Cross-Sector Partnerships: A Social Innovation in the European Work Integration Sector

Abstract

[Abstract] As the authors compared how the innovations emerged and unfolded in the four selected countries, guided by expert advice, they chose to focus their enquiry on cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) as an innovation with interesting variance across countries and as well as a strong potential for social impact. The authors found instances of CSPs, where public actors, companies and third sector organizations join forces to contribute to work integration, in the four countries of interest, yet they took different forms. They observed vast differences between countries as to the degree of advancement in developing CSPs, the actors involved, the type of partnerships, the beneficiaries targeted and factors enabling the development of partnerships. This chapter presents these specificities and reflects upon what they may teach us about social innovation in Europe. It also presents a cross-country perspective on CSP in the work integration field