Unravel Tomorrow aims to boost social activism and social entrepreneurship across Europe. Following a previous work under the Tomorrow´s Land European project, the consortium aims to build upon the social innovator identity and profile previously defined and empower social innovators as catalysts of change and social entrepreneurs. Social innovation has gathered considerable attention in the past years, both in academic and practitioners sectors, as a way to identify and bring about potentially transformative societal change. “Activism in the 21st century seems determined not only to demonstrate against the status quo but also demonstrate how the world could be different” (Social Change and Creative Activism in the 21st Century: The Mirror Effect). “Social entrepreneurship" (Dees, 2001; Peredo & McLean, 2006; Seelos & Mair, 2005; Short et al., 2009) has many different definitions but all concentrate on entrepreneurial action with social intentions (Does Social Innovation Require Social Entrepreneurship? Asceline Groot and Ben Dankbaar, 2014). “A hybrid of government intervention and pure business entrepreneurship, social ventures can address problems that are too narrow in scope to spark legislative activism or to attract private capital” (Osberg, S.; Martin, R.; 2015, Two Keys to Sustainable Social Enterprise, Harvard Business Review). Previous work developed by the European Commission, demonstrates that a group of factors impacts the development of social ventures across European countries. Among them one can find the lack of entrepreneurial skills - social enterprises managers and starting entrepreneurs; and a low degree of recognition – highlighting the need to share good practices and awareness campaigns. As social innovation translates to sustainable social entrepreneurship, Unravel Tomorrow will focus on enabling social entrepreneurship to flourish for innovative and inclusive societies. Unravel Tomorrow follows the implementation of a previous project (Tomorrow's Land) focusing on the mindset of the social innovators. Yet, the consortium identified specific needs for social innovators to excel as activists and entrepreneurs and designed Unravel Tomorrow to capacitate citizens to tackle future challenges through the growth of social ventures. Leveraging on the experience of the previous project and the knowledge and network built during the Tomorrow's Land project, the consortium has clearly identified the need to intervene at a community level, to foster social engagement and activism; and at an individual level to empower social entrepreneurs. The project is developed by a consortium of 6 organizations from 6 different European countries and combines different organizational profiles - Universities, Businesses and NGO´s willing to co-develop social entrepreneurship in Europe. Unravel Tomorrow will include 4 key outputs: the Unravel Tomorrow map, highlighting the key drivers of social entrepreneurship in Europe; the Unravel Tomorrow learning journey (includes experiential workshops and a MOOC to support the development of the future social entrepreneurs); the Unravel Tomorrow Field Guide, a roadmap to inspire future social entrepreneurs and empower educators as change makers and equip them with the knowledge and tools to support the growth of the social entrepreneurs; and, the Unravel Tomorrow Exhibition, an international event to showcase the best practices across Europe and spread the word about the Unravel Tomorrows. Unravel Tomorrow will contribute, in particular, to: 1. Raise general awareness regarding Social Activism and Social Entrepreneurship in Europe 2. Raise general awareness on the need to provide Social Entrepreneurship education 3. Create/Increase the offer of Social Entrepreneurship Education programmes to Adults 4. Increase the Social Entrepreneurship competences of Adults and indirectly also of teachers 5. Develop a new generation of social entrepreneurs through education
Context The effects of globalisation, rapid technological development and financial crisis have generated intense debate about the issues that societies are forced to face in our modern world. Long-standing problems such as unemployment, increasing inequalities, consumerism & excess waste and climate change, among others, remain challenges for governments and communities across the world (Howaltd, Domanski & Kaletka, 2016; Mulgan, 2006). The social economy “contributes to several key EU objectives, including the achievement of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, high-quality employment, social cohesion, social innovation, local and regional development and environmental protection”. (Council of the European Union, 2015). While current welfare systems are very often unable to tackle social challenges on their own, social innovation is increasingly recognised as an effective solution to existing problems (Leadbeater, 1997) and moreover is seen as a way to bring about potentially transformative societal change. The Challenge The European Commission identifies that factors which impact the development of social ventures across Europe include: the lack of entrepreneurial skills and a low degree of recognition, therefore, this project aimed to raise awareness and to strengthen skills to unleash the potential of aspiring social entrepreneurs. The Project Unravel Tomorrow is in itself a social lab, as partners applied in practice the core principles of social engagement, collaboration and co-creation to encourage social action. The objective was to learn from - and connect up - the social innovators, entrepreneurs and activists who are developing new ways of working to shape a better future. The project builds on the success achieved by the same partners in the Erasmus+ Tomorrow’s Land project (2016-2-UK01-KA204-024280) which delivered results to enhance understanding of social innovation and the collaborative economy. Unravel Tomorrow aims to support learners to develop their concept and take the next steps. For Educators, Teachers & Trainers and for Individual Learners, the project results will equip potential pioneers of change with the necessary skills & competences and inspire action to boost social activism and social entrepreneurship across Europe. Capturing a set of insights into the most important elements that will define social entrepreneurship in the future, partners ran creative research to map experiences and initiatives shaping tomorrow’s land. Experiential learning was at the heart of our project, so, curious to find out more about the experiences, challenges and dreams for the future from the social innovators, social entrepreneurs and social activists who are already actively creating new ways of working, partners interviewed 34 pioneers of change. The results are presented in two reports: # The Unravel Tomorrow Journal This publication takes inspiration from 34 leaders, dreamers and educators from across Europe, to present ideas and perspectives to help understand the challenges and discover and explore possible solutions to lead society towards a better future. Six chapters present 6 regions of possibility: Treasured Trash; Systematic Sustainability; Digital Darwinism; Simple Joys; Parallel Perspectives & Community Power. Each region gives an introduction to what we have observed during our research, what is emerging, who are the pioneers creating it, what we can learn from the region and finally, what it urges us to imagine for the future. # The Unravel Tomorrow Gallery This publication presents the 34 faces of tomorrow who have contributed to the Journal by sharing their stories, experience and insights to inspire people to become successful pioneers of the future. The Gallery showcases best practice from different projects, social enterprises, NGOs and organisations active in social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social action from across Europe. # Experiential workshops in the UK, Portugal and Denmark Creating international learning experiences for individual learners from across Europe, 3 experiential workshops centred on visiting local social enterprises and social action projects, where participants could learn from the stories of success directly from the experts themselves. Drawing on the research results and feedback from workshop participants, we designed the learning framework, based on Entrecomp: The Entrepreneurship Framework, (2016). # The Unravel Tomorrow Learning Journey Throughout our project stakeholders reminded us that hearing real stories is motivating and offers valuable learning, so the digital learning journey is packed with case studies from across Europe. The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) invites learners to enter the Unravel Tomorrow regions as if they are actual places we can visit, to explore them & map them out, taking learners on a journey to: - Unleash their creativity - Uncover new ideas - Learn new skills - Take action