SPEAKERS

Christian ARNSPERGER

Professor of Sustainability and Economic Anthropology, Université de Lausanne (Switzerland)

Tuesday - February 13: Plenary session 3: Green transition

Anna Athanasopoulou

Head of Unit, Proximity, Social Economy and Creative Industries at European Commission (DG GROW), European Commission

Tuesday - February 13: Plenary session 3: Green transition

Maxime Baduel

Ministerial Delegate for Social Economy (France)

Tuesday - February 13: Overview of the Liège Roadmap

MICHEL BAUWENS

Founder of the P2P Foundation (Belgium)

Founder of the P2P Foundation, an observatory of peer production and commons economics. Drafted a Commons Transition Plan for  the govt of  Ecuador, and for the city of Ghent. From 2018 to 2020, adviser to SMart.coop, the European labor mutual. Currently working for the Civilizational Research Institute and crypto-nomadic networks creating cosmo-local mutual coordination infrastructures.

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 2: Digital Transition

Lieven Bossuyt

Head of Lichtwerk (Belgium)

Lieven Bossuyt is a social entrepreneur and head of Lichtwerk (www.lichtwerk.io). He holds a degree in education and worked successively as a teacher, policy supporter, publisher and product manager e-learning. Since its founding in 2019, he developed Lichtwerk into a social enterprise that focuses on human-centred digital transformation, inclusive technology and a 'Go digital, stay human' approach.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 5 : How can Social economy flourish in a Digital Age?

Michel Boving

Director of ARC ASBL and independent strategic management consultant (Belgium)

Monday - February 12: Workshop 5 : How can Social economy flourish in a Digital Age?

Jo Brouns

Flemish Minister of Economy, Innovation, Work, Social Economy & Agriculture (Belgium)

Monday - February 12: Inaugural session

Valentina Caimi

Senior Expert and Project Manager of AEIDL (European association for innovation in local development)

Valentina Caimi has been working on socially responsible public procurement (SRPP) and on the social economy for more than 15 years. Currently Project Manager of an EC service contract on SRPP and senior expert in the .Green Public Procurement Helpdesk. 

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 3 : Mainstreaming social economy: a political strategy for the future

Maud Caruhel

Vice-President, Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region in charge of Social and Solidarity Economy, Social Innovation, Circular Economy and Waste Prevention/Management (France)

 Na haar universitaire studies economie en organisatiesociologie werkte ze in verschillende verenigingen en lokale overheden op het gebied van socioprofessionele ondersteuning. Gedurende vijf jaar leidde ze twee economische integratiestructuren. Sinds 2020 is ze plaatsvervangend burgemeester van Marmande, verantwoordelijk voor innovatief beleid (brownfields, stedelijk beleid, territoriaal voedselproject) en solidariteit. Sinds 2021 is ze vicevoorzitter van de regio Nouvelle Aquitaine, verantwoordelijk voor de sociale en solidaire economie, sociale innovatie, de circulaire economie en afvalbeheer/-preventie.

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 3 : Mainstreaming social economy: a political strategy for the future

Bernard Clerfayt

Minister of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Employment and Vocational Training, Digital Transition, Local Authorities and Animal Welfare (Belgium)

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 1: Brussels, an urban laboratory of integration & transitions

Alain Coheur

Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Director of the European and International Affairs of Solidaris mutualité

Director of European and International Affairs at Solidaris Mutualité in Belgium, he is also Vice-Chairman of Social Economy Europe. Since 2021 Vice-President. A member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), he represents the institution on the European Commission's Group of Experts on Social Entrepreneurship (GECES). Since 2018, he has been a member of CIRIEC's Board of Directors (Belgian and international section). He co-chairs the International Forum of the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE IF). Finally, since 2022, Lecturer at the University of Liège, Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health.

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 1: Inclusive transition

Fabrice Collignon

Coordinator at REScoop Wallonie (Belgium)

Serial entrepreneur in citizen & solidarity cooperatives. Coordinator of REScoop Wallonie, the federation of renewable energy cooperatives. Founder and Chairman of the Vin de Liège cooperative.

Tuesday - February 13: Plenary session 3: Green transition

Sarah de Heusch

Director of Social Economy Europe

Sarah de Heusch is director of Social Economy Europe the European network that represent Social Economy (SE) at European level. Sarah is also Board Member of la Coop de Communs. Before she worked for Smart cooperative for nearly 15 years and has been actively involved in the international and European cooperative movement. Her fields of expertise rely in SE, atypical employment, digital labour, access to social protection, democracy at work and the commons.

