[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/mt\/article\/modal\/6733\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n        \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n  \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ECoding and tech skills help refugees and low-income communities to succeed\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s part of an approach known as social innovation \u2013 grassroots projects that propose new responses to solve particular societal problems in order to increase people\u2019s wellbeing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike countless people around the world, Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch Europe (a technology website) was moved by the desperate plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping warzones into Europe in 2015.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EButcher decided to put out a call to tech companies to help improve the situation of refugees. It started a viral Facebook campaign that resulted in the launch of Techfugees, a social enterprise that aims to empower displaced people with technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I joined Mike on the very first day of this online call,\u2019 said Josephine Goube, CEO of Techfugees. \u2018And it ended up basically in an event where 300 people \u2013 NGOs, refugees and technologists \u2013 came together to discuss what we can do. It was completely organic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022text-center text-blue font-bold text-2xl w-full lg:w-1\/2 border-2 border-blue p-12 my-8 lg:m-12 lg:-ml-16 float-left\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Cspan class=\u0022text-5xl rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n  \u003Cp class=\u0022font-serif italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Refugees have smartphones whose technology is more powerful than the technology that put a man on the moon.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n  \u003Cfooter\u003E\n    \u003Ccite class=\u0022not-italic font-normal text-sm text-black\u0022\u003EJosephine Goube, CEO of Techfugees, UK\u003C\/cite\u003E\n  \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Tech has been disruptive in education, employment and health, so why not apply it to refugees? Refugees have smartphones whose technology is more powerful than the technology that put a man on the moon,\u2019 she said. \u2018We have the tools to get people education and health, we just don\u2019t do it.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHeadquarted in London, UK, Techfugees is an international social enterprise that organises hackathons (intensive problem-solving sessions) that bring together the international tech community \u2013 including refugees and non-refugees \u2013 to work out how tech can be used to solve problems facing displaced people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETechfugees offers design classes, teaches about privacy and security of data and creates innovation spaces. They also provide a place for NGOs working with refugees to explain the challenges they face, and use the problem-solving mentality of tech experts to come up with new prototypes of solutions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDiverse\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a team, they are a diverse group, an aspect where other tech-based enterprises frequently fall short.\u0026nbsp; Goube said, \u2018Half of my team are refugees. We recently had a summit and people came to congratulate us because there was not one panel that didn\u2019t have a woman and didn\u2019t have diversity in it. A lot of moderators at the panels were refugees. It was never intentional. It was natural.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGoube says that of the 900 refugees that have so far taken part, 75\u0026nbsp;% have found a job or internship within three months of the event they attended. The project also has a high retention rate, with 70\u0026nbsp;% of the teams that win the hackathons still going one year later.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile they are doing well, Techfugees acknowledge that they need a better funding support structure in the future if they are to achieve the goals they have laid out. Currently they operate from private donations and even donations from refugees, which Goube argues should not be the case.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHow to fund social enterprises is a big challenge and it\u2019s one of the issues on the menu for a two-day conference on the future of social innovation in Lisbon, Portugal on 27 and 28 November. Organised partly by the EU, the event will also try to identify trends and opportunities for social innovation and how to incorporate it into public policies in the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAccess\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn\u0026nbsp;Brussels, Belgium, sits another social enterprise \u2013 this one founded by a local entrepreneur to improve access to technology and skills development in his own community.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIbrahim Ouassari set up the MolenGeek coding school in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean area of Brussels, which has\u0026nbsp;one of the lowest average household incomes in Belgium. It started with a weekend event and grew from there.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This tech world is very accessible but it\u2019s not accessible in an area like Molenbeek, so what we wanted to do is create one start-up weekend event to make this world of entrepreneurship, innovation and technology accessible in this area,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMolenGeek is a co-working space and coding school that is designed to help people to pursue a career in the tech industry or set up their own business. It has a mix of students, entrepreneurs and people who just want to learn the technical skills for their own use. They may have their own project or just wish to get the useful skills to succeed in an increasingly tech-oriented business world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOuassari says that in our current climate, it is important to train more coders as many companies require tech skills. Coding also allows people to attain more independence and perhaps set up their own company if they have an innovative and creative idea.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 alt width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We teach some coding language, like HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript and all this world of tech but we also teach people how to learn by themselves. (We also teach them) how they can collaborate with other people, how to talk with customers and clients and how to make an offer,\u2019 added Ouassari.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEven though they only launched in March 2017 \u2013 with the first code training ending in October \u2013 their success has already been recognised. Recently, MolenGeek was invited to South Korea by Samsung and awarded a prize with the view of expanding their ecosystem further, hopefully all around the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018What I hope is, that we make this technology accessible and create talent and (give) young people more access (to) this world,\u2019 said Ouassari.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Ch3\u003ESocial innovation conference\u003C\/h3\u003E\n  \u003Cp\u003EA two-day conference entitled \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/research\/conferences\/2017\/era\/index.cfm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EOpening up to an ERA of social innovation\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027 kicked off on 27 November in Lisbon, Portugal. The aim is to bring together different groups, including social entrepreneurs, policymakers, funders and students, to come up with ways to boost social innovation in Europe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe idea is to discuss what has been achieved so far, how social innovation can improve wellbeing\u0026nbsp;as well as\u0026nbsp;create jobs and growth in Europe, and see how it could fit into future public policies. The conference also serves to launch a report called \u0027\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/research\/social-sciences\/pdf\/policy_reviews\/social_innovation_trigger_for_transformations.pdf\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ESocial Innovation as a Trigger for Transformations\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027, which reviews 30 EU-funded projects with a clear focus on social innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECarlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, has announced that EUR 2 million in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022 http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/research\/horizonprize\/index.cfm?prize=social-innovation\u0026amp;pk_campaign=policy_newsletter\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eprize\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;money is on offer for entrepreneurs that come up with innovative mobility solutions that help older people to fully participate in social activities, maintain their autonomy and age healthily.\u0026nbsp;This will be split into\u0026nbsp;one award of EUR 1 million and four runner-up prizes of EUR 250 000.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n            \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n      Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-w22ezhhjoqe-zb8pdidqjevaupnrehdzpjwaz27x-a0\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-w22EzHHJOqe_Zb8PdiDqJeVAUPNReHDZPjWaz27x-A0\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]