EVENTS

Follow & attend the CRAFTS Events

UPCOMING EVENTS

🌍 Built for Impact: The Ultimate Toolbox for Social Innovators (webinar)

📅 Date: October 2, 2025
🕒 Time: 15:00–16:30 CET
📍 Location: Online (Zoom link provided upon registration)

Join us for an interactive live webinar introducing the CRAFT Toolbox — a European co-created resource designed to make your work smarter, more collaborative, and more impactful.
Whether you’re new to CRAFT or just starting to explore, this session will give you the clarity and confidence to put the toolbox into action.

🔍 What you will get:

  • A guided tour of the toolbox’s key features

  • Practical insights on how it supports daily work for social innovators

  • Hands-on experience with 3 selected tools

  • A live Q&A to answer your questions

👉 Detailed Agenda

15:00 – Welcome & Setting the Scene
Kick-off, meet the group, and set expectations for a lively, collaborative session.

15:05 – Introducing the CRAFT Toolbox
Discover the co-created European toolbox designed to empower social innovators.

15:15 – Spotlight on Enhanced Tools
Explore three practical tools you can start using immediately.

15:25 – Tool in Action: Team Member ‘User Manual’
Strengthen collaboration by building clarity and mutual understanding.

15:45 – Tool in Action: Purpose Revenue Model
Design sustainable, purpose-aligned revenue streams for your initiative.

16:05 – Tool in Action: Inclusive Personas
Develop authentic, inclusive profiles of your key stakeholders.

16:25 – Wrap-Up & Next Steps
Key takeaways, resources, and how to connect with the CRAFT community.

✹Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the CRAFT Toolbox in action and unlock its full potential!

>> Register here!

PAST EVENTS

June, 2025

11

Join the Second Online CRAFT Policy Summit: Advancing Social Innovation Across Europe

  • Date: 11 June 2025
  • Time: 15:00 – 17:00 CET
  • Location: Online (link provided upon registration)

The CRAFT Policy Summit is back for its second edition, bringing together policymakers, social entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to drive meaningful change. This year, the Summit will focus on actionable policy levers to advance and mainstream social entrepreneurship and social innovation across Europe. Together, we aim to tackle key barriers, build enabling frameworks, and shape a future where social innovation thrives and scales.

Why Attend?

Marking two years of impactful progress, the CRAFT project has established a robust community of practice among social innovation support organizations. Through co-creation, we have developed practical tools and strategies designed to sustain socially-driven business models. This Summit will:

  • Review the progress made in strengthening social innovation capacity across Europe.
  • Showcase tools and insights from the CRAFT initiative.
  • Engage with European experts and networks to shape actionable recommendations for future policies.

This is your opportunity to join a vibrant discussion on how to foster equity, inclusivity, and sustainability through social innovation!

Agenda

15:00 – 15:15 | Opening and Introduction: Setting the Stage for Social Innovation Policy
Kick off the Summit with insights from a representative of the European Commission sharing the latest trends in EU policies impacting social innovation.

15:15 – 15:30 | CRAFT Presentation: Driving Social Innovation through Policy Recommendations
Discover the core insights from the CRAFT initiative, with a focus on social innovation skills, ecosystems, and promotion.

15:30 – 16:00 | Roundtable 1: Expert Perspectives on Policy Recommendations
Engage in a critical examination of policy recommendations with European experts and explore their implications for policy design and implementation, including challenges and opportunities for effective adoption.

16:00 – 16:30 | Roundtable 2: National and Local Perspectives on Social Innovation Policies
Hear from representatives of national and local initiatives across Europe who will discuss synergies between EU frameworks and localized efforts.

16:30 – 17:00 | Open table: From skills to action – Applying tools for Social Innovation
Participate in an interactive session introducing practical tools from the CRAFT toolkit. Explore use cases of how to align growth with impact and purpose.

Key Policy Themes to Be Explored:

The Importance of Specific Skills for Social Innovation: Unlike traditional business models, social innovation prioritizes social impact, shared governance, and the creation of shared value over mere economic growth. This requires a different set of competencies that focus on fostering equity, inclusivity, and sustainability. For a just transition toward a more resilient future, policymakers must invest in building these skills through targeted training, education, and capacity-building initiatives. 

Opening Opportunities for Social Entrepreneurs: The Policy Summit will explore the necessity of creating opportunities for social entrepreneurs to be connected, mentored, and professionalized. Governments, financial institutions, and other stakeholders must work together to open access to capital, mentorship, and collaborative networks.

Promoting Social Innovation in the Public Sphere: The Summit will emphasize the importance of embedding social innovation into mainstream educational curricula and business tools to ensure that the next wave of leaders and professionals is equipped to address societal challenges through sustainable and innovative means.

Who should Attend?

  • Policymakers and government officials
  • Social entrepreneurs and innovators
  • Representatives of support organizations
  • Educators and researchers
  • Anyone passionate about building an inclusive and sustainable future

Don’t miss this chance to connect, learn, and contribute to the social innovation movement in Europe!

