Carlo Pettineli, Director at the European Commission and the Mayor of Milan, Giuliano Pisapia were the guests of honour at the event. The second edition of the competition was also introduced by Maurizio Carrara, Chairman of the UniCredit Foundation which joined forces with the European Commission to organise this great gathering.

A range of speakers at the event discussed with the audience how social innovation has the potential to provide jobs. They also brought the topic closer to home by offering some key examples of the potential of social innovation from Italy.

Last year’s inspirational winners included Community Catalysts (United Kingdom), Economy App (Germany) and MITWIN.NET (Spain), each of whom attended the event. To find out more about them visit http://bit.ly/EUSocialinnovwinners.

Following a hugely successful inaugural round with over 600 ideas received, this edition will retain the same focus as last year and is entitled The Job Challenge.

Social innovation has a key role to play in the return to economic growth and recovery. Europeans are invited to come up with innovative solutions to create new job opportunities, explore fresh talent and offer new forms of work. The 3 best proposals, as judged by a jury of social innovation experts, will be awarded a prize of €20,000 in May 2014.

The Competition is open to everyone who is legally established or a resident in one of the EU member states – or in those countries that established an agreement to participate in the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme – including individuals, organisations and unconstituted groups.

Ideas and proposals from all sources and sectors and all types of organisations including for-profit, non-for-profit, or private companies are welcome.

The closing date for applications is 12:00 (noon) Central European Time on 11^th December 2013. The best proposals will be selected in two phases, inviting the 30 best ideas to become real projects with the help of mentors. Those 30 'semi-finalists' will be given the opportunity to network and increase their visibility. The 3 best proposals amongst them will then be presented with their awards at a ceremony in May 2014.

To enter the Competition and for further information please visit the website at http://bit.ly/EUSocialinnov.

Notes to editors:

Social innovations are new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs (more effectively than alternatives) and create new social relationships or collaborations. For further information and alternate definitions, see http://bit.ly/1eWqOKv

Diogo Vasconcelos was a person of outstanding energy and charisma. He never stopped thinking ahead, developing and connecting ideas and engaging with new people. He always had one main objective in mind: To work for a better future for everyone. Diogo was passionately committed to promoting new ways of tackling societal challenges; such as climate change, unemployment and an ageing population. Diogo’s vision was that people could always learn from one another, and through social innovation people could transform social needs and challenges into new technologies and economic opportunities. Diogo's involvement in a wide range of European events, experts groups and projects has been invaluable. The idea for this European social innovation competition came from him; because he wanted to incentivise people to come up with radical solutions! This competition is dedicated to his memory.

UniCredit Foundation was set up in 2003 as a corporate foundation of UniCredit and as testimony to the work done by the Group to promote a comprehensive set of values that form the basis of its corporate identity. Through corporate philanthropy, the Foundation contributes to the growth of the community it works in, promoting the processes of social cohesion against a complex backdrop of inequality, need and transformation that characterizes modern society. With this objective, UniCredit Foundation undertakes to promote long-term initiatives, to seek innovation in different areas of social action and to construct effective, lasting partnerships with non-profit organizations. In line with European strategies for economic and social development, the Foundation supports actions and players representing the social economy, which combine charity work with market principles to provide an ongoing response to the need for welfare services in the community, while simultaneously creating employment.

For more details contact:

Caitriona Crowe: 00 353 1 6690 108

Sarah Kilduff: 00 353 1 6690 117