Development of a common ecosystem for the social entrepreneurs and the social and solidary economy in Berlin.

By Günther Lorenz, from our member TechNet / Technologie-Netzwerk Berlin

Social Economy Berlin (SEB) is a project executed by Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Berlin (SEND) and Technologie-Netzwerk Berlin e.V. (TechNet) The project is being supported though the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises and is being implemented from 01/08/2020 to 31/12/2021.

The project pursues the following main aims:

  1. Interconnecting the stakeholders within the social economy in Berlin actively and effectively

Creating a central networking point for the social economy is crucial; we aim at connecting social entrepreneurs and social start-ups with the social and solidary economy and building a network of contacts and organisations that can offer support and resources. As a part of this goal, there will be networking events as well as workshops treating those topics that are of most concern to the social economy and the social entrepreneurs in Berlin.

  1. Facilitating social entrepreneurship and the founding of social enterprises

The SEB project will be supporting founders and providing free foundation and business counselling in cooperation with experienced consultants within the sector. Additionally, the project will provide training to business and founding experts, within, in particular, the relevant institutions such as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Berlin (IHK), and the business development bank of the Federal Land of Berlin (IBB) in order to inform about the specificities and particular needs of social enterprises.

  1. Making the social economy more visible and well-known

Throughout the project, a communication strategy will be developed and put into effect along with information designed to improve the visibility of the social economy, in particular within institutions for economic development and the general public. A large conference in early summer of 2021 will further promote the visibility of the social economy, as well as the exchange amongst the sector and political decision-makers, the traditional economic sector and the civil society.

The SEB project represents a follow-up of the ‘Social Innovation Capital Berlin’ project concluded the previous year, which investigated the needs of the social and solidary economy. Social Economy Berlin sets out to implement the identified measures.

The Social Economy Berlin project is represented by the project partners:

Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland e.V. Afra Gloria Müller
Technologie-Netzwerk Berlin e.V. Heike Birkhölzer

With support of