The Mataró TecnoCampus has hosted, between April 19 and 21, the XIX International Congress of Researchers in Social and Cooperative Economy. During the three days, more than 130 speakers from 9 countries have attended the event, including Costa Rica, Italy, Uruguay and Spain.
“We are very satisfied with the mobilization capacity and the response to Congress. It is very gratifying for us and for TecnoCampus the large number of speakers who have attended, especially from the universities of Spain. Panelists from Galicia, Andalusia, Extremadura, Madrid, Valencia and the Basque Country have attended”, explains Ismael Hernández Adell, promoter of the event and coordinator of the Postgraduate in Management of Cooperatives and Social Economy Companies at TecnoCampus.
Likewise, more than 100 presentations of academic articles and doctoral theses have been carried out between the 9 plenary sessions and the 20 thematic workshops. All of them on a wide variety of topics related to the social economy and cooperativism.
“In the presentations of the XIX congress we have treated, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the social economy. There have been specialist speakers in history, anthropology, law, engineering, economics and politics. Dealing with any topic currently requires a wide variety of points of view”, explains Carmen Marcuello, vice-president of CIRIEC-Spain and professor of Social Economics at the University of Zaragoza.
On the other hand, in addition to the speakers, several figures of political and economic authority have attended, including Carles Campuzano, Minister of Social Rights and of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Carles Manera, Professor of Economics at the University of the Balearic Islands and Director of the Bank of Spain; David Bote, mayor of Mataró; Víctor Messeguer, Special Commissioner for the Social Economy; and Iñaki Irisarri, Coordinator of the Caja de Ingenieros Foundation.
One of the most outstanding events of the XIX Congress was the speech by the Minister of Universities of the Government of Spain, Joan Subirats. In his videoconference, the minister presented the Organic Law of the University System (LOSU) in which the Social Economy is recognized as a formula for entrepreneurship that should be promoted in universities and micro-credentials are encouraged as a means for constant recycling.
The event was held in a propitious political context, as Víctor Meseguer, special commissioner for the Social Economy of the Government of Spain recalls, "on the 18th the United Nations approved the first resolution in the history of the organization on the economy social and solidarity.
And he adds: “what was approved by the UN is a confirmation of what is already being done in Spain and the European Union with its European Social Economy Action Plan and the Industrial Strategy where the Social Economy is positioned as one of the 14 pillars for the future of European industry”.
In the course of the three days that the XIX International Congress of Researchers in Social Economy and Cooperatives lasted, one of the issues that was most debated was the future of this economic model in its academic branch as well as in the field of application.
According to the conclusions, the Social Economy, although it has a promising future, still has a long way to go academically and professionally.
The director of the TecnoCampus Chair of Social Economy, Eloi Serrano, sums it up with the following words: “The social economy is the model for carrying out the structural change that the world needs. However, it still has to capitalize on its capacity for change to be recognized”.
"In the educational field, a diagnosis has been made that there is a great challenge to give visibility to the social economy as an alternative model, but we are already taking the first steps to normalize it," adds Ismael Hernández Adell.
Among the different steps that are being taken to promote this economic paradigm is, among other political proposals, the Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) for the Social Economy and Care of the Government of Spain
The financing and subsidies project was designed and promoted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy and is endowed with a value of 800 million euros from the Next Generation-EU Funds.
The objective is, as Víctor Meseguer points out, "to promote the social economy, a fundamental aspect for strategic autonomy, and of which we appreciate its value as a result of the pandemic due to its ability to provide solutions to society's problems."
“At the ministry we want the social economy to account for more than 10% of Spanish GDP in the future, since it is an innovative economic model that responds to the needs of society and gives priority to people. For this reason, from the Government we are carrying out two calls for direct subsidies valued at 99.3 million euros”, analyzes the special commissioner for the Social Economy.
However, the development of the Social Economy will not be easy, since it must face several challenges, among them, the new industrial revolutions, the climate issue and the demographic decline.
“The social economy will be impacted by these challenges of a general nature, but their impact will depend on factors specific to cooperatives and social economy companies such as size, commercial links, their adaptability and their ability to permeate these changes that they are already affecting us”, points out Carles Manera, professor of Economics at the University of the Balearic Islands.
“In any case, the Social Economy has a positive future. The legislative movements that are taking place -the most recent of them the resolution approved by the UN on the 18th- and its capacity to be a model of sustainable development and that allows to face the current problems, is very promising for this sector. economic”, points out Iñaki Irisarri, general coordinator of the Fundación Caja de Ingenieros.
The congress held at TecnoCampus represents the recovery of an event for the development of research in the field of social economy that, as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, was suspended.
"In 2020, the XVIII Congress was going to be held in person at the Mataró technology park, but the measures to prevent the spread of the virus caused it to be done virtually," explains Ismael Hernández. And he adds: "CIRIEC-Spain, given the situation, promised to do it in person at our center the next time it was possible, and here we are with the XIX".
The event has served for researchers to meet again and share their discoveries. “It is my first congress and I feel in an environment where I can share my ideas and present my research. Normally, the social economy is very lonely and here I feel in a very pleasant environment”, comments Elvira Plana Royo, a doctoral student at the University of Zaragoza.
Likewise, and with the aim of promoting research in the Social Economy, TecnoCampus and CIRIEC-Spain held an awards ceremony for the best doctoral theses and the best communications presented during the congress. Among the winners is Francisco Rincón, assistant professor and doctor at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, who received the first prize for best paper and the second prize for best thesis.
"It has been very important for me to receive the two awards, since I come from a department where the social economy is still entering and the fact of valuing the work reinforces the commitment made to investigate the sector," says Rincón.
“The social economy must be postulated as a real alternative to the traditional company. This economic model does not come to replace the capitalist system, but to ensure that both survive and complement each other so that society and the economy acquire the best characteristics of both systems”, concludes the Pablo de Olavide University professor.
