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The study “New technologies and digitisation: opportunities and challenges for the social economy and social enterprises” sets out to explore how the rising importance of the social economy in Europe is facing the challenges of digital transformation. It focuses on whether, why, how, and to what extent the integration of digital platforms and advanced technologies (i.e. Open-Source, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data, Distributed Ledger Technologies) may affect the design and delivery of new/better social and societal impact by the social economy. This study shows that digital platforms and advanced technologies’ capabilities of automating and simplifying operations are opening up opportunities for the social economy in terms of increased reach and enhanced effectiveness. Digitalisation also underpins the creation of new and innovative social services and working conditions helping to tackle existing and emerging social and societal problems. Whilst these trends are set to continue in the near future, European Institutions, Member States policymakers and social entrepreneurs should commit to promote and support the digital transformation of the social economy and encourage the uptake, scale-up/scale-out and duplication of innovative digitally-enabled initiatives. Areas of intervention have been identified. Resources for Research and Innovation as well as traditional sources of revenues play an important role for the development and take-up of digital technologies for and by the social economy. Likewise, the development of entrepreneurial and digital skills of social economy actors are needed to foster the vision of the European digital social economy. Collaborations between various stakeholders in nurturing environments (social clusters, creative spaces or incubators) may effectively promote the modernisation of the social economy by strengthening and growing digital native cohorts of social economy organisations. Finally, in order to promote cross-Member State growth of the social economy, it is advisable to harmonise the legal forms and statutes regulating the various actors of the social economy. This way, digital platforms and advanced technologies may truly contribute to the establishment of the European digital social economy fit for the societal challenges of the 21st century.

The ongoing digital transformation is crucial for the social economy as it presents both enormous opportunities and challenges. Digital technologies, such as online platforms, software applications (apps), distributed ledger technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI), offer a wide variety of tools to support the creation of social values and the development and further expansion of the social economy. Budget constraints, digital skills shortages and technological gaps are clear barriers for the social economy to uptake new technologies. We selected 26 social economy organisations using innovative digital technologies effectively across Greece, Italy, The Netherlands and the UK. Our objective is to understand how they are working through the digitalisation process. The study, based on primary information and insights collected via personal interviews, workshops and on relevant literature, sheds light on the key questions stated above. Here we present highlights of the study.