Management systems of coworking spaces for social innovation Erasmus Project

Project Title

Management systems of coworking spaces for social innovation

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Social entrepreneurship / social innovation

Project Summary

Coworking space is a workplace model popularised in the XXI century. It not only provides its members with a place to work and essential services that support their business but also creates a specific environment, where professionals can engage in social interaction, collaborate on shared interests and learn in a community of proactive professionals. It creates a collaborative, shared economy beneficial for all its members, that brings significant value to the local economy.

In the last decade, different stakeholders decided to adapt this model to the needs of social innovation and created coworking spaces for social innovation. These coworking spaces boost social innovation by providing social entrepreneurs with a cost-effective working space and accompanying services, giving them at the same time the sense of the collaborative synergy with other professionals dedicated to making a social impact. The members of such spaces exchange ideas, skills and experiences, which leads to a faster and more effective social innovation development and implementation. As most of the members of coworking spaces for social innovation are under 35’, this model fosters youth entrepreneurship, education and participation at the local level.

Centrum Rozwoju Inicjatyw Społecznych and its partners have decided to implement this 16-months project in order to map and identify good practices among the existing coworking spaces for social innovation to:
– boost their learning potential;
– make them more inclusive and adjusted to the needs of youth;
– foster the development of social innovation and increase its impact at the local level;
– build cooperation between a private, public and non-governmental sector;
– strengthen their sustainability.

These practices will then be gathered and released in the form of a PUBLICATION, which will be a key tangible result of this project.

The project will consist of the following key activities:
1) Training course on participatory management of coworking spaces for youth social innovation, which will be an opportunity to train 24 representatives of coworking spaces, civil society organisations and municipality officers on the good practices of coworking spaces management and methods of their implementation.
2) 2 Transnational Partners Meetings that will allow the exchange of knowledge on management systems of coworking spaces for social innovation in terms of their effectiveness, inclusiveness and adjustment to the needs of youth and local communities. Each TPM will connect 12 representatives of the consortium (2 participants per partner).

These 2 Transnational Partners Meetings will include 2 additional shorter activities, which are:
a) seminar on the management systems of coworking spaces for social innovation, which will be an introduction to the Study and an opportunity to bring the attention of relevant stakeholders to this topic.
b) conference to present the results of the Study on management systems of coworking spaces for social innovation.
Each of these activities should reach directly approximately 20 external stakeholders.
Therefore, the project will reach at least 84 participants directly through the planned activities.

The project will have an impact at the local, national and European level. The key findings of this project will be implemented by the partner organisations and other relevant stakeholders, making coworking spaces for social innovation more inclusive, effective and adjusted to the needs of youth. It will contribute to mainstreaming the model of coworking spaces for social innovation, as a system that engages youth, boosts social innovation and creates a positive impact at the local level by creating new learning opportunities, vacancies and addressing the needs of the local community.

Moreover, the establishment of international cooperation between the partners and other relevant stakeholders in the field of inclusive coworking spaces for social innovation will allow further development of new, more advanced projects in this thematic area.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 59030 Eur

Project Coordinator

Centrum Rozwoju Inicjatyw Spolecznych CRIS & Country: PL

Project Partners

• Social Innovation Wien SIW
• IMPACT HUB GMBH
• DYPALL NETWORK: ASSOCIACAO PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO DA PARTICIPACAO CIDADA
• ASOCIACION CULTURAL SENDE
• HIGHER INCUBATOR GIVING GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY