Unravel Tomorrow

ContextThe effects of globalisation, rapid technological development and financial crisis have generated intense debate about the issues that societies are forced to face in our modern world. Long-standing problems such as unemployment, increasing inequalities, consumerism & excess waste and climate change, among others, remain challenges for governments and communities across the world (Howaltd, Domanski & Kaletka, 2016; Mulgan, 2006). The social economy “contributes to several key EU objectives, including the achievement of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, high-quality employment, social cohesion, social innovation, local and regional development and environmental protection”. (Council of the European Union, 2015). While current welfare systems are very often unable to tackle social challenges on their own, social innovation is increasingly recognised as an effective solution to existing problems (Leadbeater, 1997) and moreover is seen as a way to bring about potentially transformative societal change. The ChallengeThe European Commission identifies that factors which impact the development of social ventures across Europe include: the lack of entrepreneurial skills and a low degree of recognition, therefore, this project aimed to raise awareness and to strengthen skills to unleash the potential of aspiring social entrepreneurs.The ProjectUnravel Tomorrow is in itself a social lab, as partners applied in practice the core principles of social engagement, collaboration and co-creation to encourage social action.The objective was to learn from - and connect up - the social innovators, entrepreneurs and activists who are developing new ways of working to shape a better future.The project builds on the success achieved by the same partners in the Erasmus+ Tomorrow’s Land project (2016-2-UK01-KA204-024280) which delivered results to enhance understanding of social innovation and the collaborative economy. Unravel Tomorrow aims to support learners to develop their concept and take the next steps.For Educators, Teachers & Trainers and for Individual Learners, the project results will equip potential pioneers of change with the necessary skills & competences and inspire action to boost social activism and social entrepreneurship across Europe. Capturing a set of insights into the most important elements that will define social entrepreneurship in the future, partners ran creative research to map experiences and initiatives shaping tomorrow’s land. Experiential learning was at the heart of our project, so, curious to find out more about the experiences, challenges and dreams for the future from the social innovators, social entrepreneurs and social activists who are already actively creating new ways of working, partners interviewed 34 pioneers of change. The results are presented in two reports:# The Unravel Tomorrow JournalThis publication takes inspiration from 34 leaders, dreamers and educators from across Europe, to present ideas and perspectives to help understand the challenges and discover and explore possible solutions to lead society towards a better future.Six chapters present 6 regions of possibility: Treasured Trash; Systematic Sustainability; Digital Darwinism; Simple Joys; Parallel Perspectives & Community Power. Each region gives an introduction to what we have observed during our research, what is emerging, who are the pioneers creating it, what we can learn from the region and finally, what it urges us to imagine for the future.# The Unravel Tomorrow GalleryThis publication presents the 34 faces of tomorrow who have contributed to the Journal by sharing their stories, experience and insights to inspire people to become successful pioneers of the future. The Gallery showcases best practice from different projects, social enterprises, NGOs and organisations active in social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social action from across Europe.# Experiential workshops in the UK, Portugal and Denmark Creating international learning experiences for individual learners from across Europe, 3 experiential workshops centred on visiting local social enterprises and social action projects, where participants could learn from the stories of success directly from the experts themselves.Drawing on the research results and feedback from workshop participants, we designed the learning framework, based on Entrecomp: The Entrepreneurship Framework, (2016).# The Unravel Tomorrow Learning JourneyThroughout our project stakeholders reminded us that hearing real stories is motivating and offers valuable learning, so the digital learning journey is packed with case studies from across Europe.The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) invites learners to enter the Unravel Tomorrow regions as if they are actual places we can visit, to explore them & map them out, taking learners on a journey to: -Unleash their creativity-Uncover new ideas-Learn new skills-Take action