The social economy, which is expressed through social enterprises, is a form of solidarity-based economy focused on vulnerable groups of the population. This uncompetitive economy can work complementary to income and employment as well as to the tackling of unemployment and poverty.

Within the Erasmus+ project «Social Business for Inclusion», in which the Institute of Entrepreneurship Development  participates as a partner, a 10-day training programme was held in order to provide knowledge on social economy issues and possibilities to utilize its mechanisms to attain social objectives, including support for disadvantaged groups.

The training seminar took place in Torun, Poland, from June 29 to July 8, 2017. The representatives of the Institute for Entrepreneurship Development were Katerina Arvanitaki, Maria Spanopoulou and Nikos Papachristos.

The participating countries, which provided 28 participants in total,  were Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and the host country, Poland. During the training programme, the participants were invited to present the state of Social Economy in their country and the methods and tools are used to achieve it. In addition, a reference was made to the cultural elements and of each country.

The program focused on the understanding of the Social Economy by young people, as a means to socially include underserved groups. Finally, participants were given the opportunity to attend speeches and meet with local, social enterprises.