The final conference of the extension phase of the Atlantic Social Lab (ASL) project took place in Glasgow on 18-19 May and was organised by Glasgow Caledonian University. The conference was integrated into the Second Changemakers and Pioneers: Social Innovation Fair and started with the intervention of the Glasgow Caledonian University partner.

The first day was dedicated to one-hour interactive sessions hosted by three projects to present their results, including Severe project; Atlantic Social Lab and Social Innovation Connect UK/ European Social Innovation Alliance. During the ASL session, partners presented and discussed the project results and the implementation of the pilot actions. Centre for Social Studies (CES) from the University of Coimbra concluded the session by presenting the assessment and evaluation of the impact of the pilot actions developed. On the first day, participants also had the opportunity to visit booths set up by GCU partner organisations to learn more about each project and its impact.

On the second day, participants attended roundtable discussions to deepen their understanding of social innovation within their respective networks and communities. The discussions focused on exploring different forms of collaboration that could be used to increase the impact of social innovation initiatives. Through these discussions, participants gained insights into how they can work together to address some of the most pressing social challenges facing their communities and beyond.

Four stakeholders were invited by ASL to take part in the roundtable discussions: Susan Paxton from the Scottish Community Development Centre and Claire MacRae from Glasgow Caledonian University on community wealth building and community asset management; Nelson Dias from Oficina and Karin Pereira from the Municipality of Cascais on participatory budgeting and civic engagement. They discussed how participatory budgeting can increase civic engagement and promote transparency in decision-making processes. Enterprise North West's partner also joined to share some insights into social enterprise and knowledge sharing. He discussed the benefits of harnessing the knowledge and skills of different stakeholders and encouraging collaboration between different industries to create a future that is both sustainable and fair for all.

The Atlantic Social Lab, led by Avilés City Council (Spain) is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the INTERREG Cooperation Program Atlantic Area, with the reference EAPA_246/2016.

Coimbra, 21st May 2023

Contact person:

Principal Investigator (PI) at CES, Hugo Pinto hpinto@ces.uc.pt