INTEGER: Fostering social-business collaboration for impactful change

INTEGER (Interconnecting 4 Helix Innovation Ecosystems in European Regions) is a European initiative supported by the Horizon Europe program, aiming to bridge the gap between social and business agendas through collaborative approaches, fostering mutual benefits for innovation. This goal is realised through the establishment of “col.laboratories”, a next generation of living labs. These “col.laboratories” represent a cooperative instrument based on a peer-to-peer approach, facilitating symbiotic interaction between business-driven economic innovation and social-driven innovation. The final goal of the project is the establishment of the EU Healthy Living Col.laboratory, engaging with other existing successful initiatives through a wider communication, dissemination and sustainability plan. The INTEGER framework is centered on fostering a peer-to-peer collaboration model between business and social innovation actors. It initiated this process by establishing partnerships within three established innovation systems in Europe: Catalonia, Spain, Hamburg (Germany), and Krakow (Poland). Additionally, it develops a comprehensive model aimed at accelerating the integration and collaboration of social innovation actors and digital business entrepreneurial hubs. The establishment of an EU-wide INTEGER innovative community, aimed at generating synergies, is a testbed of the innovative model and was officially launched during the Open Living Lab Days 2023 conference. The public signature of the Terms of Reference brought together influential organizations from the 4Helix, demonstrating their commitment to co-creating innovative solutions for societal challenges. Efforts are actively being made to raise awareness about the need to establish an EU Healthy Living Col.laboratory, with the goal of engaging at least 300 actors. Initiatives are underway to attract and connect with various stakeholders, including European Networks, think tanks, and experts, to encourage their active involvement. This involves, for instance, conducting webinars with project counterparts and disseminating training for a new role, the col.laber (individuals who serve as enablers and bridges, facilitating interactions within the col.laboratory). The expected results include: 1) a stakeholders' engagement plan, 2) guidelines and materials to enhance awareness and foster commitment for mutually beneficial stakeholder participation, and 3) the development, dynamic management and digital platform facilitating co-creation environments for best practices exchange, along with access to pertinent information and materials. Moreover, 4) a new role described as “Col.laber” will be established to motivate social innovators with digital skills to boost collaborations within regional ecosystems, and 5) the INTEGER quadruple Helix model will be created, that represents an exhaustive approach on how new players can be integrated into existing triple helix innovation systems to strengthen and build cooperation between different innovation areas.