End of July, Found.ation organized a second event on social innovation to present for the second time the Social Innovation Academy and help the participants to understand social innovation and the importance it has for their life and the society in general. Additionally Social Innovation Academy was presented once more, this time more in detail, and the event concluded with an interactive workshop, which helped to create an engaging environment with the participants.

The second event had as a focus to present the  Social Innovation Academy more in depth and linked the interactive event with the information already existing within the Academy, so for the participants to have a solid understanding how it can help them make their dream a reality and the power of the platform.

Dimitris Raftopoulos, explained the social innovation concept and the momentum it is gaining worldwide, while with real life examples illustrated why social innovation is such as important concept that helps to move ahead and create sustainable solutions. Additionally, provided some information about the Guides that are prepared within the framework of the project and the benefits the different categories of end users could have by using them.

The floor was then given to Kostas Sotiropoulos, the Business Development Director of Found.ation and also responsible for the coordination of the European Projects of it, who demonstrated the Social Innovation Academy on-line, what it offers, about learning paths one can take, or how can a visitor test their knowledge. Also, a logbook that helps an aspiring entrepreneur to launch and scale his or her vision was accepted with great interest.

Following these sessions, the presenters split the attendees into groups and elicited their participation, creativity and inspirational conversations to create an engaging environment. The presenters followed the proaction café methodologyadapted by Elena Rodríguez Blanco, a former Professor of Esade’s and currently regarded across the world as a prominent social innovator. The methodology provided hands-on job experience that helped the participants connect all of the theoretical steps of social innovation to form a set of concrete guidelines on how to excel and become social innovators themselves. During that session, the participants were able to understand the type of information existing within the Social Innovation Academyand how they could benefit from it. The event was hailed a success, which was also evident in the comments received. The participants enjoyed the event, noting the following: ‘It was inspiring & very informative on social innovation’, “the interactive session was fun”, “I learned how different tools existing could help me realize my idea” “Informative, easy to follow, well structured, great hosts! Thank you very much!”,! 

The event closed with a small discussion on the next planned steps to grow SOCIA.

Learn more at Social Innovation Academy 

If you are interested in the topic of social innovation, learn more at the Social Innovation Academy, the first fully online management training programme focusing exclusively on social innovation.

Why Social Innovation Academy? Social innovation is increasingly being perceived as the answer to the rising number of European societal challenges. While the European authorities, leading academics, policy experts, business people and activists all agree that social innovation is the key to a better future for Europe and the world, it is extremely difficult for professionals to obtain high-quality training on what social innovation actually offers and, more importantly, how to implement it in practice.

The Social Innovation Academy is aiming to change this situation in Europe and beyond. If you are interested in keeping up with the project, you can subscribe to our newsletter, become one of our friends or follow us on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook). We welcome all requests for collaboration here.