European Positioning

Thanks to the intense activity of the ecosystem and the innovativeness of the territorial model, Torino Social Impact has gained a prominent position on the European scene, qualifying itself as a virtuous model right from the start.

• The European Commission has assigned the City of Turin the task of leading one of the seven Social Innovation Competence Centres to be set up in Europe, the only one at national level, in the framework of the EU-EaSi programme for employment and social innovation.
• In the course of its work on the EU Action Plan for the Social Economy, approved in December 2021, the EU Commission Expert Group on Social Economy and Social Enterprises repeatedly pointed to Turin Social Impact as a virtuous model.
• In the Digital Road to Mannheim, the building path of the European Social Economy Summit, Torino Social Impact was extensively involved and was chosen to present its territorial model in the opening of the proceedings and was selected by the European Commission as one of the organizers of the last conference in April 2021 ‘Partnerships for maximizing social impact’.
• Torino Social Impact joined the European Union’s European Cluster Platform in 2021, the EU hub dedicated to industrial clusters, which has included the social economy section, confirming the Commission’s vision of the Proximity and Social Economy among the Industrial Ecosystems for the Recovery Plan.
• As of 2021, Torino Social Impact joins REVES, the first European organization based on partnerships between local and regional authorities and territorial social economy actors, and collaborates with the main European networks dedicated to the topic such as Ensie, Diesis, Euclid.
• Following the approval of the EU Social Economy Action Plan and the subsequent Transition Pathway launched in December 2022, Torino Social Impact joined by submitting five pledges related to its activities.
• In February 2024, Torino Social Impact was invited to speak at the European Social Economy Conference in Liège as part of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council; this was the recognition of a path of dialogue that began in 2021, in line with the EU Social Economy Action Plan, the Eu Transition pathway on proximity and social economy, up to the EU Council Reccommendation on developing social economy framework conditions in 2023.

European Projects

Opening up to the European dimension of social economy policies also goes through joining transnational calls and partnerships.

In 2023, the EU Project HUB for the Social Economy – 2023-2024 was launched. The initiative aims to multiply European opportunities and strengthen local competences through the involvement of the ecosystem in all phases of project development and management. It is not an information desk or a service provider, but a place for sharing the processes of participation in calls for proposals. Find out more.

Torino Social Impact is also a direct partner in several European projects:

SocialTech4EU: support for European social economy ecosystems through calls providing capacity building and acceleration for social enterprises totalling EUR 1.4 million. Torino Social Impact led the partnership formation process and is the leader together with Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini of the network of European clusters from five countries involved. Discover more

Buy Social: Buy Social picks up the legacy of the Social Procurement project, which aimed to promote innovative forms of procurement, in the public and private system, in order to support the growth of social impact enterprises and activities, taking it to a European level: in each partner country, a social economy federation or support structure will carry out awareness-raising activities and dissemination of good practices from all EU countries identified in the project. Discover more

Do Impact: In continuity with the i3s project, carried out by the Fondazione Piemonte Innova, this project aims to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and enabling organizations working on social economy topics who are interested in adopting digital solutions and data-driven models. Starting from an in-depth analysis of the social and local economy ecosystem, the DO Impact project aims to design and implement specific digital and data-based programs to enhance the skills, tools, resources, and networks of European SMEs operating in the social and local economy sector. Discover more

Completed European projects:

RESPONDET involves five European countries and aims to develop local and regional policies to strengthen resource management by the social economy, as a crucial element of processes to achieve a socially sustainable green transition. Main topics covered: circular economy and energy communities. Learn more

International Networking

The promotion of the collective brand is also based on intensive networking and international special projects.

Networks and Organisations: