In March 2020, the European Commission presented the European Industrial Strategy, a plan to support the European industry through transitions towards climate neutrality and digital leadership. In this strategy, updated in May 2021 to account for new circumstances following the COVID-19 crisis, the European Commission identified 14 industrial ecosystems, including the "Proximity and Social Economy," to monitor the state of the Single Market and support stakeholders in each value chain. 

The objective of this platform is to create an integrated support mechanism that facilitates collaboration, knowledge sharing, and capacity building among stakeholders in the proximity and social economy ecosystem, in line with the goals of the Transition Pathway. 

In this platform, you will find:

• Accessible and up-to-date knowledge on the transition pathway action areas for your ecosystem. This includes relevant news, events, and funding opportunities. For more general information and updates on the social economy, please refer to the Social Economy Gateway.
• Private working spaces on the favourite topics of the ecosystem. Here you will be able to share knowledge and collaborate confidentially with the members of your chosen community(ies). These are 'Transformative Digital Transition', 'Regenerative Green Transition', 'Working Conditions and Governance', 'Partnerships', 'Financing the ecosystem', 'Skills', and 'Urban and Rural Wellbeing'.
• Access to networking and collaboration opportunities with your peers across the EU, and beyond. By registering to the platform, you will be able to attend capacity building events and learning opportunities, as well as engage in discussion forums.
• Guidelines on how to pledge for the Transition Pathway, and inspiration for your future commitments. This is thanks to our long list of pledges, as well as identified best practices across this ecosystem.

This platform is open to all stakeholders active in the proximity and social economy ecosystem, and to all actors who share the values of this initiative. In this digital space, you can play different roles, as a platform user, or as an Ambassadors. Below we describe the respective roles and responsibilities.

Platform users

• Organisations who may be interested in exploring what the platform has to offer. They may be registered, or not, and have an observant role in the platform.
• Members are free to join one or more Thematic Workspaces.

EU Ambassadors for the Proximity and Social Economy Transition Pathway

• Organisations who are more actively engaged in the platform and willing to share knowledge, contribute to populating the platform with content, and actively participate in the community engagement activities offered by the consortium. Ambassadors display a high level of participation on the platform and act as multipliers.
• In return, Ambassadors obtain significant visibility opportunities on the platform and the related communication channels, as well as other rewards.
• To become an Ambassador, an organisation can reach out to the HelpDesk: helpdesk.pse@stakeholderplatform.eu.
• Ambassadors can initiate a request to create a new Thematic Workspace, where they will act as promoters and disseminators, by reaching out to the HelpDesk: helpdesk.pse@stakeholderplatform.eu.

We invite all stakeholders in the proximity and social economy ecosystem to join our platform and become active ambassadors of the co-implementation of the transition pathway. Together, we can drive the transformation towards a greener, more digital, and resilient economy. 

Thematic leads

• Thematic leads correspond to the PSE consortium members, namely EY, DIESIS, EURICSE, and Social Economy Europe.
• Thematic leads are the community managers of the Thematic Workspaces. They prompt and lead the discussion forums within the Thematic Workspaces, in synergy with the dedicated Ambassadors. They coordinate the activities and support the community. They also revise the content proposed by members for publication.
• Each Thematic Workspace has one assigned Thematic lead, as follows:
  •    Transformative Digital Transition: DIESIS
  •    Regenerative Green Transition: DIESIS
  •    Working Conditions and Governance: DIESIS
  •    Partnerships: DIESIS
  •    Financing the ecosystem: EURICSE
  •    Skills: EURICSE, Social Economy Europe
  •    Urban and Rural Wellbeing: EY Belgium

European Commission

• The European Commission funds, facilitates and follows the activities taking place in the Platform.
• The European Commission approves the creation of new Thematic Workspaces and confirms the appointment of Ambassadors.
• The Platform is managed through Directorate G of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), Unit G2 Proximity, Social Economy, Creative Industries.

Do you have questions? Please submit your query here: helpdesk.pse@stakeholderplatform.eu.