Encourage innovation to stimulate business growth by getting behind brave, new ideas and inspiring wider involvement by mobilising regional and national recognition of achievements

Rationale:

Social entrepreneurs are good at pioneering new approaches across a range of social and environmental issues. Helping these ideas take root and spread can be more challenging. Therefore, creating a support infrastructure that encourages innovation and helps good ideas to spread is essential if the impact of social enterprise is to be improved. The purpose of this priority is to ensure widespread access to and understanding of the best social enterprising activity in Brighton and Hove and to create a context for good ideas to be adopted and celebrated.

Key issues:

• Ensuring social enterprises support one another with new practices, approaches and ideas.
• Ensuring that Brighton and Hove’s activity and reputation is shared and celebrated regionally, nationally and internationally.
• Ensuring that the best socially enterprising activity in Brighton and Hove is recognised beyond the Third sector locally. It is particularly important to create easy routes of engagement for public sector employees, including commissioners, practitioners and organisations currently delivering public services.

Activities:

• Create a Brighton and Hove social enterprise network with the objective of improving the quality of social enterprise through mutual support. Possible activities may include, events, an 'ideas bank', and a case-study library linked to an awards scheme.
• Introduce a suite of new social enterprise awards. This could include new awards within the local sector, and the introduction of social enterprise categories in existing business award schemes, such as the Brighton and Hove Business Awards and the Sussex Business Awards.

• Increase the number of local organisations winning awards and achieving national standards. This may require some resource to promote the availability of award schemes and support organisations in preparing applications.
• Introduce a programme of visits and case studies targeted at public sector employees.

Potential partners:

• Brighton and Hove Business Community Partnership
• University of Brighton
• Business Links
• Regional Social Enterprise Networks
• Common Purpose
• Sussex Business Awards
• Brighton and Hove Business Awards
• SEEDA
  

Indicators:

• Network created
• Award schemes introduced
• Number of awards achieved
• Visits and tours conducted and evaluated

Potential Outcomes:

An increased number of local social enterprises will be winning national and regional award schemes. New, local schemes will be introduced to celebrate and promote brave, effective, new ideas.

For example: by 2013 more local social enterprises can be in a stronger position to win prestigious award schemes such as Enterprising Solutions and SEEDA’s Entrepreneur of the Year.