Book Launch Event: The Social Economy Science

Event in presence

Politecnico di Milano (Bovisa Campus)
Sala Consiglio – Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering (Building 26/B)
Via Raffaele Lambruschini 4/B – 20156, Milano

The Social Economy comprises traditional forms of cooperative or solidarity-based organizations alongside new phenomena such as impact investing or social tech ventures that aim to contribute to the public good.
The realm of Social Economy is experiencing a surge of interest, especially within the spheres of sustainability and entrepreneurship, aligning with significant policy initiatives at both European and global levels.
Drawing upon extensive empirical research, the book “Social Economy Science” brings together contributions from a cutting-edge community of European Researchers. It places a strong emphasis on practical and policy dimensions, utilizing insights from organizational theory and transition studies.
Scholars discuss the social economy’s role in promoting innovation for impact, as well as its role as an agent of inclusive development and as a partner to businesses, governments, and citizens.

PROGRAM

15.00 Welcome and Introduction
Raffaella Cagliano, Director of the Department of Management Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
Mario Calderini, Director of Tiresia, Politecnico di Milano

15:30 Book Launch
Mara Airoldi, Academic Director, Government Outcomes Lab, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Gorgi Krlev, Associate Professor of Sustainability, ESCP Paris
Alessandro Sancino, Associate Professor,  University of Milan-Bicocca and The Open University

Conclusions

17.00 Networking

Mara Airoldi is the inaugural academic director of the Government Outcomes Lab at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. She leads a multi-disciplinary team of research and policy engagement specialists, focusing on innovative public sector contracting and effective cross-sector partnerships to achieve better social outcomes and tackle grand challenges. Mara has two decades’ experience in connecting academic insights to decision making for social impact. She has provided input for decisions on Outcome funds and Outcomes Contracts in the UK, the EU, foundations, and international development agencies working in LMICs. In her previous posts she has worked with health policy makers and healthcare providers in the UK, Italy, Ontario and the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria as well as policy makers at the Home Office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Office of the Deputy Prime minister in the UK. Mara is an experienced decision modeller with an interest in impact metrics and the use of data to inform better decisions. She is particularly passionate about the ways in which governments can work with the private and non-for-profit sector to accelerate progress towards shared goals.She loves making sense of data and currently works on nurturing the INDIGO data collaborative. She is an economist (welfare economics and health economics) and a decision analyst by background with degrees from Bocconi University in Milan and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Gorgi Krlev is Associate Professor of Sustainability at ESCP Business School in Paris. He also holds a Visiting Professorship at Politecnico di Milano and is a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. He earned a PhD from the University of Oxford and has previously worked as a senior researcher at the University of Heidelberg. In his research, he deals with social entrepreneurship, social innovations and impact, with a particular focus on how cross-sector collaborations and new field emergence promote societal transformations and contribute to addressing environmental and social sustainability challenges.

Alessandro Sancino is an Associate Professor at the University of Milan-Bicocca (IT) and The Open University (UK). In his research, he studies the dynamics and practices of public leadership, strategic management, and social innovation aimed at generating a positive impact on society, with a primary focus on the social economy and the public sector at the local level.