Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry opened for Social Enterprises
Growing a Central European Smart Community of Social Innovators
The Social(i) Makers project is an international cooperation in partnership of 7 countries that can create a Central European social innovation network whose members implement socially useful ideas. As part of the project which funded by the Interreg Central Europe Program, local pilots have been implemented in all countries over the past nine months. The Hungarian pilot focused on the challenges of employment of social enterprises.
Social(i)Makers project aims to support socially useful ideas through the transfer of practical knowledge required for successful implementation. In order to disseminate the purpose and results of this project, economic actors, policy-makers, investors and citizens have been involved, was presented at an online press conference held by the BKIK Project Management Office on 19 May 2020. As a result of the project, a comprehensive strategy supporting social innovation will be developed and a Central European social innovation network will be established, which members are committed to sustainable social development.
It was given at the press conference that within the project funded by the European Union and the Hungarian State be undertaken to 3.6 million euro, the partner countries concerned implemented by local pilot projects over the past nine months, where social innovation initiatives have been tested locally. In the Hungarian local pilot, the focus was on strengthening the social innovation activities of 15 organizations supporting the employment of disadvantaged people. Based on the methodology developed by external experts, the organizations have been able to develop their employment-focused social impact measurement system and apply it in their daily operations.
The pilot involved a 1.5-month mentoring process involving 15 prominent civil society organizations working to integrate visually impaired and disabled people into the labor market and to provide housing for people with autism and intellectual disabilities. The transfer of the methodology and mentoring ensured that socially useful enterprises could receive adequate support and that the method could be adapted for them in their daily practice.
Through the pilot project, the chamber is also open to a new target group, the younger generation, who could be the social innovators of the future. At the MARKETPLACE Hackathon which was held in September 2019 (Official VIDEO of the event is HERE), the social entrepreneurs of the future - students, vocational students - were able to develop and present their ideas and projects to an expert jury with the help of using the Business Model Canvas methodology.
The project, which ends at the end of July 2020, is currently in the process of developing a strategy to help sustain the Central European Network of Social Innovators, preceded by several international expert online events.
Please visit for more information the website of the project and on the Skyrocket Platform and be part of the Central European social innovation community!
Be Social, Be Maker!
