Empowering the next generation of social enterprise scholars

Social enterprise (SE) are organizations which combine an entrepreneurial dynamic to provide services or goods with a primacy of social aims. SE naturally cross various types of borders; sectoral (public, business, cooperatives, associations), resources (drawing them from the market, public procurement, grants, and philanthropy) and activity fields (personal services, finance, recycling industry, energy and transport, food supply chains...). This EMPOWER-SE Action aims at (1) contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the diversity of SE models emerging across Europe and globally; their conditions of emergence and development; and their contribution to key industries for the development of sustainable societies by overcoming existing fragmentation in the levels of knowledge from both a geographical and a disciplinary point of view; (2) empowering the next generation of SE scholars, focusing on expanding the SE scientific community to less research-intensive countries where it is still embryonic or non-existing; and (3) fostering evidence-based policy from local to European levels and supporting the development of SE and their eco-systems in synergy with main industry representatives and stakeholders. The Action will implement networking mechanisms (working groups, conferences, meetings, workshops for policy-makers, local stakeholder talks, short-term scientific missions, training schools, communication tools including stakeholders briefs, and web-based dissemination) to connect fragmented communities and to contribute to closing the gap between the scientific community, policy- makers and society throughout Europe and beyond.