The project attempts to address existing fragmentation in the levels of knowledge regarding social enterprises (SEs), from both a geographical and a disciplinary point of view, as well as from the perspective of different categories of stakeholders.

There is a challenge in achieving a full understanding of the diversity of SE models emerging across Europe and globally, including their conditions of emergence and development, and their contribution to the general interest. This knowledge is necessary to improve our understanding of their contribution to society and to addressing major contemporary societal challenges.

Since SE is a concept embedded in socio-economic contexts possessing highly different economic, social, cultural, welfare structures, it is vital to facilitate the connecting of existing local knowledge and establishing a program for cross-national comparative research, including peripheral regions where the SE scientific community is still embryonic or inexistent.

The EMES Network has been awarded to implement the project through the financial instrument called European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), the European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe, and contributing to the build-up of the European Research Area.

Currently, knowledge on SEs is disparate with uneven levels of quality and research infrastructure across countries, and with a disjointed evidence base located in a too narrow disciplinary approach. Moreover, young researchers exist but often work in isolation from other international scholars.

Key SE stakeholders (practitioners, policy makers) are increasingly seeking reliable knowledge from the scientific community to improve their understanding of SEs. Therefore, if we want to advance knowledge and to develop evidence-based policy for fostering a sustainable SE eco-system, there is an urgent need to engage a pluri-disciplinary dialogue to grasp the challenges and opportunities presented by the SE field. It is also imperative to link research efforts to the vast diversity of empirical developments in the SE field to achieve this and activate, train and facilitate networking opportunities for researchers, while connecting them with a diversity of SE stakeholders.