What is the Beyond Crisis Project?

We are thrilled to introduce you to the “Beyond Crisis” project, a beacon of hope and change in challenging times. In a world where crises seem to be a constant, “Beyond Crisis” stands as a testament to resilience, compassion, and collective action.

The project BEYOND CRISIS addresses the priority Improving business environment and supporting sustainable business models based on social economy with the aim to support actions to increase systemic awareness and competences of Reggio Emilia, Cartagena, and Kassandra local territories to address crises and arising challenges, leveraging the role and innovative joint partnerships of social economic actors with public administration, SMEs, businesses, and research centers.

Local plan for the social economy

The European Union views the social economy as a key tool for addressing the idea of “leaving no one behind” because it is a competitive aspect of the region and local economy. The partners from Reggio Emilia began their new social economy path on February 1st, with the goal of focusing on cooperatives, firms, economic actors, institutional, and third-sector approaches to create new economic, social impact, and sustainability approaches. The Beyond Crisis initiative within the European and regional framework, as well as the local and international action scheduled for the coming months, were presented to the local stakeholders during the event by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and the E35 Foundation.

The second phase of the Beyond Crisis Project is here!

The second stage began with Ucomur leading the organization of five workshops for the exchange of experiences and challenges in order to analyze the similarities and differences between the various business models. This comes after an initial phase in which organizations and entities from each territory conducted a study on the situation and impact of social economy in their municipalities. The purpose of these workshops was to carry on the examination of the many scenarios begun earlier, to gain an overview of trends, and to present specific data from each territory. The objective is to increase knowledge of competitiveness aspects and help develop a strong strategy for locating specialized information that isn’t available from other sources.

Enrique Luna, Director of amusal’s Technical Services and Projects Division, was present at the planning session for the Beyond Crisis project’s completion of Work Package II on July 21. Marianna Ragazzi from the E35 Foundation, Mara Luna Fragomeni from the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, César Garca and Carmen Solano from the Laboratory of Strategies and Ideas for the Territory (LEIT), and Giorgos Tsanis from Dimos Kassandras – Municipality Of Kassandra were also in attendance. The meeting also covered the start date for the online workshops, which was set for September 2023.

Local workshop was held in Reggio Emilia on 11th July

The purpose of the event was to present the findings from the local analysis of the social economy, including experiences, needs, opportunities, and interests for international exchanges in addition to the current situation of the social economy in Reggio Emilia (IT), Cartagena (ESP), and Kassandra (EL). The event also aimed to involve participants and introduce the regional “Laboratorial path for social economy,” the framework Reggio Emilia created to carry out the next project’s activities, working on both regional paths for social economy and implementing European peer exchanges while establishing joint recommendations.

Online workshops – September 2023

Five international online workshops have been organized as part of the Beyond Crisis initiative with participation from project partners and stakeholders. The sessions’ main goals were to present each territory’s key data, conduct a joint study of the scenario analysis’ findings, and gain a deeper understanding of each territory’s competitive characteristics. The discovered best practices were also presented, with an emphasis on their applicability and value to the project.

On September 5, it was Cartagena, Spain’s turn to announce the results. On September 7, it was Region Emilia, Italy, and on September 8, it was Central Macedonia, Greece. On September 14 and 15 respectively, the two remaining workshops were held to share best practices, discuss priority issues for each territory and schedule future visits to the territories.