WISESHIFT connects to a research tradition focused on WISEs carried on since the 90s by some of the partners who, in the framework of the EMES Network, began researching this social economy subset. Back then, the PERSE project led by UCLouvain (coordinator of WISESHIFT) conducted a comparative analysis of 160 WISEs in Europe active in a wide spectrum of activities where 44 types of different WISEs were identified. Through various modes of integration, these WISEs address the problems of long-term unemployment and occupational inactivity of disadvantaged people. The results of the project were published in the groundbreaking book “Social Enterprise. At the crossroads of market, public policies and civil society” by Routledge in 2006.

More recently, the B-WISE project, led by the European network of WISEs, ENSIE, and with the participation of EURICSE and University of Zagreb developed and implemented a European strategy to address skills needs, in particular regarding digital skills, in the WISEs sector. These three key partners are part of WISESHIFT as well.

WISESHIFT aims to provide evidence-based and theoretically sound rationales, actionable strategies, and multi-level policy architecture to Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), national federations, European networks, and policymakers. The goal is to enable them to become dynamic agents of inclusive and sustainable transitions within their respective ecosystems. To achieve this, WISESHIFT will develop a scientific conceptualization at the crossroads of social economy studies, sustainable transition studies, and multi-level governance policy analysis.

Overall, the ambition of WISESHIFT – is to contribute to strengthening the tangible role of social economy organisations as catalysts for transformative and systemic change towards more inclusive and sustainable practices within their ecosystems as envisioned by the EU social economy strategy.

Objective 1

To build a solid corpus of knowledge on WISEs size, roles, and evolution in EU 27 MSs along with Serbia. To co-design a self-assessment tool to evaluate the contribution of WISEs to sustainability.

Objective 2

To carry out an in-depth analysis of the contributions to inclusive and sustainable transition made by 24 WISEs within their ecosystems using a comprehensive multi-stakeholder approach.

Objective 3

To perform a comprehensive cross-cutting analysis using the analytical lenses of the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) to identify levers and obstacles of sustainable transition and answer the following question: what are the organisational factors specific to WISEs, that make them potentially “inclusive and sustainable by design”, and the factors that enable them to act as levers in their ecosystems towards an inclusive and sustainable transition?

Objective 4

To develop a comparative and multi-level framework of analysis to address challenges posed by policies and regulations to the WISEs and, through their lenses, to the social economy.

Read more on the WISESHIFT website: wiseshiftproject.eu