members met on 29 April to share :

  1. Sectoral “Bottum up” initiatives from Social economy and civil society in the territories to respond to the challenges that enable, in particular, precarious populations to propose social innovations in emergency/transitional society situations. For example, DG Grow has worked to reference the social economy initiatives created across Europe on Covid 19 (DG GRow) and to set up a support unit that offers webinars of actors from the European Social Economy community.
  2. The vision and ambitions of European Social Economy actors, taken up by the European Commissioner for Employment Nicolas Schmidt during a speech on Q&A, to help prepare the European Commission’s action plan for the SSE, in the 2nd quarter of 2021. Nicolas Schmit also sent a letter to the national authorities of all EU Member States, stressing the importance of SSE responses in the territories and the importance of significant economic rescue measures directed towards Social Economy actors. All GECES members were enthusiastic about Commissioner Schmidt’s announcement that he is truly committed to giving SSE the means to develop.

    The next meeting of the GECES will take place on 18 June on the preparation of the European Social Economy Summit in Mannheim.

    How the European Commission brought hackers & makers in the fight against Covid19?

    by | 12 May 2020 | Editorial, Revue de presse

     




    by Arnaud Castaignet, Board Member & Tech EU expert, Estonia.




    If much can be discussed about the contribution of European institutions to the fight against the pandemic, an interesting aspect is that they quickly embraced the idea that Tech for good communities of innovators, start-ups and makers of all sorts could contribute to develop innovative solutions to be deployed to alleviate the negative consequences of the corona crisis.

    Two main initiatives have been supported by the European Commission.

    This joint event between the European Commission and actors from similar national initiatives from Member States has been organised on 24 – 26 April with public officials such as Blazenka Divjak (Croatia’s Minister of Science and Education) and Pedro Duque (Spain’s Minister for Science and Innovation), private partners from the European tech community such as Daniel Ek (co-founder and CEO of Spotify), Peter Vesterbacka (creator of Angry Birds) and Juan de Antonio (Founder and CEO of Cabify) and organisations such as the French Refugee Council, Women In Tech Portugal and European Association for the Defense of Human Rights, to name a few.

    A total of 117 innovative solutions to tackle the coronavirus have been selected and some notable winners were Aidbind (Bulgaria, Germany, Malta, Sweden, Switzerland) for their solution to the information gap between demand, supply and funding of medical products, procured via donations and charity and Bankera Business Care (Lithuania) for their solution to provide SMEs with short-term financing to cover their liquidity needs during times of crisis.

    This event was held on 9 – 12 April and has been initiated by 3 Estonian organisations Garage48, Accelerate Estonia and Guaana that already organised Estonia’s Hack the Crisis hackathon on 13-15 of March. It gathered 12,000+ participants from 98 countries and received the active support and participation of organisations such as the UN SDG Action Campaign, the European Space Agency, the European Investment Bank, EU4Digital, Hack for Italy, Blockchain Philanthropy Foundation, World Cleanup Day, Business Finland, Innovation Centre Kosovo, to name a few.

    Among notable winners, there are Berlin-based SunCrafter, a solar powered disinfection station using UV light that doesn’t need maintenance and produces no waste and is already going to be implemented in Ghana, and Act on Crisis (Lithuania), a platform in which professionals can provide emotional support through phone calls to people with increased anxiety due to lockdowns. 

    Many online hackathons have been organised across Europe since the beginning of March. The largest hackathon has been the one organised in Germany on 20 March for 48 hours with 42869 participants who developed 800 projects.

    • No magic wounds but a proof that EU #SocialGoodTech Community has a lot to offer

    Of course, no technology and none of these initiatives pretend to “solve” the pandemic. The real heroes are the doctors and health workers currently saving lives and risking theirs, often lacking basic medical equipment such as masks, gloves, tests or ventilators. However, this pandemic highlighted the need for countries and organisations to be agile and adaptable.