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 2: Digital Transition

Francis Devisch

Director of Groep Maatwek (Belgium)

Since 2011, Francis Devisch has been director of Groep Maatwerk, the employers' organisation that represents 60 Flemish custom work companies . Previously, he was a labour market advisor at the SERV and a member of the VAPH's research department. As a sociologist, graduated in 1994 from the KU Leuven, he spent the beginning of his career researching "Barriers to the social integration of persons with disabilities".

Monday - February 12: Workshop 4 : How to scale-up while staying grounded & connected ?

Claude Dorion

Director General of MCE Conseils and member of Chantier de l'économie sociale - Quebec (Canada)

Claude Dorion is an economist and heads a management and strategy consulting firm specializing in social economy.   Over the past 5 years, his organization has carried out more than 500 projects in the social economy sphere, and he has worked in a number of countries on ecosystem issues to support the development of SE. He is co-author of guides and analyses on SSEs and cooperatives.

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 4 : Accessible Financing and investment for Social Economy

Antoine Dubois

Councillor for the City of Strasbourg and Vice-President of Strasbourg Eurométropole in charge of Social and Solidarity Economy (France)

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 1: Brussels, an urban laboratory of integration & transitions

Brigitte Fellahi- Brognaux

Head of Unit "Inclusive and Social Entrepreneurship", Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 3 : Mainstreaming social economy: a political strategy for the future

Mieke Frans

Doeners.be (Belgium)

Mieke Frans has been dedicated to social economy throughout her professional career. She initially conducted research on social economy at the University of Antwerp. Later, she worked as a policy officer for social economy at the Province of Flemish Brabant. In 2019, she wrote a book titled 'Engaging with Social Economy: A Guide for Enthusiastic Local Governments' and initiated various actions to strengthen the sector, including the matchmaking platform doeners.be.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 2 : How to tell the story and to convince the unconvinced ?

Diana Ghinea

Head of Strategical Development at Coompanion Gothenburg (Sweden)

An experienced professional with a wide area of expertise, Diana has been working with social development and social inclusion in different forms, from development cooperation and adult education to social economy. With an academic background in political science, her work record spans from research to organizational development and policy analysis. Diana has been with Coompanion for eight years now and is actively driving the social economy questions within the Swedish and EU context, for example by leading the organization of the Swedish social economy conference in June 2023, in Gothenburg.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 2 : How to tell the story and to convince the unconvinced ?

Claude Gruffat

Member of the European Parliament (Green, FR)

After more than 15 years as Chairman of Biocoop, Claude Gruffat became a Green MEP in February 2020. He serves on the AGRI (agriculture), ECON (economic and monetary affairs) and IMCO (internal market and consumer protection) committees. He fights for quality food that respects the environment and farmers, as well as for a fair economy and taxation.

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 4 : Accessible Financing and investment for Social Economy

Nóra Györke

Project Development Officer, European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities, B-WISE project (Belgium)

Project officer at EASPD supporting the implementation the B-WISE project. She works in area of social economy, employment, and art & leisure. She has been working in the field of disability and inclusion for more than 10 years and has extensive experience in working with people with disabilities, in organising awareness raising programmes, inclusive activities.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 5 : How can Social economy flourish in a Digital Age?

Alain Herdies

Director of Jeunes Schaerbeekois au Travail - JST (Belgium-Brussels)

Director of Jeunes Schaerbeekois au Travail 20 years. Manager in Social Tourism 12 years. Bachelor’s Professor in Social Tourism Management 25 years.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 3 : How to link inclusion, diversity and territorial development ?

Christian Jonet

Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise (Belgium)

Christian Jonet has been involved for many years in the social and ecological transition process in Liège. Since 2013, he has been working on the development of a sustainable food system and supply chains in the Liège region, as director of the non-profit organisation Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise, where he played an active role in setting up the Liège Métropole Food Policy Council and the Liège Short Circuit Food hub.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 1 : How to partner-up for greening your territory?

Juan Jorge Piernas López

Holder of the Jean Monnet Chair & Senior lecturer of EU and Public International Law, International relations coordinator, Universidad de Murcia (Spain)

Juan Jorge Piernas López is Doctor of Law from the European University Institute (Florence 2013). He had formerly graduated from Harvard University (LL.M., Harvard Law School 2007), the College of Europe (Master in Advanced European Studies, Natolin, Poland 2005) and the University of Murcia (Law Degree, Spain, 2003). He is currently Jean Monnet Chair holder and Senior Lecturer at the University of Murcia and international consultant on European Union law and policy for the World Bank, several governments and for the ENI CBC Med Program. He has participated in various competitive European and national research projects, including one as co-principal investigator. He has also published extensively on European Union Law, highlighting his monograph entitled The Concept of State Aid under EU Law: From internal market to competition and beyond, published by Oxford University Press (Oxford Studies in European Law) in 2015. His publications have been cited 7 times by three Advocate Generals of the Court of Justice of the European Union. 

