Are you actually familiar with where to learn social innovation in Luxembourg? Well, regardless if you are a student, a social entrepreneur, a non-profit worker, a public sector representative, a businessperson or simply an individual wanting to learn how to innovatively solve societal challenges, Luxembourg offers some good opportunities to help you learn more about social innovation. Below we present examples of three training offers in the Grand Duchy that refer to different stages of an individual’s or an organisation’s social innovation journey. They are worth checking out if you are hungry to learn:

Certificate in Sustainable Development and Social Innovation at the University of Luxembourg

‘The Certificate aims to provide a better understanding of the complex challenges that societies, organisations and individuals face as we approach the limits of the biophysical carrying capacity of our planet. Sustainability and Social Innovation are inseparable: Active involvement of both citizens and science is necessary for guiding and monitoring the innovations that promise to protect or improve our lifestyle standards.

The study programme offers tools for social learning to tap into the collective intelligence of stakeholders and experts. Issues such as energy, water and food production, waste and recycling, sustainable housing and transport are covered. The courses provide an overview on the most recent insights from academics and practitioners relating to global change and to transformational learning for sustainability.’ (source: University of Luxembourg website)

The program is compatible with full time employment and enrolment in bachelor, master and PhD studies! Courses start last week of September and take place every Tuesday from 5.15 pm to 8.30 pm at Campus Limpertsberg, cost an approximate of 200€ per semester. Participants can receive an exam-based certificate. | Learn more here |

6zero1’s training and incubation for social impact entreprises

6zero1 is an incubator located Differdange and offers an incubation program for social impact enterprises. The aim of the specific program is to help (potential) social entrepreneurs accelerate growth and reach their full potential.

To be specific, the training program is divided into several sessions. The first session (boot camp) concerns the launch of every new incubation. Based on tools such as business model canvas, participants learn about client development, lean management, financial models, impact measurement and investments. The second session concerns the social impact measurement and participants learn how to choose an evaluation methodology, understand and define impact, how to approve data and draw conclusions and in general how to apply growth techniques in order to innovate their business model, reach more clients etc.

In the third session participants learn about management and the fundamentals of business creation. Also, they become familiar with how to write a business plan and determine the comparative advantages they have over their direct and indirect competitors. Last but not least, they dive into project management and basics of accounting. The last two sessions concern the communication and the soft skills that social entrepreneurs should seek to develop in order to advance their activities.

The program offers great insights, workshops and generally an unforgettable experience to the attendees that are trained by professional intermediaries. Have in mind that the program can last from several days (individual training) to several months (for incubation programs). The cost is 4500€ for the whole incubation and individual trainings come in different prices e.g. social impact measurement comes in at 1,500€.

Interested in the training program offered by 6zero1? Find detailed information here (in French only)

‘Future of Work’ conference

Recently, the International Labour Organization (ILO), together with the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social and Solidarity Economy of Luxembourg, the Union luxembourgeoise de l’économie sociale et solidaire (ULESS) and the ILO International Training Center (ITC-ILO) have recently organised a conference on the ‘Future of Work’ in Europe and the discussions concerning several topics, such as the ‘digitalisation of work, circular economy, the creation of decent work for refugees through the SSE, the future of work for all, training / education / new skills, collaborative & sharing economy, innovative experiences in SSE organization incubation and acceleration and silver economy’.

The program was designed by public/government bodies and it was targeted for SSE practitioners (leaders and managers of social and solidarity economy organisations), policymakers from different government ministries (labour, social affairs, cooperatives, women’s entrepreneurship, youth), workers’ and employers’ of organizations, SSE promoters (UN organizations and development partners, foundations, SSE networks), as well as researchers interested in getting practical insights into the application of Social and Solidarity Economy in different regions.

The ‘9th ILO Academy on Social and Solidarity Economy’ took place in Luxembourg City in 2017 and lasted from 25-29 of September. Participants enrolled for free (sponsored by ULESS). Limitless participated and it was definitely a useful experience. Let’s hope for the next one to come! | Learn more here |

Coming soon: Social Innovation Academy

Social Innovation Academy is pleased to see that there are already some opportunities in Luxembourg to learn about social innovation, as the three examples presented above demonstrate. While the above programs are well structured and have already successfully served a number of people, we need to create even more scale and momentum when developing the social innovation knowledge and skills if we want to reach more (aspiring) social innovators even faster, no matter where they are, no matter if they can afford to pay for the training or not, or how busy they are. To tackle this issue, Limitless together with 4 other partners is working intensively on a project aiming to develop the first online Social Innovation Academy in Europe. The Social Innovation Academy will be the first fully online management training programme focusing exclusively on social innovation. Why Social Innovation Academy? Despite some commendable initiatives and training opportunities like the ones presented above, it is still difficult for busy professionals to obtain high quality training on what social innovation offers and, more importantly, how it can be done in practice. Social Innovation Academy will aim to change this situation in Europe and beyond. Our aim is to bring social innovation closer to everyone who wants to learn and has an internet connection. If you are interested in keeping up with this project, you can subscribe to our newsletter to make sure to be notified about our progress and be the first to know when we go live. We also encourage you to become one of our Friends, apply to join the Global Advisory Board or follow us on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook). We welcome all requests for collaboration here! | Learn more here |

Photo credit: 6zero1 website.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.