InnoSocialMetro
About this good practice
We witnessed a rise in the attention devoted to the social economy (as proven by the adoption of the Social Economy Action Plan by the European Commission in 2021) and wanted to help small entities in the switch to a more fair model, steering the innovation in a more just, sustainable and resilient direction.
InnoSocialMetro provides:
- individual training services, aiming to define an innovation project and assess its social impact
- financial support, consisting in a block grant (max. 50.000 €) to repay 50% of the eligible costs sustained by the enterprise in the implementation of the project and an interest subsidy in the face of a bank loan subscribed by the enterprise to finance the project.
The training is provided by experts in consulting services and impact evaluation which were selected by the Metropolitan city at the start of the program in order to reach satisfying quality standard for the contents shared with the entrepreneurs.
Before being eligible for financing, the projects have to be approved by a Commission that verifies the methodology applied to measure the social impact of the project and the quality of the results expected.
The direct beneficiaries are micro and small enterprises of the Metropolitan city of Turin with the intention to invest in an innovative project that could be implemented with a particular attention to the needs and requirements of citizens.
Resources needed
The resources dedicated to the measure amount to 1.500.000€.
The Entrepreneurship, innovation and attractiveness of the region Unit is involved, plus some officers from Finpiemonte, who were needed to better deal with the financial aspects of the measure, especially regarding the interest subsidy.
Evidence of success
15 organizations applied and were selected to be the training providers for the measure. We consider this to be a great result because a strong networks of actors with skills in the field is being created and the exchange of knowledge is being actively encouraged.
41 enterprises have started the training program and 19 have already presented extremely valid social innovation projects, which have been validated by the Commission and are now entering the implementation stage.
Potential for learning or transfer
This practice is interesting because of the shift toward the social aspect of economic activity.
In a local perspective, it is crucial to couple the small businesses (most of the time located in remote areas and poorly connected with the urban ecosystem of innovation) with the green and digital transition mainstream policies, avoiding to let them pay the entire cost of the transition.
This policy can have an enormous effect in the ecosystem by supporting the implementation of projects with a positive impact, but also raising the level of “social economy literacy” of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which in turn could lead to the implementation of more and more projects of the sort.
It should be easily transferable because of its low cost and because of its high flexibility which allows it to be tailored to the needs of any territory.