About Competence Centre for Social Innovation the European Social Fund
What does the center of excellence do?
Sweden’s National Competence Centre for Social Innovation e for the European Social Fund develops knowledge about and promotes social innovation within the European Social Fund by:
- Learning and Dialogue Processes
- Method Development
- Knowledge and Examples
- Events
- Policy Impact
Who supports the center of excellence?
The Competence Center coordinates support and learning at the local, regional, national, and international levels. We provide support for ESF-funded projects involving a wide range of stakeholders, from municipalities, regions, civil society organizations, and social enterprises to government agencies, academia, and the business sector. The Competence Center also supports potential project owners who are in the process of formulating a project idea or application, or who are considering applying for funding from the ESF Council. We bring together and support regional support structures for social innovation and also serve as advisors to the Swedish ESF Council. Finally, the Center of Excellence works to strengthen the ecosystem—the actors that enable social innovation and promote employment, education, and social inclusion.
Why is the center of excellence needed?
Although many ESF-funded projects generate valuable lessons, there is a lack of scope, working methods, and funding to link results to organizational and societal development at the local, regional, and national levels. This hinders long-term implementation and dissemination. The gap between practice and policy means that the innovative potential for an inclusive labor market—through social inclusion, employment, and education—often remains confined to temporary initiatives.
For social innovation to have an impact, there is a need for supportive funding mechanisms, platforms for learning, collaboration, and knowledge transfer among project participants, researchers, and policymakers.
Sweden’s National Competence Centre for Social Innovation , under the European Social Fund, provides expertise, methodologies, and platforms for dialogue on social innovation within the European Social Fund among ESF-funded projects, the Swedish ESF Council, and key actors in the social innovation ecosystem.
The purpose of the national center of excellence is to promote targeted, value-creating, and sustainable social innovations within the ESF+.
The Center of Excellence carries out initiatives on three levels:
The Competence Center is aimed at target groups at three levels: the project, program, and system levels. These stakeholders play a key role in developing, testing, implementing, and scaling social innovations within the framework of ESF+, particularly in Program Area E.
Project Level – Initiatives for ESF Projects
The Center of Excellence provides support to project owners and applicants for support frompartners, collaborating partners,funders and suppliers as well as participants in professional development in ESF projects within Program Area E. We also provide support tothose who are in the process ofwriting a project application or are considering applying for ESF funding.
Program Level – Initiatives for the ESF Council
At the program level the competence center collaborates withstaff at the Swedish ESF Council. Staff includes officials responsible for Program Area E and social innovation, ESF Region South, as well as management and other staff within the ESF Council.
System Level – Initiatives for Key Actors in Social Innovation
At the system level, the center of excellence targets key players in the social innovation ecosystem—that is, the organizations that influence and are affected by the development and implementation of innovative solutions to societal challenges. This includes actors from all sectors of society, including decision-makers at the local, regional, and national levels, as well as umbrella and industry organizations. This also includes stakeholders at the national and EU levels who design frameworks and structures for Program Area E and the ESF as a whole.
6 areas of work
Everything we do at the Competence Center is linked to the same overarching goal: to promote targeted, value-creating, and sustainable social innovations within ESF+. However, to facilitate and drive forward the work of the Competence Center, we have divided our work into six areas of focus, which partially overlap.
Work Area 1 – Learning and Support for the ESF Council
This area includes the further development of call-for-proposals processes and working methods for social innovation at the ESF Council; creating the conditions for clearer policy alignment and strategic use of ESF+ in Sweden; and developing working methods through knowledge-sharing initiatives between European ESF authorities and centers of expertise, as well as among project funders in Sweden.
Work Area 2 – Project Support
This area includes support for ESF projects in Program Area E, as well as for the stakeholders and organizations planning to apply for ESF funding. The Competence Center organizes training sessions, dialogue meetings, and exchanges of experience on social innovation and project design, on understanding problems, proposed solutions, and potential relevant partners. The Competence Center also develops support materials on the learning process and conducts surveys and interviews to identify the needs of project owners and partners. Finally, the Competence Center will develop a Community of Practice.
Work Area 3 – Approaches for Highlighting, Evaluating, and Disseminating Social Innovations
This area includes supporting the implementation and dissemination of a new model for Theory of Change, conducting project reviews to identify social innovations in the ESF’s program areas, performing thematic analyses of social innovation in areas of current societal relevance within the ESF, developing best practices in Sweden and Europe, organizing an annual conference and other events, and engaging in policy dialogue.
