The project arises from the observation of the exponential increase economic and social vulnerability needs and situations, generated by economic crises, identifying that one of the possible solutions to this emergency is the creation of innovative business models. It becomes essential for enlightened entrepreneurs, especially in countries that have a fragile socio-economic fabric, such as Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Italy and Spain, to identify the value, in terms of the social impact of their business or the social effect that each intervention generates on the community or on specific categories of beneficiaries. In this context of uncertainty, there is a new way of doing business: a model is introduced that sets aside forever the outdated yardstick of profit as the only objective and parameter to assess the health of an entrepreneurial activity, choosing transparency, 360 ° sustainability (economic, social and environmental) and responsibility towards all stakeholders, including the environment and future generations as the guiding values. The need for skills, tools and approaches aimed at measuring and managing this value also increases, the development of which will be crucial for the evolution of the business ecosystem and social innovation in the EU. To date, 3,086 Benefit Corporations are certified in 150 sectors and 71 different countries. In Italy, despite being the first country in the world, after the USA, to have introduced the legal form of Benefit Company as of 1 January 2016, there are almost 100 B-Corps; just 50 in Spain, while for Greece, Slovenia and Bulgaria there are long delays (Certified B-Corporation Community, 2020). Furthermore, in recent years, most of the studies and tools carried out have focused on large companies. With the SIMPLE project, on the other hand, we want to identify sustainability paths, business models and impact measurement methodologies that consider the specific features of SMEs, which constitute the production fabric of the EU countries involved, capitalizing on good business practices at national, European and international level. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: 1) To develop for 60 SME workers in Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Greece and Bulgaria, skills in social sustainability in terms of strategic paths, business models, organizational processes, measurement tools with the development and systematic adoption of a shared blended training offer (IO1 - TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL BUSINESS INNOVATION) 2) Promote digital integration in learning activities with the co-design and development of: a) Open Educational Resources, in the form of interactive, video pills for the corporate population of SMEs, in the EU partner reference territorial contexts, to increase a skills set in terms of social sustainability useful for their orientation towards social innovation and immediate application in the business and work environment b) SIM-Game (Social Impact Measurement Game) which, exploiting gaming and gamification logics, will be an interactive recreational-educational container structured in episodes, each of which relates to skills and relative open educational resources, capable of marking the evaluation process concurrently with learning, generating engagement, motivation and self-awareness. (IO2 - INTERACTIVE AND GAMIFIED OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES) 3) Align 24 partnership trainers and consultants, involved in two transnational mobilities to: a) acquire the methodological references of INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN to elaborate the contents of the OER to be realized by producing interactive, training video pills and GAME-BASED LEARNING to incorporate and functionalize the dynamics and game based mechanics to be applied to learning processes exploiting game logics to create a selective and detailed evaluation process on specific areas of competence and determining behaviours of corporate social sustainability b) implement the functional plan to guide the target SMEs to measure social impact and guide learners in its application in target companies during company check-ups. 4) Co-elaborate and standardize methods and tools to measure and manage social impact in target SMEs to allow workers to conduct corporate check-ups to photograph the actual with respect to the planned social innovation objectives and trace an action plan to guide companies in redesigning the business model by orienting their objectives and methods to B-Corp and benefit Company logics. (IO3 - SOCIAL IMPACT MEASUREMENT PLAN)
In short, the following were the aims of the SIMPLE project: 1) Develop, for the benefit of the corporate population of SMEs in the EU territories involved, skills in the field of social sustainability in terms of strategic paths, business models, organizational processes, measurement tools. 2) Promote digital integration in learning activities with the adoption of training solutions in line with the evolution of technologies and multimedia languages to disseminate skills in the field of social sustainability. 3) Align a pool of trainers and consultants of the partnership, involved in two transnational mobilities for: a) acquire the methodological references of INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN for the elaboration of the contents of the OER to be realized with the production of interactive training video pills and GAME-BASED LEARNING; b) support the target SMEs in measuring the social impact and guide the learners in their application in the target companies during company check-ups. 4) Co-develop and standardize methods and tools for measuring and managing social impact in target SMEs to allow workers to conduct company check-ups.
With the SIMPLE project we intended to identify sustainability paths, business models and impact measurement methodologies considering the specificities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up the productive structure of the EU countries involved, capitalizing good business practices at a national, European and international level. In line with these assumptions, the project, which aimed at developing specific skills in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility of SMEs' workers involved in various areas related to social sustainability, had the aim of creating a multi-actor strategic partnership which takes the form of an open transnational network aimed at generating a structural dialogue between the economic, training, academic, social and institutional sectors of the EU partner regions, which experience delays and discontinuities for the sustainability and social innovation of the SME sector.