CRAFT Final Conference
Strengthening Support for Social Innovation. Tools, Policy Insights and Pathways for Replication across Europe and Beyond
Attendance
The event brought together a diverse international audience, attracting 100 registrations and 45 participants. Registrations came from 38 countries on six continents, with particularly strong interest from Croatia, the United States, and Portugal, highlighting the event’s broad international reach and relevance. The audience represented a wide range of sectors, including social entrepreneurship (60%), entrepreneurship support, business, academia, and policy-making.
Summary
Magdalena Cymerys (European Commission) highlighted strong opportunities for social innovation in Europe’s evolving ecosystem. Social innovators can support deep-tech startups through ecosystem building, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable practices addressing challenges like climate, health, and digitalisation. They can engage via Regional Innovation Valleys, Horizon Europe, cascade funding schemes, and emerging startup and scale-up initiatives, acting as connectors across sectors. She also stressed the untapped potential of frugal and reverse innovation—developing simple, affordable solutions with high social impact—as a pathway for social enterprises and SMEs to drive inclusive and sustainable growth.
The “Guided Tour of the CRAFT Project” showcased how the three-year European initiative evolved from research into a practical support ecosystem for social innovation. Lucia Radu (Impact Hub Network) and Ana Raguž (Impact Hub Zagreb) shared a key takeaway from the coordination and implementation of CRAFT, highlighting that successful ecosystem-building requires a balance between a common structure and strong local adaptation, with trust, personal relationships, continuous feedback, and context-sensitive implementation proving more important than standardized approaches.
The project created a digital ecosystem connecting social innovators, entrepreneurs, and support organizations through a community of more than 300 members, supported by research, co-creation, and capacity-building activities. Diana Pati (Impact Shakers) presented one of its flagship outputs, a set of 12 open-source tools covering business, team, finance, and impact management, which was co-designed with over 30 support organizations across Croatia, Latvia, and Romania and tailored specifically to the needs of social entrepreneurs.
Mathilde Pellizzari (Toulouse Métropole) shared findings from the project’s research activities and presented the policy recommendations aimed at strengthening social innovation ecosystems, with particular emphasis on priorities such as empowering support organizations, improving access to funding, enhancing skills and tools, and fostering cross-sector partnerships.
Finally, Emanuele Musa (Babele) introduced the community platform (or APPA), a growing international community spanning 45 countries, which serves as a collaborative space where users can access resources, apply the tools, exchange knowledge, and continue building social innovation projects together.
The “Gathering Force” activity explored how the CRAFT project’s research, tools, and policy recommendations can continue generating impact beyond the project itself. Speaking from the Croatian policy perspective, Jelena Pavlović (ACT Grupa) highlighted the need to better recognize social innovation, strengthen intermediaries, and address ongoing challenges like limited funding, weak policy frameworks, and low institutional support. She stressed the importance of advocacy, collaboration, and cross-country cooperation to build stronger, more sustainable social innovation ecosystems.
Regarding tools for social innovation, Romina Vinocur (Economistas sin Fronteras, Spain), Pauline Sy (Avise, France), and Julia Perić (Faculty of Economics and Business Osijek, Croatia) shared examples of how practical tools can strengthen social innovation ecosystems. Romina presented El Nido, an open-source platform supporting over 900 social economy actors through resources, training, networking, and collaboration. Pauline highlighted Avise’s network of 130+ social incubators, promoting peer learning, knowledge sharing, and co-designed tools. Julia demonstrated how CRAFT tools such as the Business Value Model Canvas and Theory of Change have been integrated into university teaching. Together, they emphasized the importance of accessible, adaptable, and community-driven tools that support social innovators in addressing societal challenges.
The “Getting Global” segment highlighted social innovation beyond Europe, with examples from Colombia and Cambodia. Wendy Arboleda Uribe from Impact Hub Medellín (replacing Sebastián Bustamante González) presented Emprender Mujer, supporting over 1,400 women through training, mentorship, and access to finance. Melanie Mossal (Impact Hub Phnom Penh) reflected on Cambodia’s experience of rebuilding its entrepreneurial ecosystem in the decades following the Khmer Rouge era, showing how dialogue, trust, and cross-sector collaboration including policymakers can help create more supportive environments for social innovation.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, the discussion, building on the learnings from the CRAFT project, demonstrated the importance of co-creation, collaboration, and trust in building stronger social innovation ecosystems. Experiences from Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, highlighted that social innovators worldwide face similar challenges related to funding, tools, and supportive policies.
The project’s legacy will remain a valuable resource, through the continued use and adaptation of CRAFT’s open-source tools, active engagement with the APPA community, and the application of its policy best practices. The event concluded with a call for continued peer learning, cross-sector collaboration, and collective action to sustain and strengthen social innovation beyond the lifetime of the project.