Social Innovators Connected
The idea for the Social Innovators Connected network came up in a seminar arranged in Copenhagen, where I met other nordic activist, collectives and grass-root actors. I noticed how many ideas and ethusiastic people there were in neighbouring countries, and yet we didn’t know anything about each other. And so we often end up making the same mistakes and re-invent the wheel over and over again. This is what I wanted to change. And so, in a coffee shop in Copenhagen, Social Innovators Connected was founded.
Social Innovators Connected brings together European makers of social innovations and events both online and in the real world. The network, started by me at the end of 2013, had its first conference in Helsinki 3.-6.9.2014, arranged by Yhteismaa. SIC!2014 Helsinki conference offered social innovators, grass-root actors, urban activists, communities and collectives an opportunity to build networks, learn from one another, share ideas and come together to solve global issues.
The conference in Helsinki was a starting point for a more broad, international collaboration and in 2015 similar conferences were arranged in Riga and Rome. Additionally, there was a networking trip to Sweden, Norway and Denmark organised for the Finnish makers. In case there will be funding, the network is going to arrange similar conferences to strengthen and develop the movement of innovations in Europe, to create multicultural dialogue and to make international co-operation possible.
