Social-X-Change

"<< Background >>Several academic studies have shown that research on social innovation and social entrepreneurship often remains inaccessible to practitioners. “The Role of Research in Social Innovation” (2014) highlights “the difficulty of translating research findings into concrete actions (...) cited by two-thirds of respondents as a major obstacle.” The priority identified by practitioners to overcome this obstacle was to create long-term collaborations between researchers and practitioners rather than one-off interactions on specific projects: ""Most create long-term collaborations between researchers and practitioners rather than one-off interactions on specific projects. The Social X-Change Consortium wanted to respond to this need for research production, dissemination and popularization of these results, and collaboration between actors in the academic ecosystem (researchers, students, professors), practitioners, funders, and policy makers.<< Objectives >>The project has three main objectives. The first is to develop research around three specific themes in Europe to create new content for entrepreneurship training programs, delivered internally or externally, within higher education institutions (HEIs) and widely disseminated to HEI management in Europe and beyond. The second objective is to promote transnational and transdisciplinary collaborations between HEIs and practitioners in the field around these themes, drawing on the Social X-Change network and the Impact Hub network of practitioners. The third is to capitalize on the network's momentum and the results obtained in the four thematic areas in order to influence practitioners at the European and national levels through the dissemination of Social X-Change outputs. The project aims to create new transnational collaborations and new research results on social entrepreneurship by working with practitioners (leaders of social enterprise support organizations, social entrepreneurs, investors, funders, policy makers) on the one hand, and with the academic community on the other.<< Implementation >>Research activities; literature reviews, qualitative surveys with a variety of stakeholders (entrepreneurs, investors, academics, policymakers), quantitative results analysis (ESEM), production of case studies, mapping of ecosystem tools and stakeholders, study reports, and a final handbook bringing together the main tools and practical cases. Collaborative activities between ESS, bi-monthly online meetings between project partners, and three transnational face-to-face meetings in Paris, Munich, and Barcelona. Dissemination activities: simplification of content, LinkedIn posts, a website, national events (one in France for MT4 and one in Spain for MT2), and a two-day transnational online event with workshops and training for trainers for social entrepreneurship ecosystem actors and investors.<< Results >>The concrete achievements of the project were the meetings between researchers and professionals from the Consortium partners, which led to the production of research, educational content, and dissemination events:Literature review and research design on IMM Literature review and research design on the role of catalytic capital element in hybrid financearrangements in Europe (supply side)Dissemination event around impact-related legal frameworks in Paris, France, May 2024Dissemination events around impact measurement in Barcelona, Spain, April 2025Training of Trainers ( Ankara - in person and online) - June 2025 A white paper on innovative financial structuresA curriculum on innovative impact finance approaches and toolsA training module on catalytic capital within hybrid vehicles6 case studies on catalytic capitalCase studies on innovative financing modelsRecommendations for practitioners and policy-makers to consider regulations and initiatives showcased in WP4Final Handbook of 35 pages for Practitioners - July 2025Most of the delivrables are availble on https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects"