Competing for social innovation
Three impactful social innovation projects have earned recognition in the 2023 European Social Innovation Competition. Awarded EUR 50 000 each, the winners were selected from a shortlist of 15 projects proposing a range of solutions to tackle the 2023 challenge: fighting energy poverty. The three winning projects – two of which received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme – were revealed at the awards ceremony held in San Sebastian, Spain, on 14 November 2023. The two winners are the city of Eeklo in Belgium as one of five pilot sites in the POWER UP project and the EmpowerMed project. They share the stage with ECODES, a programme tackling energy inefficiency in Spanish low-income households. “The EU is committed to tackling energy poverty,” stated European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Iliana Ivanova in a news item posted on the website of the European Innovation Council (EIC). “Our focus is not just on providing access to essential energy services and products, but on fundamentally enhancing the quality of life for the most vulnerable consumers. The winners of the European Social Innovation Competition 2023 made a tangible difference in the lives of many. I hope their achievements inspire others across Europe.”
Action in Eeklo
POWER UP’s Belgian pilot is implementing a novel business model to fight energy poverty that centres on renewable energy and energy-efficient services. This is not a solitary effort. To tackle the challenge effectively, the city has joined forces with households that are affected by energy poverty and with municipalities, energy utility companies, citizen cooperatives and other local stakeholders. Eeklo’s solution focuses on a financial scheme for struggling households based on revenues from an existing wind turbine owned by the city and the Belgian citizen cooperative Ecopower. The aim is to remove the barriers that such households face to becoming a member of an energy community and to limit debts by enhancing access to local green energy at a fair price. Additional measures such as communication campaigns and dedicated workshops are also being used to support households in reducing their energy consumption. Together, these efforts will help vulnerable households participate in the local energy transition directly and enjoy the benefits immediately.
A focus on women
EmpowerMed’s solution tackling energy poverty focused on women living in the coastal areas of Mediterranean countries. Heating and cooling of buildings is a challenging problem in these areas, and is especially severe in single-parent households led by women. As part of its solution, the project organised collective advisory assemblies (CAAs) – an innovative and flexible tool in which 10 to 30 people struggling to access and afford domestic energy services gather to share advice and guidance as “experts by practice”. EmpowerMed successfully held CAAs in Albania, Croatia, France, Italy and Slovenia. “The experience accumulated so far provides solid evidence on the positive impacts for vulnerable households in terms of cost savings, debt reduction, consumer empowerment and change of social imaginaries on energy poverty,” reports an EIC news item. POWER UP (SOCIAL ENERGY MARKET PLAYERS TO TACKLE ENERGY POVERTY) ends in 2025. EmpowerMed (Empowering women to take action against energy poverty in the Mediterranean) ended in 2023. For more information, please see: POWER UP project website EmpowerMed project website
Keywords
POWER UP, EmpowerMed, European Social Innovation Competition, energy, energy poverty, social innovation