As a policymaker or social entrepreneur what steps are you taking to better understand how digital technologies can enhance the impact of social enterprises across Europe?

A new resource by the European Commission’s DG Grow on "New Technologies and Digitisation: Opportunities and Challenges for the Social Economy and Social Enterprises" explores how digital transformation impacts the social economy in Europe. It identifies both opportunities and challenges that arise as social enterprises adopt new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and Distributed Ledger Technologies.

Three key opportunities include:
1. Increased reach and efficiency: Digital platforms can automate and simplify operations, enabling social enterprises to extend their reach and improve effectiveness.

2. Innovation in Social Services: The digitalization process encourages the development of innovative social services, helping to address societal challenges more effectively.

3. Collaboration and growth: The study emphasizes the importance of collaborative environments (like social clusters and incubators) in nurturing digital innovation within the social economy. These environments help in scaling up successful digital initiatives.

Although these opportunities seem promising, they are not without barriers or challenges which may make implementation difficult. Three of the highlighted challenges include:
1. Digital Skills gap: A significant barrier identified is the lack of digital skills among social economy actors, which hinders the effective adoption of new technologies.

2. Budget constraints: Limited financial resources are a major challenge for many social enterprises looking to invest in digital transformation.

3. Technological disparities: There is a need to bridge technological gaps to ensure that all social enterprises, regardless of size or location, can benefit from digital tools.

Harmonisation of legal frameworks across EU Member States, development of entrepreneurial and digital skills, and greater access to resources for innovation are also areas of improvement necessary to feel the full benefit of digitalisation.

Read the full paper for more information.