PAST EVENTS

TOOLKIT Showcase & Testing

Most tools used to develop and accelerate businesses are originally made for conventional enterprises. At CRAFT we are rethinking the templates, canvasses, and training to fit impact-driven entrepreneurship and social innovation.

During summer we have been working on a toolbox of 12 tools suited specifically for social innovators. This was developed in our co-creation community of Social Innovation Multipliers (SIMs), Social Innovation Actors (SIAs) and the experts from the consortium.

Now we are ready to share a sneak peek on the first improved versions of the tools!

What to expect from joining this session:

  • Introduction to tools in development
  • Toolkit methodology & community activities
  • ​Tools’ testing
  • ​How to integrate tools into your support for social innovators

The session is facilitated by WorldStartup, which together with Impact Shakers has been responsible for the development of the tailored toolbox.

By registering, you get access to the first public part of this session.

CRAFT online Policy Summit 4 July 2024, 2:00 - 4:30pm (CET)

Online Policy Summit

The global shift towards a more regenerative and equitable society is spearheaded by a range of social and impact-driven entrepreneurs who prioritize positive impact over excessive profit.

The success of these entrepreneurs hinges on crucial conditions, particularly for those disrupting established market norms as impact-driven and social entrepreneurs.

Although in Europe more attention is being paid to these entrepreneurs, they still regrettably encounter many obstacles. Whereas mainstream entrepreneurs easily find guidance and rely on role models to set up their businesses, social entrepreneurs often lack recognition, tailored support and capital. Mainstream entrepreneurship culture is still predominant in economic policies, entrepreneurship education and training, and business development solutions.

The Summit is an online convening of European policy-makers, professionals and researchers working to increase the impact of entrepreneurship.

It will feature discussions on insights from the social entrepreneurship policy and practice across different geographies, alongside the latest thinking and findings from academic research.

The first policy to address 3 main issues:

1. The archetypal models of success that can be found in the various social entrepreneurship representative groups and the values that are promoted along this spectrum

2. The specific culture and transformative power of the tools used by support organizations, and therefore the change that we want to see integrated in a collection of tools for (to-be) social and impact-driven entrepreneurs 

3. The role of public policy in promoting social entrepreneurship either as part of the economic transition or as an alternative economy, and in providing appropriate levers for its development.

AGENDA

2:00-2:35 pm – introduction

  • Nicole Miquel-Belaud: Metropolitan Councilor in charge of thesocial economy at Toulouse MĂ©tropole (FR)
  • Jekaterina Novikova: Deputy Head of Unit, DG RTD, European Commission (BE)
  • Mathilde Pellizzari: Project Manager for the Social and Solidarity Economy & Europe, Toulouse MĂ©tropole (FR)
  • Lucia Radu: Senior Program Manager at Impact Hub Global Network (RO)

2:35-3:05 pm – Panel 1: ‘Entrepreneurs’ journeys and archetype of success

  • Tatiana Glad: Executive Director (Impact Hub network, NL)

  • Domagoj Boljar: CEO and cofounder (Earthbound Sneakers, Croatia)

  • Cristina Căluianu: Co-founder AccessibleEU and Board member CED Romania Association (RO)

  • Cristian Ormindean: Consortium Coordinator at PROSME – Enterprise Europe Network (RO)

  • Emanuele Musa: Co-founder Babele Create Together (RO & DK)

3:15-3:45 pm – Panel 2: Support tools for the green, social and digital transitions

  • Elsa Brander: Senior Consultant, PhD., Kooperationen (DK)

  • Octave Kleynjans: Impact Lab Director, Mouvement Impact France (FR)

  • Daniel KrĂŒger: Senior Researcher, TU Dortmund University, Social Research Centre (DE)

  • Diana Pati: Co-founder & COO at Impact Shakers (BE)

3:50-4:20 pm – Panel 3: role of social entrepreneurship policy in promoting new archetypes of success

  • Melis Aslan: Policy Analyst, OECD

  • Toby Gazeley: Policy Lead at Euclid Network (NL)

  • Mathilde Pellizzari: Project Manager for the Social and Solidarity Economy & Europe, Toulouse MĂ©tropole, (FR)

  • Milena Ninova: Innovation Programme & Service Design Manager, WorldStartup (NL)

Meet the Host:

Toulouse Métropole hosted this Policy Summit. As a local authority, Toulouse Métropole is strongly committed to promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy ecosystem and supporting social entrepreneurs in the Toulouse metropolitan area. The CRAFT initiative strengthens local social entrepreneurship policy by providing new support tools and contributing to European policy.

Become a part of CRAFT Better Entrepreneurship Policy Group

To fuel this conversation, the CRAFT Better Entrepreneurship Policy Group has been created. It welcomes all stakeholders involved in social entrepreneurship policies, aiming to embody an extensive European social entrepreneurship ecosystem. Members of the group will have the opportunity to carry out a self-assessment of their social entrepreneurship policies using the Better Entrepreneurship Policy Tool, an online resource provided by the European Commission and the OECD.

As an outcome, a European Social Entrepreneurship Policy Assessment and subsequent orientations for improvement to EU institutions will be presented at the Summit.

Connect with us at contact@craftaction.eu

  

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions are however those of the authors only, and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.