Enabling Social Innovation: Concepts, frameworks & organisational change

Rationale of the conference
Does Social Innovation mean anything anymore? Or has it become an overused term to categorise any project with social ambitions?
Our Conference in Helsinki on 12th-13th October 2023 will be centered around these questions.
Social Innovation seems to encompass everything and, in doing so, ends up covering nothing at all. The definition/meaning of Social Innovation has become so blurred and vague that social innovation in practice – and, in turn, the capacity of support services to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – has been hindered.
A common understanding of what Social Innovation entails across the disability sector is therefore necessary – a reboot of what the concept means to us now.
Support service providers need to have a clearer idea of what social innovation means in order to know:
- how it applies to them,
- how they can implement it,
- what impact social innovation can have on the lives of persons with disabilities and their families,
- the existing legal and financial frameworks that can help them innovate,
- and how to create social innovation independently, e.g., by implementing new organisational change.
Through a variety of keynote speeches and interviews, workshops, panel discussions with innovative service providers, and networking opportunities, our conference in Helsinki aims to provide clarity, solutions, and inspiration to these issues.
EASPD Innovation Awards 2023
The Innovation Awards 2023 will be presented during the conference, to recognise and applaude innovative practices in the field of social innovation.
Do you have a practice that has positively impacted the quality of services for persons with disabilities? Apply here now!
Registrations close on 1st July.
Programme
Thursday 12th October
08:45 | Welcoming Remarks
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09:30 | “Disability Rights and UN CRPD: what does it mean for support service providers?” Interview with Gerard Quinn, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities |
10:00 | 1st Panel: Social Innovation in Support Services: One Study & Two Practices |
11:15 -11:45 | Coffee Break & Networking corners |
11:45 | Workshops on Creating an Enabling Environment for Support Services to Innovate
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13:00 – 14:30 | Lunch break |
14:30 | 2nd Panel: Future design, Foresight & Innovation |
15:30 | End of Day 1 |
EASPD Meetings
16:00 - 18:00 | Member Forums |
19:30 | Dinner & Innovation Awards Ceremony |
Friday 13th October
09:00 | Keynote Speech |
09:45 | 3rd Panel: Developing Organisational Models that Facilitate Innovation |
11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break |
11:30 | Speed Dating Workshops:
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13:00 – 14:30 | Lunch Break |
14:30 | Open Discussion: Commitments, Inspiration and Next Steps |
15:30 | Concluding Remarks
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15:45 | End of day 2 |
EASPD Meetings
16:15 – 18:15 | Member Forums |
Saturday 15th October
09:30 - 13:30 | General Assembly |