    Across Europe, the makers community and networks of small-scale DIY manufacturers have played a relevant role and mobilized to fix the shortage of medical supply. The names of Cristian Fracassi and Alessandro Romaioli may not sound familiar but you have probably heard about their story. They are the 2 engineers who turned Decathlon’s snorkelling kits into emergency ventilator masks. In France, Covid-Initiatives platform, initiated by the French network of fablabs, gathered the community of makers to direct them where emergency PPE was needed.

    Hopefully, collaboration between European institutions and such communities is going to continue after this crisis. The European Commission has shown it can act quickly to support innovative initiatives and put the right financial support into them. But EU Social good Tech community would need durable investments and skills reinforcement to proove all its potential in the next few years.

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    Data & Philanthropy : how to accelerate impact through partnerships for the Common Good ?

    by | 3 Jul 2019 | Communs & plaidoyer, Editorial

    Last Thursday, May 23rd, we were at the Annual Forum of the European Foundation Center in Paris, an edition that promoted French values under the banner of “Liberty, Equality, Philanthropy…”. The opportunity for the 800 participants representing foundations from all over Europe to discover the specificities and philanthropic commitments of France with the Fondation de France, Fondation La France s’engage , Schneider Electric and Accenture.
    At the end of the day, a central theme for the patronage sector was brilliantly debated. Report and perspectives of this late afternoon on “Data and Philanthropy”, whose central issue was: “How can philanthropy have a systemic, rather than an occasional, impact through data? »
    We, along with Generation2 – Connection Philanthropy collaboration, offer here a sum up of the discussion and concrete illustration from our ecosystem.

    This paper has initially been published in French on Carenews.


    The different uses of data in philanthropy

    Stefaan Verhulst, co-founder and director of research and development at GovLab, introduced the debate with a very precise taxonomy, highlighting how data collection and analysis can help develop philanthropy.

    1. Datas as an asset for philanthropy: Datas can become a useful tool for the continuous improvement of philanthropy, which will allow for better analysis of needs, and adaptation of responses and solutions, as well as improved impact assessment. Wenabi, the first platform to simplify companies’ social commitment, mobilize their employees and effectively measure the impact of the solidarity actions carried out, illustrates this well. This platform also proposes to measure and evaluate the impact of companies, in particular through an integrated reporting tool, in order to monitor all the actions carried out and to measure their impact on employees and beneficiary associations.

    2. Datas as a financing compass: they allow funds to be better directed. For example, philanthropy can invest in the digital transition of the non-profit sector (data ventures). On the condition, of course, that you equip yourself with tools that facilitate the management, analysis and selection of incoming projects. The Optimy tool (Belgium) has made it possible to transform the cumbersome process of calls for foundation projects, which has thus gained in transparency and efficiency. But data sharing between foundations, provided that the GDPR is respected, could go further. In addition, digital technology can lead a prospective action, like chatbots philanthropy advisors, as is the case for the association 30 Million d’Amis, which offers a chatbot providing advice to pet owners in the summer period, in order to limit the risk of abandonment. Another example is Alexa, the Amazon compound, which, for the American Red Nose Day, encouraged people to give, which is a real novelty.

    3. Data as a tool for advocacy and activism: the analysis of global and shared data can also help to develop arguments and lead collective movements. Major online petition platforms such as Change.org and Avaaz have launched the movement, but the media are also beginning to associate storytelling with call to actions, such as Konbini and her latest collaboration with the media France inter around the day “Plastic, no thank you”. According to Stefaan Verhulst, many foundations are investing in this transition, and more and more are using data to guide their strategy.

    4. Data as a political vision: Philanthropy is expected to play an increasing role in the development of public policies regarding data. This is the case of Bayes Impact, which is now campaigning for the establishment of a Citizen Public Service. This initiative has led to the establishment of public/private collaboration in the provision of data that are useful for social innovation projects of citizens who so wish.

