Social Innovation Education in Europe
A mapping study conducted in 2025 as part of the European Social Innovation Campus (ESIC) project, covering ten European countries, revealed that education related to the social economy is considerably more widespread across Europe than in Finland. In many European countries, social economy education is available at all levels of education, from vocational training to universities. The strongest provision is found in higher education, with a large proportion of programmes offered through institutions comparable to Finland’s universities of applied sciences.
In many countries, social economy topics are already embedded within vocational qualifications, and there are full degree programmes and certifications designed to support competence development from the early stages of education. Some European countries have also launched initiatives to introduce social economy education at the equivalent of Finnish basic education level. One example is the IDEEC project. In Finland, by contrast, there is still relatively little educational provision on social economy topics within vocational education. Existing programmes tend to focus on innovation education and are generally available only from the university of applied sciences level onwards.
This difference raises an important question: Why has social economy competence not yet become an integral part of vocational learning pathways in Finland, when in many other European countries it is regarded as a key element of civic and societal competence?
Progress in Finland: ESIC’s Role
The findings of the ESIC mapping suggest that the role and significance of the social economy are growing across Europe. This trend is reflected, for example, in the EU Council Recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions and in the national strategies that many countries have subsequently adopted or updated. Finland’s recently published Strategy for the Social Economy and Social Enterprises 2026–2030 is one such example.
The Finnish strategy highlights the need to systematically integrate social innovation into educational content across different levels of education. It also emphasizes strengthening students’ abilities to identify and develop solutions to societal and local challenges through social economy approaches and social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the strategy calls for increasing awareness of the social enterprise business model among professionals working in business and employment services, as well as within entrepreneurship education provided by vocational institutions and higher education institutions. At present, such activities remain relatively limited in Finland.
The ESIC project responds directly to this identified educational need. Its goal is to develop a shared European curriculum that will benefit both educational institutions and future professionals working in the social economy sector. The international ESIC project is coordinated by Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak) in Finland.
Within the project, Live Foundation is piloting social economy and social innovation study modules through two separate learning units. The pilot programmes consist of modules worth 1–2 ECTS credits. The vocational-level pilot implementation will take place at Live Foundation during autumn 2026, from August to October. These pilots will provide valuable practical insights into how the content fits vocational education, what kinds of learning experiences students gain, and what further development may be required before wider implementation.
Live Foundation has drawn on its broad internal expertise in developing the ESIC study modules. For example, the theoretical content of the Live Foundation learning package has been prepared by project specialists from the The Centre of Expertise for Social Enterprises, following the framework of the preliminary ESIC curriculum.
In the long term, the project aims to create a Europe-wide curriculum for social economy and social innovation competences. From a Finnish perspective, this presents an opportunity to narrow the educational gap between Finland and other European countries and to embed social economy competence within vocational education—just as many European countries have already done.
This development work is particularly timely as the importance of the social economy continues to grow in both working life and public policymaking. The progress of the project is well worth following, and everyone interested in future skills and new approaches to education is encouraged to join the discussion. You can follow the project and the progress of pilot programmes across different educational levels on the ESIC website: https://socialinnovationcampus.eu/.
Author: Jaana Tukiainen, Project Manager, ESIC Project, Live Foundation, contact: jaana.tukiainen@inlive.fi