Linking technology and social innovation ecosystems (POSITIVE)

The innovation ecosystems of the social and technology sectors are not sufficiently linked, although they could complement each other effectively with their respective skills. Social innovators need the expertise of technology innovators in digitization, networking and business skills. On the other hand, tech innovators should be sensitized to current societal challenges and address them with the participation of social innovators.

The POSITIVE project addresses this potential and offers knowledge transfer, training, and mutual understanding for both innovation ecosystems. A special feature is the implementation of three 'Open Innovation Challenges' (OIC), modeled on the UX Challenges from the technology sector. Social enterprises will present challenges for which students from different disciplines will develop digital products and services with added value for society.

The project consortium includes partners from both innovation ecosystems located in Italy, Lithuania and Germany to implement the linkage at regional and European level.

As project partner, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum is supporting:

• the coordination of the project implementation
• the exploitation of the developed training and OIC toolkits through the organization of a Pan-European Follow-Up Event and the dissemination in relevant networks

Further information:

• Project Name Acronym: POSITIVE - Participatory Open Social Innovation Through Interlinking Valuable-Ecosystems
• Funding: European Commission, HORIZON EUROPE
• Funding budget for the whole project all partners: 499 982 EUR
• Participating countries: Germany, Italy, Lithuania
• Project duration: 02/2023 – 11/2024