The Spark Project enables social enterprises to develop and deliver more sustainable and high impact innovations leading to increased growth. We are refining the framework conditions that influence their development and creating more effective models and tools for social enterprise support.
Social enterprises have the capacity to meet the challenges of our changing world, however their dual missions of social purpose and business goals create complex needs. The partners of the Spark project identifed that there was no consistent harnessing of sustainable social enterprise innovation and a lack of joint tools and services for their development.
The Spark Project has drawn on the existing range of knowledge, tools, networks and methods that support innovation to refine the framework conditions that influence their development. This has been carried out through enhanced cross border cooperation, an increase in innovation partnerships and research and development, and creating more effective models and tools for social enterprise support.
The project has established –
A strategy and action plan to improve capacity of social enterprises to deliver sustainable and high impact innovations
A new framework methodology – a ‘Roadmap‘, for sustainable innovation within social enterprises
A social enterprise innovation acccelerator network (SEIAN)
A cross-border innovation accelerator programme
An online tool for start-up social enterprises
The partners working on the project are –
CENTRIM (Centre for Change, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management), University of Brighton, UK
Social Innovation Factory, Belgium
DePunt, Belgium
Seinwezen, Netherlands
Contact email:
[email protected]
Thanks and Acknowledgements
We’d like to thank all the fantastic social enterprises who have participated in our programmes and given their valuable time and feedback in helping us research, develop tools/methods and evaluate their impact. We hope the Spark project has been as helpful to you as you have been to us!
Also, many thanks to those support agencies and stakeholders who have come to our events and signed up to our strategy and action plan, committing to improve the framework conditions for social enterprises to thrive in your regions.
Our appreciation to the EU programme through which the project recieved ERDF funding – the 2 Seas Interreg programme and the officers and staff that have helped us.
Many of the photos shown on the site were captured by FotoDocument (also a social enterprise) at our events.
