The SILICE project has taken place during three years and has become a solid collaborative network that has enabled the development of multiple and strong synergies around social innovation projects. A few months after the end of the project, the balance is very positive. One of the main outcomes was the creation of Social Innovation Labs (SinnoLABs). Instituto Superior Técnico was one of the consortium partners and played a key role in fulfilling one of the main goals of the project: to design a training programme.
When the project started, the goals of the 14 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) involved were clear: to generate social innovation, in particular, producing better social entrepreneurship skills through renovated teaching methods; to improve the quality of education in HEIs, regarding the preparation of more graduates to the labor and social market; to train citizens from the public and private sector interested in social innovation as well as providing services for other organizations; and to increase the number of social innovative entrepreneurships in Israel and India and by that creating a path towards a sustainable economic growth.
SILICE project has developed an open-source platform that promotes social innovation ideas and international cooperation at regional level between the EU, Israel, and India. This project also developed a creative and supportive environment for partner HEIs through the establishment of 9 SinnoLABs (Social Innovation Labs).
The Técnico team was composed of prof. Luís Miguel Silveira, prof. Miguel Amaral, prof. Fátima Montemor, Rui Mendes, Ana Agante Lucas. Técnico provided training to Indian and Israeli partners. “SILICE was based on creating content and training teachers and academic managers. The objective was to generate and aggregate the necessary knowledge so that the various Sinnolabs could be created in a solid way in partner HEIs”, says Professor Miguel Amaral (Department of Engineering and Management – DEG/IST).
“Sinnolabs are spaces for creation, product development, educational projects and entrepreneurial initiatives with a strong impact, essentially among the most vulnerable communities”, highlights professor Miguel Amaral. The creation of these laboratories in Israeli and Indian universities “was, in fact, the main objective of the project”, he adds. “I think that all Sinnolabs created in Israel and India have managed to generate a very positive dynamic, both in academic and local communities”, says the Técnico professor. The project results are available at SILICE website.
According to professor Miguel Amaral, “SILICE turned out to be an additional motivation, for me and my colleague Ana Carvalho, to create the Social Innovation Laboratory (SILAB) at Técnico”. “The laboratory allowed us to fill a gap that existed at Técnico and, at the same time, bring together many interests and activities developed over several years”, says professor Miguel Amaral.
“Being part of this project and have contributed to make the Sinnolabs operational in several universities worldwide, involving hundreds of students, professors, managers, entrepreneurs, creating courses, products, technologies, companies, etc., is very rewarding. Ana Carvalho and I are also very proud to have created SILAB at Técnico”, stresses professor Miguel Amaral.
“SILAB at Técnico allowed many students to develop frugal innovations and projects with a social impact. We created important institutional links with organisations and with several universities in countries such as the USA, India, The Netherlands, Israel, Portugal, etc.”, says the professor. SILAB was elected a Pedagogical Innovation Project (PIP) by IST Pedagogical Council, and sponsored by BPI to develop a social innovation award. “Earlier this year, we took some of our students to India to participate in a ‘Summer School’ organised with local partners, where students had the opportunity to work on the ground and see the impact of their ideas developed at SILAB”, shares the Técnico professor.
Although the project ended, “a very strong network of international partnerships was built”, says professor Miguel Amaral. “We maintain regular contact and there are several spillovers and ideas in progress that will surely be operationalised in the future”, stresses the professor.
