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Economic growth is no longer possible without accounting of the role of social enterprises, their developing potential and their contribution to the achievement of economic results, combined with social goals. During the past few years the efforts of the Ministry of labour and social policy were targeted at the creation of an environment and conditions that provide a place for social innovations in the solution of grave social problems, said the minister of labour and social policy Biser Petkov at the opening ceremony of the Annual Social Innovation Awards 2017.

The event is organized by MLSP for a third successive year. The main purpose of this forum is to encourage social innovations in support of the social economy and social entrepreneurship and increase the visibility and role of the social enterprises. The deputy ministers of labour and social policy Sultanka Petrova, Zornitsa Rousosinova, Rositsa Dimitrova and Lazar Lazarov were also present at the ceremony. 

In his speech minister Petkov underscored that the social economy is developing and enriching because it responds to serious public needs and is solving in an innovative way the problems of a group of people that find it difficult to integrate in the labour market or to include in public life. One of the priorities of the Ministry of labour and social policy is to assist vulnerable groups, which can be achieved through encouraging social innovations in entrepreneurship and establishing sustainable solutions in the social economy. To be able to achieve those results we need conditions, able to consolidate working models that combine entrepreneurship with the social cause, the minister said. 

This ceremony is an important event because it shows successful practices, specific solutions, socially innovative models that build upon the achievements of the social care system. The annual awards are both recognition of the efforts invested by the social enterprises and a way of attracting the attention of the broad public to social entrepreneurship, minister Petkov explained. He emphasized that the topic of social economy and social entrepreneurship will be on the agenda of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first six months of 2018. 

During the ceremony minister Biser Petkov handed the award in the “Social innovations related to provision of social products and services” category to the department of “Organisation and methodology of social activities” at the Economic Faculty of the University of Veliko Tarnovo. The award was given for the training of four Social Entrepreneurship groups of specialists. The second and third places in the same category were occupied by Rimembrand EOOD and Our Prematurely Born Children foundation. 

The awards in the other two categories “Social innovations related to social inclusion” and “Social innovations related to employment” were handed by the deputy ministers Zornitsa Roussinova, Rositsa Dimitrova and Lazar Lazarov. Four special awards were handed by deputy minister Sultanka Petrova.