On behalf of the whole Editorial Board, welcome to the first issue of the Reves Digital Magazine. This is a brand new publication that comes from the need to gather knowledge and experiences within and outside the REVES Network in the field of social economy and among social economy actors, policy-makers and local administration entities. The aim is to dig deeper into various key topics for social economy actors and policy-makers across Europe and/or in different EU Member States, bringing perspectives from leaders, practitioners, researchers and opinion makers.

The topic of this very first issue, Co-production of policy, highlights REVES’ added value and unique position: bringing together local administrations and social economy actors to co-shape policies and actions.

Here is a brief overview of what we explore in this edition: we hope you will enjoy it!

It all begins with a talk between REVES President Ana Umbelino and Ricardo Rio, Portuguese economist and politician, current mayor of Braga. Following a brief summary of REVES’ main activities of the past months, we kick-off with another interview: our guest is Barbara Trachte, Secretary of State for the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Economic Transition and Scientific Research.

In this interview, we focus on the “Shifting Economy” plan for the Brussels region.

The voices of practitioners bring “Stories from the sector” – a collection of four case studies, from Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Italy. In each of them, we look at opportunities and challenges, learn from and get inspired by stories written from life and brought to us from different parts of the continent.

Then, next in order is Alvaro Porro, former Commissioner for Social Economy, Local Development and Food Policy of Barcelona City Council and Director of the Barcelona World Capital Sustainable Food Project 2021. He guides us through the transformation of Barcelona’s social economy, from disaggregation to cooperation.

At the end, we also want to “talk science”, that’s why we asked Professor Carlo Borzaga (University of Trento and Euricse) to take a closer look at the collaboration between public administration and social economy actors in drafting and shaping policy agendas.

Enjoy reading!

You can find the magazine HERE.