    A call for the creation of new institutional forms

    Lucy Bernholz of the Digital Civil Society Lab did not fail to point out the dangers of using data on the four fields mentioned. It is necessary to ask who governs this data and how. One of the solutions mentioned to deal with these dangers involves the creation of new institutional forms that are external to companies but also to governments. “Philanthropy must invest and create these institutions, otherwise they will be invented without us,” warned Lucy Bernholz. Rhodri Davies, Head of Policy and Program Director of the British think tank Giving Thought, predicts that the impact of technology on fundraising will be global, and will change the “where”, the “how” but also the “what” we give. In particular, it highlights a disintermediation of the historical actors, and a move towards “platformisation”, i.e. the growing role of platforms such as Facebook or Instagram in this field. Richard Benjamins, Chief Data Officer of Telefonica, provided an external perspective to the sector. According to him, “to have a real impact on our societies through data, we need sustainable business models.

    Philanthropy is not enough.

    ” It is therefore necessary to question the very foundations of data exploitation. Philanthropy alone will not solve a structural problem, but it must play a role as a catalyst for social innovation, as a venture capitalist with monitoring tools to scale up. The importance of awareness and education on these issues Anne Bouverot, founder of the Abeona Foundation (under the aegis of the Fondation de France) and holder of a doctorate in artificial intelligence, stressed the importance of raising individuals’ awareness of the needs of the nonprofit sector. She sees this as a new role for foundations. The key to development lies in multi-stakeholder collaboration. “If you really want to make a difference, you need to reach a significant number of people. …] It will be difficult for a company to do this on a large scale without it being perceived as a personal interest. » But how can we accelerate this movement?

    One of the ideas developed is to make the talents of companies and students available in probono for companies. The role of education in this process was also highlighted by Anne Bouverot: “We must ensure that we reach the people who will become the future engineers and data coders. » New collaborative tools for managing philanthropy in companies such as the Platform for Solidarity Commitment of microDon, Wenabi or MyCrowdcompany which offers platform-based engagement devices within companies, to allow better management of the efforts of. It is an innovative solution to bring together all the monetary and time donation mechanisms, a single location to understand the solidarity offer proposed by the company and its meaning. This simple and attractive tool makes philanthropy much more accessible in companies, thanks to data. Activism and the proposal of alternative models will also be fundamental to truly include civil society in this area.

    For Lucy Bernholz, the non-profit sector and philanthropy must stand as ramparts protecting the common good, and become essential interlocutors. A question of responsibility To meet today’s major challenges, it is necessary to reinvent current models, explained Lucy Bernholz. In particular, she suggested that the next step should be the establishment of a digital policy agenda. “The British Parliament, American representatives and large companies must commit to sharing their data, it is part of their responsibility. “Democracies are at risk if we do not learn to collaborate and cross-reference the visions of the different actors.

    Thinking about new ways of collaborating with civil society, which are more user-centred, is therefore necessary. A real challenge of democratization and accessibility of data is revealed. For Alberto Alemanno, founder and director of The Good Lobby, the establishment of legal frameworks is essential. He explained that “To permanently unlock privately held data, the private and public sectors must understand each other, harmonize their expectations and ensure that the respective benefits are understood and accessible to all. It is a shared responsibility[…] to share it with as many people as possible, not a minority. » This is one of the objectives of the SDG philanthropy platform, an inter-foundation collaborative model that provides data sharing on philanthropic efforts and data visualization related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and its 169 “targets”, implemented in 2015 after a major multi-stakeholder consultation to collectively focus efforts on social and climate emergencies.

    Despite the many challenges and obstacles ahead, the session ended on a note of hope. Speakers highlighted a growing sense of responsibility for data and its use: “Increasingly, we are asking about the impact, regardless of algorithms. There is a whole movement to be responsible,” said Richard Benjamin. “There are now leaders in this movement. It is up to European foundations to seize the superpowers of technology to build a virtuous model of collective intelligence around Big Data and artificial intelligence and strengthen the impact and growth of philanthropy in the old continent.

