SHINE 2Europe co-organized a participatory laboratory at the 21st edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels on October 11, the largest annual event in cohesion policies, which brought together more than 7,000 participants and was opened at a high-level session by Commissioner Elisa Ferreira and the President of the European Committee of the Regions, Vasco Alves Cordeiro.
With a packed room, the session “Entrepreneurial and social innovation skills that drive inclusion and tackle the innovation gap” explored European perspectives on promoting entrepreneurial and social innovation skills that drive Europe’s development without leaving anyone behind. This session was co-organized by SHINE 2Europe (Portugal), UNITEE (Belgium), Friends of Europe (Belgium), Eurochambres (Belgium) and AFEdemy (Netherlands), together with the European projects SIRENE, NET4Age-Friendly and INTEGER. It also included the participation of the latest project in which SHINE is a partner: NewEcoSmart, which also had its launch meeting in Brussels the same week.
Representing SHINE 2Europe were Carina Dantas, Natália Machado and Juliana Louceiro. In a room packed with a committed and participative audience, a session took place in which SHINE discussed social innovation, the concept and implementation of SHAFE, more inclusive communities and how we can empower citizens by providing the necessary skills, how innovation ecosystems can be nurtured and how to involve all the actors necessary for a more equitable and just society in Europe.
SHINE was proud to participate in this event, with Carina Dantas in a plenary of relevant speakers and Natália Machado as moderator of one of the discussion tables on innovative ecosystems. This initiative brought together innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs from different backgrounds and countries and other participants who shared their ideas and good practices for empowering citizens with entrepreneurial, digital and social innovation skills, as well as community-focused solutions and promoting alliances between cities, regions and sectors.