EUWIN Partner Profile

Sinnergiak Social Innovation

Sinnergiak Social Innovation is a research centre of the University of the Basque Country, founded in 2012. Located in San Sebastian (Spain) it focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to social innovation divided into four main core areas: action research, training, intervention and knowledge transfer. Its mission is to foster social innovation at a regional level in collaboration with European and international networks. Sinnergiak has a long track on EU level research and counts with experience on different research and cooperation programmes such as Interreg, 7^th Framework Programme and Horizon 2020. Currently the research team is involved in Beyond4.0, a research and innovation action financed by the European Commission.

Since 2014, the social innovation research centre has been working on workplace innovation programme level issues in collaboration with the public and private sector. Throughout the 2014-2019 period Sinnergiak has led the research project Gipuzkoa Workplace Innovation in collaboration with the Department of Economic Promotion, and in which EUWIN has actively collaborated as EU network facilitator.

The research has served to produce evidence-based data on workplace issues and to encourage the establishment of a local information network on workplace innovation. The Government of Gipuzkoa fosters workplace innovation from three axes: workers, companies and the territory. Workers participation is at the forefront of the policy agenda. Within the 2016-2019 period the Government’s Participation Strategy has developed a wide range of activities involving companies, research and development units, education centres and labour market agents.

Currently, within a new flagship initiative under the heading “Building the Future of Gipuzkoa”, the Government is approaching a new governance model which pilots the construction of learning spaces. Sinnergiak Social Innovation works directly offering research-assisted support.

This proposal seeks to take on the socio-economic challenges of Gipuzkoa to reorient its economic, political, social and cultural future through a reflective exercise that brings about an organised strengthening in the medium and long term. It involves the organized civil society, the private sector, the research institutes, civil servants, social entrepreneurs and policymakers in a joint effort to reshape the future challenges of the territory by institutionalising a new way of designing and implementing public policies. This initiative represents an umbrella, which integrates diverse collaborative governance actions through different experimental and strategic projects on different economic social, political, cultural arenas (such as climate change, active ageing, workplace innovation, employment, cyber security, education and gender equality among others). Unlike other policy areas this initiative is publicly led by the Provincial Government. That is, it offers the opportunity to reorganise and re-structure the whole public sphere, looking to institutionalise a new public governance culture for the future region.

Egoitz Pomares

Sinnergiak, Ondarreta 18, 20018 Donostia – San Sebastian, Spain

www.sinnergiak.org