EFESEIIS

“Enabling the Flourishing and Evolution of Social Entrepreneurship for Innovative and Inclusive Societies” was a research project supported by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, funded by the European Commission.

The project was one of the last to be funded by FP7 and covered ten countries: Albania, Austria, UK (England and Scotland), France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia and Sweden.

Responding to the challenges identified in Europe 2020 Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth and HORIZON 2020 - in particular to societal challenges to create inclusive, innovative and secure societies - the EFESEIIS project aimed to fully understand the conditions under which social entrepreneurship starts, develops and contributes effectively and efficiently to solve societal challenges in a sustainable way.

The four main objectives of this project were:

• To develop an evolutionary theory of social entrepreneurship explaining the different ways in which social entrepreneurship has developed across Europe.
• To identify the features of an enabling eco-system for social entrepreneurship; the conditions under which social enterprise can effectively contribute to building an inclusive society.
• To identify the new generation of social entrepreneurs particularly those that have set up organisations in the last three years, characterised by austerity, recession but also an unprecedented interest in social enterprise.
• To provide advice to stakeholders (i.e. policy makers, organisations support social entrepreneurship and social enterprises) by understanding different perspectives on social entrepreneurship and how they facilitate its development and proposing a model for optimisation of the impact of European/national policy initiatives on local social enterprise growth and sustainability.

EFESEIIS involved around 1100 stakeholders in its research activities – from social entrepreneurs, policy makers, financial organizations, and local authorities to individuals.

Publications

• Baglioni, Simone. 2017. ‘A Remedy for All Sins? Introducing a Special Issue on Social Enterprises and Welfare Regimes in Europe’. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 28 (6): 2325–38.
• Hazenberg, Richard, Meanu Bajwa-Patel, Micaela Mazzei, Michael James Roy, and Simone Baglioni. 2016. ‘The Role of Institutional and Stakeholder Networks in Shaping Social Enterprise Ecosystems in Europe’. Social Enterprise Journal 12 (3): 302–21.
• Hazenberg, Richard, Meanu Bajwa-Patel, Michael J. Roy, Micaela Mazzei, and Simone Baglioni. 2016. ‘A Comparative Overview of Social Enterprise “Ecosystems” in Scotland and England: An Evolutionary Perspective’. International Review of Sociology 26 (2): 205–22.
• Mazzei, Micaela, and Michael J. Roy. 2017. ‘From Policy to Practice: Exploring Practitioners’ Perspectives on Social Enterprise Policy Claims’. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 28 (6): 2449–2468.

Project Team: Simone Baglioni, Stephen Sinclair, Michael Roy, Micaela Mazzei