The Social Challenges Innovation Platform is the first European online ecosystem for social innovation, powered by META Group, EBN and Impact Hub, together with the European Commission.

The platform, now in its pilot phase, aims to address real and pressing social and environmental challenges that arise across Europe every day and affect the daily lives of people. Socialchallenges.eu is a twofold tool for innovation that serves as a place where the challenges and solutions meet and match, on a mission to make life better for the residents of the region.

The challenges are numerous – they appear as consequences of modern societies and lifestyles and it often takes an innovative and creative approach to come up with solutions. Some of the challenges range from a financial crisis breeding economic instability and political volatility to an ever-increasing pace of technological change that threatens to disrupt the social order, such as the introduction of digital technology with its deepening of existing inequalities. The potential of social innovation to transform the way we respond to Europe’s challenges still remains largely untapped.

Socialchallenges.eu matches these social needs with the best innovative solutions from the entrepreneurial world. The platform supports committed public authorities, private companies and third sector organisations in defining and prioritising social and environmental challenges and uploading them onto the platform. It then encourages the participation of social innovators, startups and SMEs to identify, fund, co-develop and test concrete solutions to these needs.

Socialchallenges.eu provides 30.000€ grants and dedicated support, focused on the translation of the challenges into 81 practical and marketable solutions for a total value of 2.430.000€. If you have a strong community of social innovators, give them a chance to propose a solution and get financed by spreading the message on Twitter!

How exactly is that done?

Well, it supports the stakeholders in defining and prioritising the challenges, encourages entrepreneurs to suggest specific solutions and provides grants and support. In other words, Socialchallenges.eu is a place where social challenge owners meet their solution providers and together, they co-develop solutions with a clear social impact.

The challenge owners are local authorities, companies or NGOs that are in need of solutions to specific issues in local environments. They are looking for entrepreneurs whose solutions to these challenges can be transformed into business ideas that are both innovative and sustainable.

On the other hand, the platform aims to attract entrepreneurs who are dedicated to making an impact and being the catalyst for change.

The role of Impact Hub as a partner on this project is communication dissemination (along with EBN) and we’re very proud to be a part of Socialchallenges.eu. Our passion for change and building communities for impact aligns clearly with the platform’s goals and our network of 16,000 social innovators is extremely helpful in highlighting the great work being done on Social Challenges Innovation Platform. We are very excited to be partnering with the European Commission for the fourth year in a row and give support to a project we truly believe in!

All 30 challenges are now live on the platform and ready for a stream of amazing solutions to flow in. Are you passionate about great ideas and social innovation? Do you have a solution? See more about the challenges and make a contribution!