InnoSocialMetro project: raising competitiveness and impact

Rising from the ashes of a previous project, called Innometro, this new project aims to contribute to the evolution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem toward a more fair, sustainable and resilient economic model, by increasing the capacity of micro and small enterprises of the territory to generate, with their growth, socially desirable impacts.

The event was hosted by the Councilwomen Sonia Cambursano and Valentina Cera, who confirmed the firm intent of the Metropolitan City to continue its support to the enterprises of its territory, but presented the new intention of steering their development toward a model that is more attentive to the social consequences that their for-profit activities can have on the community they operate in.

Afterwards, the director of the economic development department, Matteo Barbero, presented the technical characteristics of InnoSocialMetro.

The project will be realized in collaboration with FinPiemonte, an in-house company of the Piedmont Region working on economic development and it will consist of a combination of training and financial support, destined to micro and small enterprises wanting to implement an innovative project with a measurable social impact.

The Metropolitan City of Turin will compile a list of approved trainers, making sure they are experts in consultancy services and impact evaluation. Each enterprise will have to chose from this list the trainer with whom to undertake the individual training and will be then accompanied through the formulation of a feasible and relevant innovation project.

This innovation project, and its social impact, will be evaluated by the Metropolitan City of Turin and eventually approved, thus giving the enterprise access to the instruments of financial support (a block grant and an interest subsidy).

The event also saw the participation of representatives from the Turin Chamber of Commerce, the Municipality of Turin, and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, other important authorities acting on social innovation.

They provided a thorough reflection on the other activities carried out on the territory and on how InnoSocialMetro fell in line with them, underlying the fundamental role of collaboration and coordination for the attainment of coherent and sustainable metropolitan development.