Inspire

The overriding objective of INSPIRE is to further develop the regional infrastructure of the social economy by fast-tracking the development of the North East’s Social Enterprise Sector through the pursuit of two objectives:

• INSPIRE North East: The establishment of a social enterprise research and development unit and the creation of new replication methodologies / partnerships that strengthen the social economy.

• INSPIRE Europe: a European Social Enterprise Network for replication and social franchising.

Inspire aims to meet these objectives through supporting social enterprises and relevant support agencies, particularly those working with disadvantaged groups, to develop innovative market orientated social enterprises. The first stage in this process is developing partnerships with relevant research bodies, inventors, market intelligence agencies and local and regional support agencies. Once ideas are identified, Inspire will set up Replication Partnerships to help social enterprises implement similar business models. This will enable them to grow rapidly, exploit new ideas, achieve greater strategic focus and gain the necessary scale of operation without losing their community roots and ability to empower those disadvantaged in the labour market.