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 2: Social Economy facing State-Aid

Barbara Kielbasa

Doctor of Economics- management sciences, researcher and academic teacher at the Faculty of Agriculture and Economics of the University of Agriculture in Krakow (Poland)

Doctor of Economics in the field of management sciences. Since 2012 a researcher and academic teacher at the Faculty of Agriculture and Economics of the University of Agriculture in Krakow (Poland). Research interests focus on socio-economic issues in rural areas with high agrarian fragmentation and specific social problems.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 3 : How to link inclusion, diversity and territorial development ?

Damien Labrousse

Deputy Director, EcossoliES (France)

The Ecossolies social economy network was initiated by the Nantes metropole in 2002, and today mobilizes an ecosystem of 600 players around a third-party space dedicated to the social economy, a program of commercial events, and a range of support services for the emergence and development of social enterprises.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 6 : How to foster social innovation and social entrepreneurship?

Michaël Lans

Public relations, FEBRAP asbl (Belgium)

Michaël Lans is Deputy Director of the Brussels Federation of Adapted Work Enterprises. He has been working there for 13 years, and his mission is to support the research and development of new activities for Brussels' AWEs. He'd like to tell you two pretty stories that start with "Once upon a time" and are, of course, directly related to our topic: How to scale-up while staying grounded & connected ?

Monday - February 12: Workshop 4 : How to scale-up while staying grounded & connected ?

Alexandrine Lapoutte

Senior Lecturer in Management Sciences, Université Lumière Lyon 2 (France)

Alexandrine Lapoutte is Assistant Professor in Management Sciences at Lumière Lyon 2 University, where she teaches entrepreneurship, strategy and corporate social responsibility. Her research interests focus on social economy organizations, particularly on issues of governance, cooperative entrepreneurship and SSE education. 

Monday - February 12: Workshop 2 : How to tell the story and to convince the unconvinced ?

Frederik Matthijs

Director of Trividend (Belgium)

Frederik Matthijs holds Master's degrees in Economics and Law and Economics. He is the founder of social initiatives such as the employment project Eetcafé Toreke, the buddy project Uilenspel vzw, and the crowdfunding platform Socrowd. Additionally, he has worked as a credit provider in the banking sector. Since 2022, he has been serving as the director at the Flemish participatory fund for social economy, Trividend.

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 4 : Accessible Financing and investment for Social Economy

Mathias Maucher

Policy and Project Coordinator at Social Services Europe

Mathias Maucher has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of social services, health care, social and labour market inclusion, poverty and social exclusion, vocational training, state aid, public procurement and occupational safety and health. He has worked in Germany and Belgium with NGOs and trade unions. Since April 2021 he is the Policy and Project Coordinator at Social Services Europe (SSE).

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 2: Social Economy facing State-Aid

Amparo Merino Segovia

Secretary of State for Social Economy (Spain)

Tuesday - February 13: Overview of the Liège Roadmap

Veerle Moens

Department of work and social economy, Flemish Region (Belgium)

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 4 : Accessible Financing and investment for Social Economy

Christie Morreale

Vice-President of the Walloon Government, Minister for Employment, Training, Health, Social Action & Social Economy, Equal Opportunities and Women's Rights (Belgium)

Tuesday - February 13: Overview of the Liège Roadmap

Katarzyna Nowakowska

Deputy Minister for Family, Labour and Social Policy (Poland)

Tuesday - February 13: Overview of the Liège Roadmap

Antonella Noya

Social Economy and Innovation Unit - OCDE

Antonella Noya is the Head of the Unit on Social Economy and Innovation at the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. She organises and coordinates the work on social economy, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation inside her Directorate. Antonella leads the cooperation with the European Union (DG EMP, DG GROW, EEAS) in these areas of work.

Tuesday - February 13: Plenary session 3: Green transition

Helena O'Rourke-Potocki

Circular Economy and Procurement Officer, ICLEI

Helena O'Rourke-Potocki is a Procurement Expert at ICLEI Europe, based in the ICLEI Brussels office. She contributes circular public procurement expertise to various projects such as CityLoops, BUS-GoCircular, the European Commission GPP Helpdesk, the Procura+ Network, among others. She works with local public authorities and public procurers from across Europe to better understand how to public procurement can be used as a strategic tool to support circular economy objectives. 
 
