Day 1 at the NCC Community of Practice in Madrid

Day 1 at the NCC Community of Practice in Madrid

Yesterday, the National Competence Centers from the SEED2SCALE consortium joined social innovation practitioners and policymakers from across Europe for the first day of the NCC Community of Practice event hosted in Spain.

Here are some highlights from day 1:

• Portfolios over projects. Spain’s Secretary of State Rosa Martinez showed how thinking in portfolios helps accumulate knowledge and spot patterns over time. They have created a living system that keeps learning and adjusting as part of a continuous process.
  
• Be inside the process, not waiting at the end. Public bodies that only collect results at the finish line miss the point. Being embedded in the work from the start is what turns innovation into policy.
• Risk is part of process and so is learning. Rethink Ireland put it simply: social innovation comes with risk, and the learning that comes from that risk is the whole value. Build that into your pilots from day one.
• Advocacy is about timing. From Croatia to Estonia to Austria, the message was consistent: find the moments in government agendas and use them. Build common language. Stay in it for the long haul.