Overview

Social enterprises (SE) are a phenomenon that is deserving growing attention at the academic, political and civil society levels all over Europe. SEs are bringing innovations in the organizational forms of the social economy and its sectors of activity, articulating economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions, and orienting their missions towards social and societal problems of poverty, unemployment, aging, environmental sustainability.

The debate around the concept of SE is indicative of the transformations and complex articulations in the field of social economy and the relationships between these organizations, the State, private companies, and the market. In spite of this international, scientific, and political relevance, the existing knowledge about SEs in Portugal is still limited.

With the TIMES project we aimed at contributing to the knowledge of the meaning, profile, institutional context, and roles of SE in Portugal, focusing on their contribution in addressing social and societal challenges and drawing a future political agenda for SEs. The conceptual and methodological choices of the TIMES Project were in line with the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) project, thus adding in comparative power.

In order to critically analyze these issues, it seems fundamental to broaden the view looking at experiences of other European countries and to policies implemented by the European institutions. Against this background, the final conference of the TIMES project aims at creating a space for presenting and debating on the main challenges for SEs at the organizational, social and political levels. More specifically, this three-days conference will deal with: SE models in Europe and Portugal (day 1); SEs’ contribution in addressing social and societal challenges (work integration, social inclusion, culture, arts and environmental sustainability) (day 2); SEs’ support in drawing a future political agenda for addressing social and societal challenges (day 3). Invited speakers will be national and European scholars, representatives of European Institutions, representatives of Portuguese SEs that participated in the study, local and European policy makers, as well as other social economy stakeholders.

The TIMES project is financed by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through COMPETE 2020 - Operational Program Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and by Portuguese national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, within the scope of the TIMES project, ref. PTDC / SOC-SOC / 30612/2017 | POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030612.

For late registration, please send email to times@ces.uc.pt