Work Area 4 – Funding
This area includes developing a knowledge base, support materials, and learning processes related to public and private financing of social innovation, as well as exploring and testing financing models, tools, and call-for-proposals models to strengthen long-term financing of social innovation.
Work Area 5 – National Coordination of the Social Innovation Ecosystem
This area includes the joint development of a long-term strategy for organizing and funding the competence center’s initiatives over time, as well as mobilization and knowledge exchange among stakeholders in the ecosystem, the business community, and competence centers in Europe.
Work Area 6 – Regional Coordination of Ecosystems for Social Innovation
This area includes collaboration between national and regional centers of excellence, alignment with strategies and action plans, annual mapping of the ecosystem in the participating regions, development of innovation clusters, training opportunities and support materials, methods and tools, collection and dissemination of best-practice models for regional organization, and regional policy advocacy.
What is the Swedish ESF Council?
The Swedish ESF Council is a Swedish government agency under the Ministry of Labor. The ESF Council has been tasked by the government with strengthening individuals’ position in the labor market.
The mission of the Swedish ESF Council is to reduce unemployment and social exclusion, strengthen Sweden’s long-term supply of skilled labor and economic growth, and promote cohesion within the EU. Through the European Social Fund, the ESF Council funds projects focused on skills development, employment initiatives, and integration efforts.
European Social Fund+
The European Social Fund (ESF) is intended to help more people find jobs or acquire the skills needed by the labor market. In the current programming period (ESF+ 2021–2027), the Swedish program comprises five program areas where local, regional, and national actors can apply for funding to carry out projects that contribute to an inclusive labor market. One of these program areas focuses on social innovation.
Program Area E – Social Innovation
Program Area E under ESF+ focuses on developing new solutions that can address challenges in the areas of social inclusion, the labor market, and education through social innovation. Initiatives may be carried out in collaboration between actors in the nonprofit, private, or public sectors.
Which organizations are part of the center of excellence?
Forum for Social Innovation Sweden
Forum for Social Innovation Sweden (Forum for Social Innovation Sweden) is a national knowledge and collaboration platform for social innovation. We work to strengthen social innovation as a force for society through research, knowledge, methods, and collaboration between academia, the public sector, civil society, and the business community. Forum for Social Innovation Sweden is based at five universities in Sweden, including Malmö University serves as the coordinating institution and the project owner of the National “ Competence Centre for Social Innovation ” project under the European Social Fund. Learn more about the “ Forum for Social Innovation Sweden ” project.
National Network of Coordination Associations
The National Network for Coordination Associations (NNS) is an advocacy organization for the Coordination Associations in Sweden. Coordination Associations consist of municipalities, regions, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, and the Swedish Public Employment Service, which promote collaboration, use resources efficiently, and help more people find work. More about NNS.
Coompanion Sweden
Coompanion Sweden promotes cooperative enterprise—entrepreneurship based on equal terms, where ownership and governance are democratic, and where sustainability from social, economic, and environmental perspectives is safeguarded. Learn more about Coompanion.
Famna
Famna is an advocacy and knowledge organization that, together with its members, highlights the role, distinctiveness, and potential of the nonprofit sector in the Swedish welfare system. It serves as a bridge between nonprofit organizations and policymakers. More about Famna.
How the Competence Center Is Managed
Steering Committee
The Center of Excellence has a steering committee in which all partner organizations are represented.
Project Team
A project group comprising all partner organizations is leading the operational work.
Background to the assignment
The European Commission funds national " Competence Centre for Social Innovation " through the ESF+. The aim is to promote innovative solutions to current societal challenges—social innovation—in program implementation, as well as ecosystems for social innovation.
In 2019, the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation ( Forum for Social Innovation Sweden ) was tasked with establishing a center of excellence in Sweden in collaboration with Inkludera and Reach for Change. The “Building Capacity for a Sustainable Society” (BuiCaSuS) project ran from 2021 to 2023. The goal was to strengthen cooperation between countries and facilitate the exchange of experiences to launch or develop national centers of excellence for social innovation, in line with the European Social Fund andthe EaSI program. Learn more about BuiCaSuS.
From 2023 to 2025, the center of excellence was established in Sweden in collaboration with the Partnership for Social Innovation in Örebro County and the National Network for Coordination Associations.
From 2026 to 2028, work will continue as part of the “ Competence Centre for Social Innovation ” initiative under the European Social Fund, led by the Center for Research on Social Policy ( Forum for Social Innovation Sweden ) at Malmö University, Coompanion Sweden, Famna, and the National Network for Coordination Associations.