CO-RESP Conference: Social Economy Conference – Public Procurement with Added Value

CO-RESP's conference 'Social Economy Mission – Public Procurement with Added Value' will be held on 25th April in Gleisdorf, Austria.

Young man with intellectual disabilities wears a yellow jacket and works on a laptop. In the background are two women on the same table.

Public procurement is a mechanism of significant economic importance that accounted for around 14% of the European Union’s GDP in 2017 and can contribute to transforming local economies into more sustainable and socially inclusive by stimulating the creation of job opportunities for disadvantaged groups. This event will be the opportunity to learn more about and discuss how to use public procurement to promote the employment of persons with disabilities. The event will showcase the state of play across EU – with focus on Bulgaria, Spain, Germany and Austria and highlight existing promising practices in these areas. The Conference will also be the opportunity to network with interested stakeholders from across Europe, representing local authorities, social economy organisations and others.

Additionally, during the event, it will be presented the work carried out in for CO-RESP’s Collection of Promising Practices of Socially Responsible Public Procurement for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities.

The event will have the participation of the CO-RESP consortium: EASPD – European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (Belgium), ZfSW – Zentrum für Sozialwirtschaft (Austria), EuCIE – European Confederation of Inclusive Enterprises (France), NASO – National Alliance for Social Responsibility, City of Dobrich (Bulgaria), City of Gleisdorf (Austria), City of Marina de Cudeyo (Spain).

Practical details

The conference will take place at forumKLOSTER - Rathausplatz 5, 8200 Gleisdorf, Austria on 25th April 2023, 10h00-18h30.

Agenda

09:00 – 10:00	Arrival and registration
10:00 – 10:15	Welcome Christoph Stark, Mayor of Gleisdorf, MP and Deputy Chair of the Austrian Association of Cities (TBC) Expert for social procurement, Austrian Ministry for Economy (TBC)
10:15 – 11:00	Panel 1: European State of Play: Public Procurement and Employment for Persons with Disabilities Speakers: Anna Lupi, European Commission (TBC) Victor Meseguer, Special Commissioner of Social Economy of the Government of Spain (TBC) Moderation: Thomas Bignal, EASPD Head of Policy
11:00 – 13:00	Panel 2: Public Procurement and Employment of Persons with Disabilities at the National Level: the Case of Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, and Spain Speakers: Austria: Franz Wolmayr, ZfSW (TBC) Spain: Gustavo Garcia, General Director of Labour of the Government of Cantabria (TBC) Bulgaria: TBC France: TBC Moderation: Miguel Buitrago, EASPD Research and Development Officer
13:00 – 14:30	Lunch break
14:30 – 16:30	Panel 3: Promising Practices Speakers: Representative of City of Strasbourg reserved contracts example of Austria - Tabakregie Moderation: Henrike Schaum, ZfSW
16:30 – 17:00	Break
17:00 – 17:30	Concluding panel: What’s Next? How to make progress on Public Procurement and Employment of persons with disabilities. Speaker: Anna Lupi, European Commission (TBC) Representative of the Austrian Cities Association (TBC) Victor Meseguer, Special Commissioner of Social Economy of the Government of Spain (TBC) Moderation: Nikolaus Dimmel, ZfSW (TBC)
17:30 - 17:40	Concluding remarks Speaker: Franz Wolfmayr, ZfSW
17:40 - 18:30	Networking drinks TBC