She previously worked as a Policy Research Officer for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Institutions, Governments, and Cities team, where she analysed circular economy-related policies and developed a circular public procurement framework for city governments. She has also worked for the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think-tank, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban policy, Politico Europe and the former the former Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and Development, covering climate, energy, environmental, regional policy and the circular economy. 
 
She holds an MSc in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a BA in Political Science and Geography from Trinity College Dublin. She also studied at the Charles University in Prague in the context of an Erasmus exchange. 

Tuesday - February 13: Plenary session 3: Green transition

Sergio Pérez García

Director-General for Foreign Affairs, Government of Navarra, Member of the CoR (Spain)

General Director of External Action of the Government of Navarra, member of the Commitee of Regions, actively involved in the SEDEC commission, Automotive Regions Alliance (ARA) and building the 1st European Social Economy Business School in Navarra.

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 2: Digital Transition

Françoise Pissart

Director at King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium)

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 2: Digital Transition

Stefan Platteau

Coordinator, Fobagra (Belgium)

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 1: Brussels, an urban laboratory of integration & transitions

Julie Poppe

Hubs Circulair Werk(t) (Belgium)

The circular city programme coordinator, at the city of Mechelen. She is the inspirator of the regional Circular hub in Rivierenland, bringing together partners from regular and social economy, research and public authorities to drive the societal change needed for a greener and more inclusive economy. Trained as a Bio-engineer and a Social-Cultural Anthropologist, she had built up expertise in policy preparation and transition management throughout different jobs.  

Monday - February 12: Workshop 1 : How to partner-up for greening your territory?

Frédéric Rasson

Acting Director, Directorate Social Economy, Economic Development Department, SPW EER (Walloon Public Service Economy-Employment-Research) (Belgium)

Frédéric Rasson is Acting Director of the Social Economy Directorate of the Wallonia Public Service “Economy Employment Research” (SPW EER). He has been with the department since 2012. After being in charge of the approval and subsidy schemes on the counsel on setting up social economy enterprises, and the subsidy schemes for social economy reuse enterprises, he was project manager for the transfer of social economy competencies to the regions, following the 6th reform of the Belgian State. He has been director for 5 years. The Social Economy Directorate is responsible for implementing public policy on the social economy in Wallonia, via the dedicated budget of 37 million euros in 2024. 

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 2: Social Economy facing State-Aid

Nadine RICHEZ-BATTESTI

Teacher-researcher at Aix-Marseille University and LEST-Cnrs (France)

Teacher-researcher at Aix-Marseille University and LEST-Cnrs, where she directs a master's degree in SSE. She is also co-president of ADDES and a member of various international research networks, including Ciriec and EMES. She is also involved in a number of European research projects.

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 1: Inclusive transition

Oliver Röpke

President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

Monday - February 12: Inaugural session

Sam Rosenzweig

Coordinator, Fair Ground Brussels (Belgium)

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 1: Brussels, an urban laboratory of integration & transitions

Miia Rossi-Gray

European Commission, Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs en Inclusion

Miia Rossi-Gray has been working as Policy Officer on Social Economy in DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission since 2019. She joined the European Commission in 2009. Before the European Commission Miia worked at the European Foundation Centre and the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. She holds an MA in International Studies (University of Birmingham, UK) and a BSc in Economics (University of York, UK). 

Monday - February 12: Workshop 6 : How to foster social innovation and social entrepreneurship?

Heather Roy

Secretary General of Eurodiaconia

Heather Roy has been Secretary General of Eurodiaconia  since 2008.  Originally from Scotland she has worked in the field of social justice for over 30 years locally, nationally and international.  With Eurodiaconia she promotes the place of social services in the social economy in the fight against poverty and exclusion.  Outside of her professional life Heather is one of the leaders of a food based social enterprise in Brussels. 

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 1: Inclusive transition

Raffaella Scalisi

Senior Advisor,  Torino Social Impact (Italy)

With a PhD in Communication, she has led the International Relations and EU Projects Dpt. of the municipalities of Turin and Milan, the Cabinet Directorate of the Piedmont Region and she has served as consultant for many municipal authorities. She is an advisor of Torino Social Impact and a founder of Triadi, a spin-off of the Politecnico of Milan specialized in social impact measurement and strategy.

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 3 : Mainstreaming social economy: a political strategy for the future

Nicolas Schmit

European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights (tbc)

Monday - February 12: Inaugural session

Ivanka Shalapatova

Minister of Labour and Social Policy (Bulgaria)

Tuesday - February 13: Overview of the Liège Roadmap

Bastien Sibille

Mobicoop (France)

Monday - February 12: Workshop 1 : How to partner-up for greening your territory?

