European Social Innovation Competition 2016

European Social Innovation Competition 2016

What was the European Social Innovation Competition 2016?

Following the refugee crisis, the large number of refugees and migrants, often vulnerable individuals, presented a challenge to the EU both in terms of their immediate reception and longer-term integration. It was funded by the European Commission.

The ‘Integrated Futures’ challenge prize focused on innovative approaches to build inclusive communities and realise the potential contribution of refugees and migrants.

Three prizes of €50,000 were awarded to the winning teams at the awards ceremony on 27 October 2016 in Brussels.

This challenge was funded by

  • European Commission logo

The winners

Three men gather round a woodworking project

CUCULA

CUCULA (Germany) is a practical workshop and an educational program created for and together with refugees and migrants in Berlin. It designs, manufactures, produces and sells products based on the concept of Enzo Mari, providing technical qualifications with focus on furniture production. It also runs an education program that includes German language classes, legal advice and additional support.

Three people stand on a stage, with a large projector screen behind them

Project Virtuous Triangle

Project Virtuous Triangle (Turkey) matches primary school children from Syria with young Turkish students, alongside a university age ‘coach student’ for tutoring, mentoring and language sharing. The project helps combat segregation in Turkey and means refugee children are more likely to be able to learn Turkish, attend school, and eventually get a job or open up other future opportunities.

Two people with VR headsets on grasp hands

The Machine to be Another

The Machine to be Another (Spain) is a cultural diversity and virtual reality experience sharing project designed to recreate, replicate, and share experiences so that people can experience life as a refugee. It uses a pre-recorded audio narrative to create a story, and shares these encounters using 360 virtual reality technology. The project aims to create stations of archived narratives from refugees all around Europe.

Impact Prize Winner

In 2016, an Impact Prize was also awarded to the 2015 semi-finalist able to demonstrate clear social impact:

2016: Love Your Waste (France) impact prize winner
Love Your Waste is a social enterprise fighting food waste. It works with canteens in companies, schools, and hospitals, collecting biowaste which is transformed into renewable energy. Since April 2015 they have recycled over 137 tonnes of food waste as well as carrying out extensive education programmes to help people understand and prevent waste.

The finalists

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

1,095 ideas…

were received from 36 different countries during the 2016 edition of the competition

Italy, Spain and Romania…

were the three countries that submitted the most entries

Employment was a very popular focus…

for the entrants to the 2016 prize, with a number of innovative digital solutions making it through to semi-finalist stage

Who were the Challenge Judges?

Other editions of the Competition

What is the European Social Innovation Competition?

Launched in memory of social innovation pioneer Diogo Vasconcelos, the European Social Innovation Competition is a challenge prize run by the European Commission across all EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries. Now in its 8th year, the Competition acts as a beacon for social innovators in Europe, employing a proven methodology for supporting early-stage ideas and facilitating a network of radical innovators shaping society for the better. Each year the Competition is based around a different issue facing Europe.