Social Innovation & Social Experimentation: European strategic perspectives Seminar of the project leaders of the PROGRESS grants Brussels, 9-10 November 2011
Innovation at the core of the Europe 2020 Strategy The Europe 2020 Strategy Union s success in delivering smart, sustainable and inclusive growth largely depends on its ability to innovate across all fronts. The Innovation Union promotes innovation throughout the whole policy spectrum. The European Platform against poverty and social exclusion focuses on reforms of social policies through evidence-based social innovation including social experimentation 2
Social innovation in the European Platform against poverty Societal evolutions (demography ) Increasing pressure on EU Welfare states Need for innovative, efficient and cost effective policy measures and practices 3
The need for evidence based social innovation Support social innovation Mainstream it into social and employment policies if proven efficient Promote a bottom up approach Make exchanges of practices more useful 4
Up-scaling and disseminating evidence-based social innovation Social and employment policies at EU level Social and employment policies in country X Social innovation in country X Social innovation in country Z 5
What is social experimentation? Test the impact of a new policy / a new measure on a small scale with a view to up-scale it if it has proven its efficiency 3 main ingredients: Social innovation Evaluation Up-scaling Examples in the Member States 6
What is social experimentation? Different evaluation methods Social experimentation: Test group comparison Control group Highly robust information about the measure and the context 7
Social innovation: 3 strands Awareness raising Promote the value added of a social innovation approach, inform about the value added and content of social experimentation, mainstream the approach in the different areas of social policy Capacity building Develop the necessary tools so that action can be facilitated both in Member States and within European policies Financial support Deliver appropriate funding in the current and upcoming EU financial instruments 8
Awareness raising Wroclaw Conference 26.9.11 European Convention against Poverty 17.10.11 Awareness raising EMCO, SPC, ESF Committee Website 9
Capacity building EU research excellence network on SE J-Pal Guide on SE for policy makers Capacity building Training for public authorities ESF learning network Publications 10
Financial support 5,9B 9,5M 2009-2011 ESF 2007-2013 PROGRESS 2007-2013 SI SE tbc MFF 2014-2020 EU Programme for Social Change and Innovation 2014-2020 100M 11
Financial support PSCI: Provide policy-makers with financial support to test social and labour market policy reforms, build up the main actors capacity to design and implement social experimentation, and make the relevant knowledge and expertise accessible. ESF: The ESF shall promote social innovation within all areas falling under the scope of the ESF, as defined in Article 3 of this Regulation, in particular with the aim of testing and scaling up innovative solutions to address social needs. 12
For more information Available online: -10 examples of social experimentation in 15 Member States -A methodological guide to social experimentation http://ec.europa.eu/social/innovationconference 13
The Wrocław conference (26 Sept. 2011) An EU ministerial conference of the Polish Presidency, held in Wrocław (Poland) on 26 September 2011, discussed responses to the social impact of the crisis and how to intensify the support to innovation within social policies. 10 social experiments implemented in 15 Member States were presented by their practitioners and evaluators. These projects cover the fields of education, employment, homelessness, minimum income benefit and youth policy. 14
Annexes The case for social experimentation The Commission s proposal for the new funding period 2014-2020 ESF Cohesion policy The European Programme for social change and innovation 15
The case for social experimentation find the best price-efficiency ratio take into account the behaviour of individuals, which can never be fully anticipated adapt the device to the growing complexities of every society adapt every measure to the different target groups or sub groups adapt the device to different countries while taking into account the specificities of each context to identify obstacles that the device could encounter, which cannot be identified in advance compare the efficiency of different strategies simultaneously end the controversies by providing empirical arguments enrich the common knowledge of a certain field, through an enhanced cooperation of both the project managers and the researchers 16
The impact assessment accompanying the proposal for the ESF regulation To be cost-effective, reforms also need to be as far as possible based on evidence. In this context, social experimentation, as part of an innovation approach, can be a powerful tool to guide the reforms and policy adaptations needed to implement Europe 2020. The ESF could help mainstreaming results of the PROGRESS projects, for example, by drawing lessons from social experimentation projects and supporting replication of this approach in the Member States. 17
The proposal for the ESF regulation (1/2) Recital 12 Support for social innovation is crucial for making policies more responsive to social change and to encourage and support innovative social enterprises. In particular, testing and evaluating innovative solutions before scaling them up is instrumental in improving the efficiency of the policies and thus justifies specific support from the ESF. Article 9 - Social innovation 1. The ESF shall promote social innovation within all areas falling under the scope of the ESF, as defined in Article 3 of this Regulation, in particular with the aim of testing and scaling up innovative solutions to address social needs. 2. Member States shall identify themes for social innovation, corresponding to their specific needs in their operational programmes. 3. The Commission shall facilitate capacity building for social innovation, in particular through supporting mutual learning, establishing networks, and disseminating good practices and methodologies. 18
The proposal for the ESF regulation (2/2) Article 11 The co-financing rate shall be increased by 10 percentage points if the whole of the priority axis is dedicated to social innovation or to transnational cooperation, or a combination of both For each priority axis, operational programmes shall describe how they contribute to social innovation, and which allocation of money is made 19
The general regulation for the CSF funds Article 9 - Thematic objectives Each CSF Fund shall support the following thematic objectives in accordance with its mission in order to contribute to the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth: (1) strengthening research, technological development and innovation Article 101 - Implementation reports for the Investment for growth and jobs goal The annual implementation reports submitted in 2017 and 2019 shall set out and assess ( ) (h) progress in the implementation of actions in the field of social innovation, where appropriate ( ) 20
The Programme for Innovation and Social Change Article 4 General objectives (b) Support the development of adequate, accessible and efficient social protection systems and labour markets and facilitate policy reform, by promoting good governance, mutual learning and social innovation Article 15 Specific objectives (Progress axis) (c) Provide policy-makers with financial support to test social and labour market policy reforms, build up the main actors capacity to design and implement social experimentation, and make the relevant knowledge and expertise accessible Article 5 Budget 958 million - 60% to the Progress axis, of which at least 17% shall be allocated to promoting social experimentation as a method for testing and evaluating innovative solutions with a view to scaling them up. = almost 100 million 21
For more information News on 6 October at the EMPL webpages on EUROPA: Commission lays foundations to boost impact of cohesion investments after 2013 http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langid=en&catid=89&newsid=1092&furthernews=yes New EU Programme for Social Change and Innovation http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langid=en&catid=89&newsid=1093&furthernews=yes 22
Contact European Commission DG EMPL Unit D4 Social innovation Empl-innovation@ec.europa.eu 23