Ashoka, Zermatt Summit Foundation, Fondation Guilé, DPD and Boehringer Ingelheim award 5 innovative and exemplary hybrid projects led by social-mission organizations and businesses at the Zermatt Summit, with the goal to support and give visibility to these new collaboration schemes in Europe.

338 projects from 34 European countries entered the European competition « Social & Business Co-Creation» launched in January 2014. 15 finalist projects selected were present at the Zermatt Summit where 5 projects were awarded on Friday June 27th.

These ambitious projects, considered among the best co-creation models in Europe, address important societal challenges thanks to new forms of collaboration between social-mission organizations and businesses to create value for all: society and all partners. On one hand, social-mission organizations that have a deep knowledge of fragile populations and create efficient and innovative solutions, often face difficulties to scale up. On the other hand, companies that operate at scale in terms of R&D, production, distribution and access to capital but have often limited understanding of the needs of underprivileged populations. And lastly, possibly, also public authorities that often need to cut budgets and try to find new solutions for their social programs. The projects highlight new ways of doing business, new types of organization and leadership for the corporate world.

The Winners

• First Prize (€20,000): Ana Bella Social School for Women Empowerment (Spain).
  This project is co-created by the Ana Bella Foundation, led by an Ashoka Fellow, and Danone. It aims at empowering women victims of domestic violence by creating useful and qualified jobs while providing a better performance for the company in promotion activities.
• Runner-up Prize (€10,000) : Advancing treatment for Duchenne (Switzerland).
  This project is co-created by the pharmaceutical company Merck Serono and EspeRare, a foundation led by an Ashoka Fellow. It aims at accelerating the development of rare diseases treatments for all, by tapping into R&D capacity of the pharmaceutical group to enable EspeRare to develop the treatment at a lower cost.
• Runner-up Prize (€10,000) : Autism at Work (Germany).
  This project is co-created by the social enterprise Specialisterne, led by an Ashoka Fellow, and SAP. It aims at creating jobs related to Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for autistic people, demonstrating that they have better capacities in this very domain, and can integrate in a professional environment.
• ‘Last Mile’ Prize (personalized coaching from DPD) : Smart neighbours (France)
  This project is co-created by Veolia Water (French Public Utility Company), and the social enterprise Voisin Malin led by an Ashoka Fellow. This project aims at building a network of ordinary people with strong leadership (the smart neighbours) to recreate a link between socially isolated populations of difficult neighbourhoods, companies and local governments in order to optimize the products and services they have access to.
• Special Mention of the Jury : Farmers’ Club (Turkey)
  Co-created by a social enterprise led by an Ashoka Fellow, Tarimsal Pazarlama, and Vodafone Turkey, Farmers’ Club has enables over 1.4 million small-scale farmers in Turkey to have improved their agricultural techniques and productivity thanks to information and training through mobile technology.

About the competition partners

Ashoka

Ashoka is the leading global network of social entrepreneurs, working with men and women around the world who have developed system-changing solutions to pressing societal challenges. For more information, about co-creation, the finalist and the winning projects, please visit www.changemakers.com/co-creation.

Boehringer Ingelheim

Boehringer Ingelheim is a family group that is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies located in 50 countries.

DPD

DPD is a leading international provider of parcel and express services. The majority shareholder in DPD is the GeoPost Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of French Groupe La Poste.

Fondation Guilé

Created by a Swiss family of entrepreneurs, Fondation Guilé engages with the business community at large to promote Corporate Social Responsibility and address societal challenges.

Zermatt Summit Foundation

Every year, through a uniquely designed program, the Zermatt Summit team takes participants on an intense three-day journey to share a vision for a better society, develop models for a more human and sustainable world and change their hearts and minds in the process.