Within the framework of the European Union-funded “Coworking spaces for social innovation” program, Impact Hub is joining the Greek Higher Incubator Giving Growth & Sustainability (HIGGS) and other key organisations from the region in a hybrid conference to wrap up a whole year of activities.

On May 25th 2022, from 3pm to 5pm (CEST), participants will gather in Athens to present good practices and reflect about the learning potential of coworking spaces, addressing their impact in local communities and discussing young people’s roles and opportunities in this universe. If you’re interested in joining the conference, register here.

Social innovation through empowering coworking spaces: the context

As part of the EU-funded initiative, representatives from different local Impact Hubs across Europe previously got together in Lisbon to take part in an immersive training. Called “Management systems of coworking spaces for social innovation”, the training was organised by Developing Youth Participation at Local Level (DYPALL Network), which is a “European platform of over 70 civil society organisations and local authorities from more than 30 countries, that aims to involve young people in decision-making processes at the local level, and thus enable municipal and regional authorities to address the needs and interests of youth, engage young people as active actors of problem-solving and increase the level of ownership, commitment and involvement of an essential part of our communities”.

Talking about the importance of initiatives like this, Éva Vörös, Social Impact Award Coordinator at Impact Hub Budapest, points that it’s fundamental to address “the impact of coworking, which can be much broader if we create a plan to combine youth participation, social impact, and promotion of youth entrepreneurship, both inside and outside of our coworking spaces”.

Besides the various networking, capacity-building and learning sessions, the training also aimed at sharing and analysing good practices that were identified during the research phase performed by partners of the project – DYPALL Network (Portugal), Centrum Rozwoju Inicjatyw Społecznych CRIS (Poland), Sende (Spain), Social City Wien (Austria), HIGGS (Greece) and Impact Hub. The study focused on mapping practices that:

• could boost the learning potential of coworking spaces; 
• have the potential to make them more inclusive and adjusted to the needs of youth;
• have the power to foster the development of social innovation and increase its impact at the local level; 
• could trigger and/or build cooperation between a private, public and non-governmental sector; 
• strengthen coworking spaces sustainability.

The fact that we are facing the same challenges, in different contexts, helped me realise how we are interconnected and how important it is to establish a relevant level of constant cooperation” – Gianluca Latocca, Community Manager of Impact Hub Vienna.

Straight from Austria, Impact Hub Vienna’s Community Manager Gianluca Latocca pointed that, over the course of this process, he “had the chance to explore new innovative ideas, learn basic concepts on how coworking spaces can make the difference when it’s about social entrepreneurship and youth participation and, most importantly, to build a new network that could help me and Impact Hub Vienna in scaling our impact”.

Besides learning about the different possibilities for youth to be involved in innovation processes, Gianluca shared that by “talking and exchanging experiences with all the participants that came from different sides of the civil society, I was able to expand the pool of solutions to those problems that we are sharing due to the current global condition. The fact that we are facing the same challenges, in different contexts, helped me realise how we are interconnected and how important it is to establish a relevant level of constant cooperation”.

Register to the final event of the “Coworking spaces for social innovation” program and learn how you can also take part in this impact-led and cooperative environment.