Programme: Single Market Programme
Main objective:
The call for proposals foresees the following outcome:
- Improved capacity of social economy SMEs and entrepreneurs to perform on the green transition
- Enhanced transnational cooperation of public authorities and other stakeholders on the identification and implementation of sustainability practices for the proximity and social economy ecosystem
- Fostered cross-sectorial cooperation and knowledge transfer between social economy SMEs and start-ups, mainstream businesses, consultancies, business support centres and incubators with regard to the uptake of green skills and the development of more sustainable products and services
- Evidence-based integration of sustainable innovative processes by social economy SMEs and start-ups boosting their competitiveness and creating potential new market opportunities
- Further investment of social economy SMEs in sustainable alternatives, capacity building and knowledge transfer.
Activities must fall under at least one of the following themes:
- Improving social economy SMEs environmental footprint
- Boosting the sustainable contribution of social economy entities to circular economy
- Testing, implementing and scaling-up innovative green solutions by social economy SMEs and entrepreneurs
- Capacity building and expertise sharing about environmental impact of social economy SMEs
- Setting up investment or financial vehicles to finance the green transition of social economy
- Fostering social economy SMEs’ capacity and skills to improve their use of new digital technologies for green purposes
- Evaluating skills, infrastructure and investment needs required to enable social economy entities to meet climate targets in the long term.
Who is eligible:
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of applicants, which complies with the following conditions:
- at least six independent entities from at least three different eligible countries
- at least one social economy intermediary, per participating country involved in the consortium
- a minimum of one and a maximum of two support organisations active at EU level, such as sectorial member federations and associations or networks representing social economy entities