Évora: Created the first Social Innovation Center in Alentejo.
Eugénio de Almeida Foundation created the first Social Innovation Center in Alentejo, located in Évora. The Minister of the Presidency and Administrative Modernization, Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, marked its start.
The Social Innovation Center Foundation will occupy a space in the historic city center and it is proposed to develop a diversified and consistent action program to support and promotion of entrepreneurship, social innovation and investment in the Alentejo region, in conjunction with national and international institutions, public and private.
The project is supported by empis / Portugal Social Innovation Initiative and continues the work of the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation in the area of ​​Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation at entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, companies and other institutional agents, deepening the co-creation relationship, multi collaboration-stakeholders and proximity to the different communities involved.
This new structure aims to promote and support innovative projects, with sustainable business models, focused on social impact and scalability potential, and contribute to solve the problems of low density territories.
It is in the field of promotion, incubation and acceleration of social entrepreneurship initiatives – in parallel with the continued role of facilitator and pollinator of the entire ecosystem of social innovation – the Foundation will continue to make efforts.
The existence of this Social Innovation Center in Alentejo allow the territory be provided with a structure that enables anchor, mobilize and welcome individuals, organizations, public and private sector, with the common goal of promoting innovative social solutions.
Maria Ramos Heaven, Secretary General of the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation explains that "the Social Innovation Center will work together with various partners and will establish itself as a center of support for entrepreneurs and other regional actors wishing to test, develop or consolidate innovative initiatives to social problems, local or regional nature of the typical low-density territories, and they can climb and produce real impact '.
Maria Ramos Heaven also states that "the project value initiatives with strong technological component, through a network of highly specialized partners, that will allow products and services are developed in optics place-making, but with high scalability and significant potential for social impact '.
The Social Innovation Center Eugénio de Almeida Foundation (CIS-FEA) will develop a set of initiatives to raise awareness of the culture of entrepreneurship, educating for entrepreneurship, to promote new social solutions - support for ideation, development, acceleration and incubation of new Innovation Initiatives and Social Entrepreneurship (IIES) - and boost cross-thematic and multi-sectoral network will be an important asset to replicate innovation processes and social development in the region, and will be the first structure in the Alentejo focused on support and development of innovation initiatives and social entrepreneurship that will help to resolve some concrete problems of low density territories.
Objectives of the Social Innovation Center Alentejo
The vast program of activities of the Social Innovation Center is proposed to create a regional dynamic among the actors in the social sector, of Academy, the public sector and the private sector, creating conditions in regional entrepreneurship ecosystem for new social solutions can contribute to solving societal problems of low density territories.
The Social Innovation Center, through its training programs, actors will prepare, natural or institutional, for the development of new IIes and their growth.
Thus it is intended to achieve positive social impact on the target audience and hence the positive impact will take place in the areas of health, social security or employment, among others, through the design of new IIes, supporting the development and growth.
The inauguration of the Alentejo's Social Innovation Center coincides with the meeting for Innovation and Social Investment in Alentejo, to be held in Evora on 16 November and will be attended by the Minister of the Presidency and Administrative Modernization, Dr. Maria Manuel Leitão Marques who will chair the opening session.
In addition to the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation social investors the Social Innovation Center are Decsis, a OutSystems, a Cisco, General and Ernest Montepio & Young.
