Observatory for Social Innovation in the Atlantic Area is available online! Activity coordinated by the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra

The Centre for Social Studies (CES) launched the portal of the Observatory for Social Innovation in the Atlantic Area - the culmination of the European Union-funded Atlantic Social Lab project which since 2017 has been promoting pilot experiences around social innovation in the public sector, business and non-governmental organizations. This website, available at https://atlanticsociallab.ces.uc.pt/ aims to contribute to the visibility of research on social innovation and to serve as a repository of relevant information on this subject, which can serve as a reference for future studies. to actors engaged in social innovation practices. The Observatory aggregates results obtained during the implementation of the project, as well as a series of statistical data and relevant information on the countries that make up the Atlantic Area (Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom). As the project is nearing completion in May 2020, the website will allow to archive the main contributions achieved with the development of the Atlantic Social Lab, as well as to present statistical information with periodic update on the theme of social innovation.

The website is divided into four main sections: the first, Social Innovation Trends, gathers information on recent social innovation trends, either in the form of recent studies, reports and press articles, or in the presentation of Eurostat statistical indicators, grouped into four domains related to social innovation: demography, education, society, and economy. The second section, Actors of Social Innovation, groups together a list of actors working on social innovation in the project member-states. General information and practice areas of the various institutions can be found in this section, which includes public, private social, business or non-governmental institutions. It is a listing that is intended for permanent expansion as the website allows new stakeholders to enter their information into this repository. The third section, The Observatory, is devoted to the organizational aspects of the project, its objectives, the partners involved and the operation of the Observatory. It also includes a tool that allows the user to organize the rationale of a particular social innovation initiative, building a theory of change for the planned intervention to understand the potential impacts. The fourth and final section, Useful Information, presents key documentation created within Atlantic Social Lab activities, technical reports and study visits, as well as useful contacts.

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