Bénédicte Sohet

Secretary General of Concert'ES (Belgiuim)

After a degree in economics and a dissertation in social economics, Benedicte worked at the Mission locale de Saint-Josse (social and professional integration project), where she became manager. She then joined ConcertES - the association of organisations representing the social economy in French-speaking Belgium. Since 2020,  she became the General Secretary of the association. 

Monday - February 12: Workshop 2 : How to tell the story and to convince the unconvinced ?

Tim Tilsley

Sales & Marketing Manager, A-Kwadraat- Health (Beligum)

Tim Tilsley is the Sales & Marketing Manager of A-kwadraat, a social enterprise for work integration from Turnhout, in the north of Belgium. Together with five Business Unit Managers, he develops the company's commercial and sustainability policy. Health is A-kwadraat’s flagship business unit.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 6 : How to foster social innovation and social entrepreneurship?

Barbara Trachte

Secretary of State of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Economic Transition and Scientific Research (Belgium)

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 1: Brussels, an urban laboratory of integration & transitions

Karel Vanderpoorten

Policy Officer, DG GROW (Directorate for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs), European Commission

Monday - February 12: Workshop 1 : How to partner-up for greening your territory?

Tim Vannieuwenhuyse

Managing Director of Groep WAAK (Belgium)

Tim Vannieuwenhuyse is a "social entrepreneur". As director of Maatwerkbedrijf WAAK, he looks for opportunities in the economic market, to be realized with people distanced from the labor market. WAAK has over 2000 employees, making it the largest player in the Maatwerkbedrijf sector. Tim is also a director at employers' federation Groep Maatwerk and chairman of Flemish social profit umbrella organisation VERSO.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 3 : How to link inclusion, diversity and territorial development ?

Hilde Vernaillen

CEO & Chair of the Executive Committee, P&V Group (Belgium)

Hilde is CEO of P&V Insurance and VIVIUM in 2011 after twenty years in the P&V Group. She is President of the Board and the Executive Committee of the Belgian insurance association (Assuralia). From 2016 to 2022, she was Chair of ICMIF, the global Federation of Cooperative and Mutual Insurers. She has also been President of AMICE (The European Association of Cooperative and Mutual Insurers) between June 2013 and June 2016. She is a President of the Board of Directors of Euresa, an European Economic Interest Group for cooperation and collaboration among the European mutual and cooperative insurance companies, and President of the Board of Directors of Febecoop which promotes and defends the co-operative model at regional, federal, European and international level.”

Monday - February 12: Workshop 4 : How to scale-up while staying grounded & connected ?

Eva Verraes

Director of HERW!N (Belgium)

Eva Verraes likes to put things in motion. As director of HERW!N, she has been representing, strengthening and connecting the 100 members in the collective of social circular entrepreneurs for more than 13 years. What if entrepreneurs could change the world? What if together we tilt toward a socially just society mindful of the planet's limits? From using and discarding to sharing, reusing and processing stuff. A circular economy with one common vision: creating jobs for people who are struggling. That is reclaiming work, materials and encounters.

Tuesday - February 13: Plenary session 3: Green transition

Ludovic Voet

Confederal Secretary at ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation)

Ludovic Voet has been Confederal Secretary of ETUC since 2019.  From June 2023 onwards, Ludovic is responsible of ETUC area of work for an economy that works for the people and the planet. He will follow just transition, climate, energy and industrial policies as well policies of upskilling and reskilling of the workforce. He will also try to conclude the trade union fight for an ambitious Platform Work Directive.

Monday - February 12: Plenary session 1: Inclusive transition

Bernhard Von Wendland

Policy Officer, DG COMP (Directorate General for Competition), European Commission

Bernhard von Wendland is a policy officer at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition. He is a fiscal economist by training. In the area of EU State aid law and policy, his main tasks consist in providing legal, economic and procedural advice and helping with State aid policy initiatives. Bernhard has been with the Commission since 2002. 

Tuesday - February 13: Roundtable 2: Social Economy facing State-Aid

Aziza Yussupova

Senior Policy Officer, ENSIE

Aziza Yussupova is the Senior Policy Officer at ENSIE and has a broad expertise in EU WISEs/social economy related policies. She holds a Master’s degree in international relations, diplomacy and conflicts resolution (UCL BE). She manages EU projects and represents ENSIE at the European Commission’s strategic meetings and in the advisory board of the EU Solidarity Corps research center.

Monday - February 12: Workshop 6 : How to foster social innovation and social entrepreneurship?