By bringing together “actors” in social investment, the Conference aimed to lead to proposals for future joint actions in support of the implementation of the Social Investment Package. The event was part of a broader effort to get the content of the Social Investment Package known and understood to all those in the European Union who want to actively support and work on increased social investment actions in future.

To complement this, there was a live Twitter chat on the fringes of the conference with Frank Vandenbroucke, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. It took place 2nd May, from 16:30 to 17:00 with the hashtag #socialinvestment.

Policy-makers, experts and stakeholders discussed concrete ways of implementing the Social Investment Package based on three key thematic elements:

• Investment: The Social Investment Package and its relevance to EU social policies in the future
• Innovation: Why we need to foster social innovation and how we can put it into practice in the social economy and involving NGOs?
• Involvement: What vision of a social Europe do young Europeans want to see?

The Conference was addressed by the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor and the Irish Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton.