Fifth edition of the Eines Awards for social innovation projects announced

The Chair in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, attached to the Centre for Studies and Research in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (CREIS) of the UAB, has launched these awards, which recognise the best general, regional (Vallès Oriental and Vallès Occidental) and local (Cerdanyola, Mollet and Montornès) social transformation projects. Two prizes will be awarded in the case of projects in the Vallès area, and three in the local area. Each award will have an economic endowment of €2,500, except for the national level, which will be €4,000.

According to the terms and conditions of the awards, any social and innovative organisation that combines social, environmental and community objectives with an entrepreneurial spirit may participate. The projects must be managed in an open and responsible manner, with the involvement of workers, consumers and other stakeholders. The lines of action of the candidate projects must be defined within the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations General Assembly.

Special consideration will be given to nominations related to the fields of labour integration, personal social services and the development of disadvantaged areas, as well as other areas such as recycling, sports, art and historic preservation. In the past edition of the awards, the winners were the REVIVE project, the Retícula project and the pastry workshop of the Centre Ocupacional del Bosc, which are committed respectively to the cognitive rehabilitation of the elderly through immersive virtual reality, inclusive visual representation, and labour integration of people with mental disabilities through pastry making.

The UAB created the Chair in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation together with several city councils and the regional councils of Vallès Occidental and Vallès Oriental. The chair also receives support from the Barcelona Provincial Council and is part of the project Espai Innova en Emprenedoria Social (EINES), which supports entrepreneurship and social innovation and in which both the UAB and its social, administrative and productive environment participate.