Written by Urszula Fila-KIcman, NAUWC

The Conference gathered over 180 stakeholders representing different sectors of Social Economy in Poland from decision makers, social economy activists, heads of social economy enterprises to numerous cooperative representatives and employees. The Conference was divided into two parts, first one consisted of lectures delivered by Professor of Economics at Krakow University of Economics and former vice Prime Minister, Mr Jerzy Hausner who talked about the movement from opportunistic to relational market game – towards economy of value; by the MEP, Mr Michał Boni, whose presentation with the video was about digital revolution and about how automation has been changing our world of work and by Secretary General of CECOP-CICOPA Europe, Ms Diana Dovgan who talked about trends and challenges for workers’ and social cooperatives in Europe. After the lectures, the participants had a chance to ask some questions to the invited lecturers, whose opinions, advice and expertise met with a lot enthusiasm and interest among various attendees of OSES.

The second part of OSES was dedicated to the presentation of innovators of Social Economy. The stage was shared by different Social Economy actors such as vice director in the Department of Social Economy in the Polish Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, Ms Aleksandra Dmitruk, who talked about a practical view on social innovations; representatives of the Foundation for Social and Economic Initiatives (FISE) who presented an interesting example of micro innovation that can solve social problems concerning the social exclusion (women with Asperger syndrome who created their own workplace and who deal with their difficulties by helping other women with similar issues enter the labour market); vice president of Social and Economic Investment Company (TISE), Ms Joanna Wardzińska who talked about the need for innovative financial mechanisms for social economy like social venture capital and social bonds; NAUWC President Mr Janusz Paszkowski together with Food Cooperative “Dobrze” Coordinator, Ms Nina Bąk talked about Cooperative movement in terms of cooperative traditions and emerging cooperative trends in Poland and a representative of Social Economy Mr Antonii Sobolewski who talked about revitalisation and about how Social Economy can support it.