European Social Economy Missions (SMP-COSME-2023-RESILIENCE)

The general objective of this call is to boost the development of social economy SMEs active in rural areas. The project is aiming at building a European network of regional and local authorities with converging priorities on social economy and creating space and opportunities at EU level for learning and collaboration.

This call will support consortia developing collaboration through sharing and replicating best practices and learning with focus on boosting the resilience, the greening and the digitalisation of social economy enterprises and SMEs active in rural areas.

The specific objectives to be achieved through this call are the following:

• Taking stock of main recommendations and good practices from previous projects, carried out on the issue of social economy supporting resilience of rural communities, funded under Horizon Europe, EAFRD, ERDF, SMP;
• Fostering the creation of social economy networks and stakeholders at regional and local level to boost resilience, greening and digitalisation of their members and improving collaboration between existing ones;
• Boosting inter-regional learning between social economy stakeholders (public and private sector);
• Contributing to a gradual social economy community building as an integral part of a sustainable European economic model with focus on rural communities’ resilience through the development of social entrepreneurship.

Expected Impact:

• Increasing better, high-quality employment (tackling unemployment in rural areas);
• Supporting the green, social and digital transition at local level;
• Supporting resilient and sustainable business models based on social economy;
• Boosting the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy;
• Ensuring more community resilience and better living conditions for the rural population.

The call follows up two “Social Economy Missions” calls for proposals launched in 2020 and 2021 aiming at developing inter-regional cooperation to scale up social economy business models in regional context. The Commission released a Social Economy Action Plan in December 2021. With this plan, the Commission put forward concrete measures to help mobilise the full potential of the social economy sector, building on the results of the 2011 Social Business Initiative and the 2016 Start-up and Scale-up Initiative. 

This action will implement point 3.4 of the Social Economy Action Plan. In particular, it will enable social economy actors relevant for the Proximity and Social Economy ecosystem to develop innovative and sustainable business practices to boost rural growth and competitiveness and help to drive the twin transition. It will foster the exchange of good practices, success stories in the various policy domains contributing to reaching the goals of the Long Term Vision for Rural Areas.

The action will in particular boost the scale up of social economy businesses in rural areas focusing on the following topics (non-exhaustive list):

• Clusters of social and ecological innovation
• Green and digital transition
• Sustainable and circular agriculture and food systems
• Education, training and skills activities for unemployed people
• New European Bauhaus and quality of life