The Brussels Minister of Economy and Employment, Didier Gosuin (DéFI) presented Tuesday the 14 social economy innovation projects which will share a budget of 500,000 euros in discretionary subsidies. This amount was reserved for the projects by the Brussels Region for the present year. The funds are part of the 5 million euro budget for subsidies considered discretionary, assigned for the first time in the Brussels Region based on proposals for projects. The projects were selected by an expert approval committee made up of public, association and economic entities.
The selected projects are of two sorts: either of innovative social enterprise in the sectors of food, culture, construction, distribution, real estate asset management, etc., or projects seeking to pool resources between several social companies, that is, support tools for social enterprises.
Among entities receiving support are Velofabrik, a cooperative company with social ends which manufactures versatile bicycles assembled in the heart of the city with 80% European components; Permafungi, an urban agriculture project established at the Tour et Taxis site which seeks to relocate chicory cultivation in the capital; Bah voyons, a project for the dissemination of a local artistic and cultural basket which includes CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, concert seats, books, tickets to expositions, etc.; and Group One, an entity which gives value and new use to cluttering objects, targeting joint action of local actors of the social economy.
Among other projects spotlighted at a “speed dating” event organized Tuesday is an ICT development project named EasyMyCoop of the BEES Coop participative supermarket, which proposes an alternative to large-scale distribution based on the active participation of members in the operation of stores; De Overmolen, a project for studying real estate asset management models for the commercial social sector; and the Mag-Ximize partnership, which seeks to pool resources and services of Agence Alter, of Revue Nouvelle et de Politique, which produce opinion and analysis articles of social policies.
(Source: Belga)
