Funding Opportunities for Social Innovation in International Cooperation and Development

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

OBJECTIVE: To bring together a range of players in the fields of social innovation and international development to forge a more effective, transdisciplinary approach to EU project delivery.

The idea of this event is to cross fertilise and create trans-disciplinary teams of both researchers and practitioners who represent the vanguard of social innovation and international development in Europe and beyond.

The day’s activities will be informed by the priorities and calls of three major EC funding programmes:

• EuropeAid (grants and tenders);
• Horizon 2020 (supporting research and innovation projects);
• Erasmus+ (Cooperation in education)

An overview of these programmes will be presented by representatives of the European Commission.

This will be followed by two parallel sessions of three roundtables, with a moderator to guide discussion:

SESSION ONE: Regions of the world - defining priorities and challenges.

Roundtable 1. Asia

Roundtable 2. Africa

Roundtable 3. Other regions of the world

In each roundtable, participants will be given the opportunity to present a geographical region of interest and discuss what priorities and challenges they face and how funding support might help to bring about change.

SESSION TWO: Thematic areas – defining opportunities and solutions

Roundtable 1. Socioeconomics, shifting geopolitics and migration

Roundtable 2. Smart cities, urbanisation and energy efficiency

Roundtable 3. Agriculture, food and ecology

In each roundtable, participants will be given the opportunity to identify specific funding streams and potential partnerships that might bring about real change in communities around the world.

The day will end with a summing up followed by a networking reception.

CONCEPT

The format of these events is experimental. By its very nature it has to be very innovative and dynamic and very much depends on the willingness, enthusiasm and efforts of the participants themselves. There will be absolutely NO powerpoint presentations except in the plenary presentations of funding programmes at the beginning of the day.

The idea of the event is not to listen but to talk, to share ideas. But this is not simply a “talking shop” either; there is a real purpose to our dialogue. The aim of the day is to develop effective project ideas directly addressing the upcoming calls from the European Commission. And even if a specific proposal does not emerge by the end of the day we at least expect that the relationships and connections made will lead to enriched projects in the future.

PROGRAMME

9.00-9.30

REGISTRATION

9.30-10.00

Speed Networking and organisation of sessions - Participants are invited to find out as much about each other as possible in a limited time frame in order to prepare help them Identify suitable partners for projects.

10.00-10.30

Funder Presentation: Erasmus+ - Deirdre Lennan, DG Education and Culture

10.30-11.00

Funder Presentation: Horizon 2020 - Alan Cross, Deputy Head of Unit for Horizon 2020 Policy

11.00-11.30

Funder Presentation: EuropeAid:

Parallel session One

11.30-13.00

Roundtable 1. Asia

Roundtable 2. Africa

Roundtable 3. Other regions of the world

13.00-13.30

Feedback

13.30-14.00

Lunch

Parallel Session Two

14.00-16.00

Roundtable 1. Socioeconomics, shifting geopolitics and migration

Roundtable 2. Smart cities, urbanisation and energy efficiency

Roundtable 3. Agriculture, food and ecology

16.00-16.30

Feed back

16.30-17.30

The Last waltz

17.30-19.00

Drinks reception and buffet

FORMAT

Roundtables

Some roundtables may be oversubscribed for meaningful dialogue while others may generate less interest. Furthermore, some people may be interested in more than one session. As such we will need to strike a balance between having as many sessions as possible while ensuring that there is time for in-depth discussion. The precise programme of the sessions will reflect this. It may also be necessary for the roundtables to split into smaller groups according to specific interests (eg. Asia might split into South East Asia, China and India).

Feedback

Each parallel session will end up with a feedback session. However, there will not be any formal note-taking or use of “rapporteurs”. Instead we would like the feedback sessions to simply offer an opportunity for everyone to find out what has been developed in sessions that they haven’t attended.

Moderators

The Moderator in each session will have one very important task: to ensure that everyone talks. We don’t want anyone to feel they didn’t have the chance to voice their ideas. It might be that the Moderator has a particular proposal they would like to present to initiate dialogue or they may invite participants to present their own ideas, but there should never be any silence. It also goes without saying that anyone who wants should have the opportunity to present their own proposal idea and it will be the Moderator’s responsibility to ensure this happens. Clearly, the discussions elicited should as much as possible refer to the specific calls relating to the session topics (see Annex). We suggest that one effective way of directing discussion will be to explore the three principal criteria for evaluation:

• Excellence (the scientific quality of the project, in particular how a project might go beyond the state of the art),
• Implementation (the delivery of the project, work packages etc.)
• Impact (the dissemination and exploitation of results)

The Last Waltz

A final session, the Last Waltz – like the last dance at a teenage disco! – will allow ideas that have been discussed to be consolidated or further responses, connections or comments made on the proposals put forward. It is the last chance to cement the relationship of your dreams!

Cocktail reception and networking buffet

The dinner and drinks reception is free of charge and will be held immediately following the final session.