On August 19, the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Development signed an agreement with the Cooperation Fund Foundation for the implementation of the Silesian Innovation Space project. The project partner is the Center for the Development of Social Initiatives (CRIS). The incubator is being created to meet the needs of Silesian residents, institutions, and companies directly affected by issues related to the regional labor market, social revitalization, and energy poverty, among others.
The project is being implemented as part of the Silesia Program.
Funding from the Knowledge, Education, and Development Program will enable the creation of a social innovation incubator operating in the following areas:
– urban revitalization from a social perspective
– depopulation
– development of “white” and “green” jobs
– low female employment rate
– low employment rate of people over 50
– mitigating the social impact of energy poverty.
The incubator will operate as a custom innovation project, first mapping the needs and social challenges of local and regional institutions, NGOs, companies, and local governments (so-called innovation commissioners) and then identifying at least 40 solutions to be tested as part of the project.
Entities that decide to participate in the project will have the opportunity to develop a tailor-made solution, designed in collaboration with service design specialists.
Innovators will benefit from mentor support and receive grants of PLN 45,000 to develop and test their ideas. The project’s partner local governments are the City of Racibórz, the City of Rybnik, and the City of Wodzisław Śląski. We will soon invite other local governments, NGOs, and companies from the Silesian Voivodeship to join the network of partners.
Implementation period: July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023.
Project value: PLN 3,998,154.93 (100% EU funding)
The Silesia Program is one of the key strategic projects implemented as part of the Strategy for Responsible Development.
The program currently comprises 116 projects with an estimated total value of PLN 62 billion.