    EU Social Innovation: an important milestone at Web Summit 2018

    by | 12 Nov 2018 | Communs & plaidoyer, Editorial

    For the first time, European social innovation project holders and policy makers were gathered at Web Summit 2018 aka the “Davos for Geeks” in Lisbon (Novemebr 5-8th). Web Summit is the biggest venue of Tech players and innovators in Europe, and it was a very clear move that challenges Europe is facing could not been solved only by technology, but first by social and environnemental purposes and impacts. Around our “Social Innovation Village” and its 24 exhibiting projects were planned two discussions about Social Innovation at Forum Stage, before a thousand attendees. One year after the “High level conference – Opening up to an ERA of Social Innovation” in Lisbon, European social innovators and policy makers are again proving their ability to gather forces and networks to make their voice heard. Again in Lisbon at Web Summit 2018, an important milestone has been added along with Carlos Moedas, European Comissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.

    First discussion on Tuesday november 6th at Web summit : Conference “Social innovation: Achieving a triple A rating for Europe” gathering Carlos Moedas (European  Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation), Isabel Mota (Director, Gulbenkian Foundation), Maria Leitao Marques (Portuguese Minister of the Presidency and of Administrative Modernisation) and Madeleine Gabriel (NESTA foundation, Social innovation Community).

    The European Commission’s actions on social innovation stem from the Innovation Union initiative (2010) and of the Social Investment Package (2013). These actions facilitate the inducement, uptake and scaling-up of social innovation solutions. The main objectives were to promoting social innovation as a source of growth and jobs, sharing information about social innovation in Europe and supporting innovative entrepreneurs and mobilising investors and public organisations.

    At Web Summit 2018, a big annoucement has been made : more money is going to be invested by European institutions in Social Innovation, while the Mutiannual Financial Framework for the 7 years to come has already been discussed, prior to the European election next May 2019.



    Social Innovation Community was one of the H2020 funded Social Innovation Village ‘s projects at Web Summit 2018. During the following official visit on Social Innovation Village, they handed Social Innovation Community Declaration to Mr. Moedas and Mr Mahjoubi (French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs) : “For a Fairer, More Inclusive Europe” #SIDeclaration


     
    Social Innovation Community will be gathered in Sevila, Spain from November 12 to 13th, to prepare the next European mandate and gain leverage to increase funds, skills and acknowledgement, in the same effort as our Manifesto #MakeItForGood, more focus on the acceleration of partnerships in between Tech and social innovators.


    EU Prize for Women Innovators launched at Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon

    by | 10 Nov 2018 | Editorial, Revue de presse

    Along with other major declarations such as the Athenes nomination as EU Capital for Innovation of the rise of EU fundings for Social innovation, Carlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation announced the launch of the EU Prize for Women Innovators at Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon this week.

    He was of the major speaker this year at Web Summit and maybe the leading one for more Social Good in Tech… and also a more balanced Tech economy. Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, has launched the 2019 EU Prize for Women Innovators at the Web Summit in Lisbon along with Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality.

    EU Prize for Women Innovators : why and what is it ?

    Because women are underrepresented in terms of creating innovative enterprises. This is untapped potential for Europe, which needs to optimise all available resources to remain competitive and find solutions to our societal challenges.This award recognises the role of women in bringing about game-changing innovations to market and honours the outstanding achievements of female entrepreneurs running innovative companies.

    The EU Prize for Women Innovators is a cash prize awarded every year to European women from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon 2020, who founded a successful company and brought an innovation to market.
    • 3 prizes of €100,000 each
    • Rising Innovator (35 or younger): €50,000

    The award also recognises a number of finalists specially acknowledged for their outstanding record as women entrepreneurs and innovators.
    The prize will be awarded to up to 4 women innovators in total, who have had the largest impact on the innovation ecosystem by transforming ideas into new and advanced products and/ services for the benefit of European citizens.

    Award criteria

    • breakthrough innovation – the company  funded / co-funded  by  the  contestant  provides a cutting edge product or service
    • impact – the cutting edge product or service brings major benefits to citizens and society and the economy
    • inspiration – the contestant has shown active leadership, her role has influenced the success of the company and has the potential to inspire others

    Applications are judged by a panel of independent experts from across Europe.

    How to apply before Jaunary 16, 2019

    Participants can apply for the contest online BEFORE JANUARY 16, 2019. The full details are explained in the following documents.