INNO-WISEs, how WORk integration social enterprises have become more competitive on the market
A webinar marathon to show that, in only three years, the project, which took place in the framework of the Interreg Central Europe Programme has worked to bridge the technological gap that affects Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), and with it encouraging a change in outlook. One hundred or so WISEs took part in the experiment, rising to this challenge and employing technological tools and management skills to overcome their weaknesses.
Milan, 16 June 2020, “Digitalisation and technological innovation have helped us to save time and resources and maximise their use. Production processes have accelerated and with an increase in efficiency also comes greater happiness”.
“Technological innovation in our sector is the most pressing challenge for those of us who work with disadvantaged people and have to keep up with rapid changes in the market. We can be more efficient if we have the right tools, and this is the struggle we face every day”.
Approximately one hundred European WISEs took part in the INNO-WISEs project and are now speaking for themselves. After three years’ work on implementing technological innovation in WISEs (Work Integration Social Enterprises) and helping them to adopt new management models, the project is currently being pulled together through what can only be described as a marathon of online webinars. The purpose is to describe the part played by technological tools in bridging the digital and competitive divide in these enterprises - which play such an important social role in helping disadvantaged people enter labour market. The WISEs mentioned operate in gardening, catering, cleaning, the production of ecological products or local food, etc.
The project was financed by the Interreg Central Europe Programme 2014-2020 and coordinated by Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, bringing together 12 partners from five different countries (Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Slovenia) including the Italians Gruppo Cooperativo CGM and the Autonomous Province of Trento. The WISEs involved are active in the sectors of agriculture, sustainable tourism, waste collection and recycling.
With respect to the tools developed, the European project’s main output is an online platform that can be used by all Social enterprises, and more especially WISEs (https://wisebusiness.eu/). The platform is in seven languages and contains a selection of digital tools specifically designed to help WISEs in their technological growth, organised according to their sector. It also includes a knowledge base, which contains lessons especially designed for WISEs as well as a MOOC. The MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) uses management-style learning techniques to teach how to simplify their production processes and improve their efficiency and business approach, offering tangible marketing tools specific to each business sector.
The project worked to strengthen the ties between social enterprises and public authorities in the various regions in which it operated. In Trentino Alto-Adige (Italy) and in the region of Goriška (Slovenia), the project partners worked with local stakeholders to consolidate and develop new guidelines to enable closer contacts and better meet each other’s needs.
Contact for press
Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (Lead Partner)
Emanuela Murari – emanuela.murari@fondazione.polimi.it
European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (communication Lead Partner)
Pauline Bonino - pauline.bonino@ensie.org
