Establishing a regional hub for social innovation in Södertörn
As part of the Swedish ESF Council’s initiative for social innovation, we are one of six national actor constellations granted funding to establish regional competence centers for social innovation. Our initiative will be based in Södertörn, in southern Stockholm, and will be carried out as a partnership between Södertörn University, SE Forum, Reach for Change, Changers Hub, and Fabege, in collaboration with Flemingsberg Science, Södertörnskommunerna, and Huddinge Municipality.
Södertörn consists of eight municipalities with over 500,000 residents, facing challenges such as high youth unemployment, socio-economic segregation, and insufficient cross-sector collaboration, which impact development.
The aim of the project is to establish a regional platform for cross-sector collaboration and innovative co-creation, focusing on reducing social and economic vulnerability among young people in Södertörn. By working across sectors, practically, and in an inspiring way, we aim to increase engagement around social innovation and social entrepreneurship. We will involve stakeholders and participants in the Flemingsberg area to develop and implement methods that can be scaled to other parts of Södertörn and subsequently to other regions in Sweden. Our Executive Director Tove Nordström Pontén speaks of the project’s potential:
Developing and strengthening platforms for knowledge-sharing and cross-sectoral collaboration that can explore and initiate solutions to our societal challenges is essential. We don’t have sufficient platforms and hubs in Sweden that promote and accelerate social innovation so we’re very excited to be able to build one of six new hubs in Sweden, and we see great potential in working together with our partners and others locally in Södertörn to create a strong region where organisations and companies work together to build a resilient and socially sustainable society.
The project will be led by Södertörn University over a three-year period, with the ambition to create a hub for social innovation that can continue to operate beyond the project’s end. We see a great need for organisation and collaboration to find and develop solutions to our shared societal challenges, and we view this project as an excellent opportunity to build the platform needed to inspire, initiate, and foster the development of social innovation in Södertörn and across Sweden. We are excited and proud to have been entrusted with this responsibility and look forward to getting started!
If you want to know more or if you want to discuss the project and/or potential collaborations, please do get in touch with our Executive Director Tove Nordström Pontén at tove.nordstrom@se-forum.se