Are you aged between 16 and 35 years? Are you an Italian, Albanian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Kosovan, Serbian or Montenegrin citizen? Would you like to make your voice heard and share your thoughts on Europe and the changes which need to happen? What are you waiting for?! Take part in the public Consultation launched by the Italian Minister for Youth Policies, Ms Fabiana Dadone, and bring your point of view.

This Consultation offers you the opportunity to share your opinions on the European Union and on the changes needed to improve the democratic system, increasing youth participation in decision-making processes.

Your ideas will then feed into the discussions taking place within the Conference on the future of Europe. Moreover, the final outcome of this Consultation will be presented to the European institutions.

The Consultation is available in English and in Italian, so that everyone can take part. Here you are the Italian version, whilst here you can find the English translation.

The Consultation is open until December 31, 2021.

The future of Europe is in your hands!

Take part, speak up, make a difference.

Prof. Mario Calderini, Torino Social Impact’s spokesperson and full Professor at Politecnico di Milano, was just named on of the 100 Most Influential Academics in Government by Apolitical.

Great policy research from academic institutions isn’t always able to cut-through and make an impact. But when research does resonate with policymakers, it has the potential to steer the direction of government. Academic research remains a vital source of information and innovation. This is why Apolitical invited public servants to nominate the academics who are the most influential to the work of government.

We’re excited to share Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential Academics in Government list below. The list highlights work that’s influenced the policymaking process by providing insights into policy problems, contributing innovative ideas and solutions, or adding relevant and informative data. Each nominee on the list is committed to improving the work of government, and their research has already made an impact. Read on to learn about each person, in their own words.

This year, academics working is devided in five timely policy areas that are the focus of government work around the world. The areas represent problems being faced by government everywhere, and present an opportunity for intergovernmental collaboration. They are:

• Recovery from Covid-19
• Employment and skills
• Social policy
• Climate and sustainability
• Policymaking processes and approaches

More insights

Avanzi – Sustainability in Action, under the patronage of the City of Milan and in collaboration with Eurocities, publishes “Where Learning Happens. Education as an Urban Policy”, a collection of contributions and reflections born during the Local Conversations “Building learning communities. Dialogues on education and city”: three meetings, organized on April and May 2021, in which we began to question the relationship between education and the city.

We want to present our reading on what the New European Bauhaus should represent. Innovative approaches are needed to go beyond the vision of the city as a “container of experiences” and consider it in its function as an “educational subject”.

To the drawing up of “Where Learning Happens” they have participated: Associazione Quartieri Spagnoli, BASE Milano, Collettivo Amigdala, Comune di Milano, Fondazione per l’Innovazione Urbana, Reti informali di Dergano – Milano, Sogent – Ghent Development Authority, Terzo Paesaggio, VIC – Vivero de Iniciativas Ciudadanas Madrid.

Pre-registration is now open for the third edition of the University Course of Professional Development (CUAP) “Social Impact Evaluation”. The course, supported by the Torino Chamber of Commerce in the framework of the Torino Social Impact Strategic Plan, is realized by the Department of Management of the University of Torino with the Polytechnic of Turin (members of the Social Entrepreneurship Committee), the Piccatti Milanese Foundation, Cottino Social Impact Campus, Tiresia, the training institutions of the Centrali Cooperative (Consorzio Il Nodo for Confcooperative Piemonte Nord and Inforcoop Ecipaa Piemonte for Legacoop Piemonte) and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation.

The CUAP is among the activities offered by the Competence Center for Social Impact Measurement, located at the Turin Chamber of Commerce.

Pre-registration will remain open until January 11, 2022, which will be followed by the opening of the registration window.

The course will start on February 7, 2022, and will include weekly appointments of 4 hours on Monday afternoon for a total of 40 hours of lectures (the remaining 85 hours of individual and group activities and preparation of project work).

The lessons will be online, with live teaching. At the end of the course will be issued a certificate of competence Social Impact Assessor, after verification of the same.

More information about the structure are available at the related page on the website of the Department of Management of UniTo > Continuing Education > Courses a.a. 2021-2022 > University Course of Professional Update > Social Impact Assessment III edition.

Approximately 5,500 organizational forms with social impact operate in Piedmont, mainly in the area of associations and volunteering, growing by 11% compared to 2019. Piedmont’s productive third sector, composed of social enterprises and cooperatives, counts about 1,000 realities, which in 2020 generated 1.8 billion in turnover and employed 57 thousand workers.

Presented today at an online press conference, the data relating to the surveys carried out by the Turin Chamber of Commerce and Isnet (Association for the development of social enterprises) on the complex world of social economy. In addition to a mapping of the realities operating in this field, business models developed following the pandemic and the spread of social impact purchasing were analyzed.

“With a turnover of 1.8 billion, the third sector in Piedmont employs 57,000 people, mainly concentrated in social cooperatives,” explains Dario Gallina, President of the Turin Chamber of Commerce. – Therefore, this is an important sector that we have been following for years, with surveys and dedicated initiatives, also investing in the training of those who are called upon to give value to the social impact generated by these realities. We have also been supporting the Torino Social Impact Platform since its inception, which this year has achieved important results: the development of the Competence Center for Social Impact Measurment, the European positioning of the territorial ecosystem through highly structured relationships and the delivery of projects shared between partners.”

“To date, Torino Social Impact has 170 partners including social enterprises, accelerators and incubators, public bodies, foundations and financial institutions, start-ups, universities, spaces and networks of expertise, associations and companies that make up an increasingly attractive and innovative ecosystem in the field of social innovation and impact economy – adds Mario Calderini, spokesperson for Torino Social Impact. – The data presented today are useful and important because they serve to effectively direct TSI actions, selecting the projects that can bring the greatest results, such as the social procurement program aimed at the world of social enterprises”.

The Commission launch event for the new action plan for the social economy took place in-person in Brussels and online on 16 December 2021.

The European Commission has adopted on December 9 a new action plan to support the social economy. With the action plan the Commission proposes a coherent set of measures aimed at creating enabling conditions for the social economy to fulfil its potential to contribute to fair, sustainable and inclusive growth.

In Turin there is a place where “food” becomes synonymous with “integration” and the catering service is carried out from a sustainable perspective: it is Karibu Open, a young reality like its founders – all under 30 – which is committed to encouraging and accompanying the employment of young people with a migration background.

Founders Elena Giaccone and Giorgio Prette tell us how the inclusion of people in difficulty and the sensitization to a choice of conscious consumption and nutrition are both important factors for the impact economy.

Interview by Francesco Antonioli.

Watch previous episodes here.