On October 12, more than 75 interested people from all sectors of society leaped at the chance to witness the live launch of the Platform for Social Innovations in Berlin. Numerous representatives from politics and public administration, civil society, business and science did not miss the opportunity to be the first to learn more about the new offerings of this first one-stop shop in the German ecosystem of social innovation. At the same time, many other interested parties followed the event via livestream.

After a short welcome by the team of the Platform for Social Innovations, Zarah Bruhn (Commissioner for Social Innovation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research) and Sven Giegold (State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection), moderated by Prof. Johanna Mair (Hertie School), first explained the new National Strategy for Social Innovations and Welfare-Oriented Enterprises. In doing so, they not only highlighted the extensive catalog of measures that will benefit social innovations in Germany over the next few years. They also reflected the great political interest that social innovation is increasingly attracting. New social practices as a solution to approach social challenges are playing an increasingly important role in innovation policy. In the subsequent discussion, the platform was highlighted in the context of the novel National Strategy.

This was followed by an in-depth presentation of the platform, its contents and planned activities by PD Dr. Christoph Kaletka (Deputy Director of the Social Research Center), Daniela Deuber (Managing Director SEND e.V.) and Norbert Kunz (Managing Director Social Impact gGmbH). They all emphasized the importance of the new service and the opportunities it offers. Christoph Kaletka emphasized:

"There is still no central contact point for information, advice and networking on the topic of social innovations. It's about time. That's why there is now this platform that we are building!"

In addition to the numerous information, exchange and networking offers of the platform by the joint partners SEND and Social Impact, Christoph Kaletka stressed the offers for universities that are now emerging. Universities are playing an increasingly central role in ecosystems of social innovation: Through their research, they create a solid knowledge base, empower students via teaching, and also engage in exchange with civil society, politics, public administration, and business. In addition, universities are increasingly taking social responsibility themselves as part of a third mission and even accompany social innovations on their way to institutionalization. Against this background, the platform offers regular insights into current developments in the scientific field with the Spotlight Academia. In addition, regular hot-topic workshops with the opportunity to exchange ideas with national and international experts from research and practice will soon be hold, as well as topic-specific working groups, in which university members will not only be able to discuss topics related to social innovations in greater depth, but will also have the opportunity to network. The preliminary highlight for university members will be a conference on the roles of universities in ecosystems of social innovation in the fall of 2024.

The event was rounded out by the numerous, focused and engaging conversations that emerged during a networking break. Here, visitors and platform team engaged in an exchange on the main topics of the platform and already collected initial suggestions for its future development, which were taken up by Daniela Deuber, Norbert Kunz and Christoph Kaletka in a concluding panel discussion.

The team of the Social Research Center that develops the scientific offerings of the Platform for Social Innovations consists of Christoph Kaletka, Daniel Krüger, Marthe Zirngiebl and Katrin Bauer.

Link to platform website: https://sozialeinnovationen.net/

Link to Academia subsite of platform: https://sozialeinnovationen.net/wissenschaft/

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