A fashion social enterprise journey from entering the European Social Innovation Competition to scaling up – by Valeria Valotto of Progetto Quid, Winner of the 2014 European Social Innovation Competition Fashion not only transforms us: concealing our flaws, making us feel pretty, sexy or professional, it also transforms, for better and for worse: cities, politics, […]

Throughout the course of February, a series of four webinars took place to provide support and inspiration to potential applicants to this year’s Competition by exploring different topic areas related to the sustainable fashion industry.

On 12th February we were in Valencia to celebrate the launch of the 2020 European Social Innovation Competition with a very special event at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. Photos from the event can be found here. The event brought together key stakeholders in the fields of fashion, sustainability and social innovation, as […]

An interview with Slawomir Tokarski, Director of Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing, DG GROW Since its launch in 2012, the European Social Innovation Competition has served as a beacon for social innovators. Each year the competition takes on a different challenge facing Europe, employing a proven methodology for supporting early-stage ideas, while facilitating a network of […]

Lisa-Maria Sommer is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the 2019 European Social Innovation Competition Impact Prize Winner, MTOP. Speaking at this year’s Awards Ceremony, she explained how the 2018 Competition has helped her company to double the output of its training programmes for refugees. A bit more than 3 and a half years ago, Nina […]

Italy’s ‘RecilaGaMe’ talks about turning plastic waste into silk, their innovative idea and their tiny larva business partners. Can you imagine transforming a plastic bag into an elegant silk tie? Or into a silk-shirt? Though it seems strange or even impossible, this is the concept of RecilaGaMe, our innovative plastic waste disposal idea. Our idea […]

Giuseppe Fasano, designer and co-founder at LUFT PARCEL, talks us though his inspiration, project and process through his participation in The European Social Innovation Completion.  My background is in design and I have been involved in packaging design for several years. Through my work, I noticed that the demand for sustainable packaging was increasing and […]

VEnvirotec Biotechnology‘s Patricia Ayma, co-founder and CTO, talks to NESTA about their inspiration and process and the experience of having participated in The European Social Innovation Award. How were you inspired to challenge plastic waste? ‘I got inspired to challenge plastic waste while studying the Environmental Engineering Master. At first, I discovered plastic pollution at […]

MIWA’s account manager Nikola Stiskalkova, talks to NESTA about their inspiration and participation in The European Social Innovation Award. How were you inspired to challenge plastic waste? ‘In MIWA, we all share the vision of a simple, straight-forward, packaging free shopping experience. For a long time, we have all been trying to figure out a […]

Norway’s Wilhelm Myrer shares how he met his business partner, their idea for Empower, and how they are taking Norway’s already successful recycling system and merging it with competitive technology, and making it available around the world… I was working with a startup, developing blockchain technology to disrupt the banks, when I coincidentally met my […]