About GSEF 2013
This year’s inaugural ‘Global Social Economy Forum 2013’ is an international event to be participated by a number of experts in both public and private sectors in major global cities that aspire to reinvent themselves through the invigoration of social economy in their communities. The city of Seoul expects to have more than 1000 participants from over 30 countries around the globe including those from co-host cities and co-organizer institutions. The participants will of course include experts from regions where social economy is already invigorated, including policy makers, government officials, social entrepreneurs, social innovators, NGO activists, researchers, investors, company personnel in charge of corporate social responsibility.
 
Primary Purpose of Forum
Urban innovation model, also known as “Seoul Model”, includes the ideas of social economy development strategy initiated by a local government, will be proclaimed and discussed within the framework of developing social economy knowledge among the invited cities and private organizations.
Promoting and strengthen a political and economic relationship between local governments and private organizations across the world.
Encouraging the establishment of international social economy consultative institutions with farsightedness.
 
What will the program be about?
Currently, the international community, which needs alternatives in the wake of the global economic crisis, is paying a great deal of attention to the concept of social economy. The Global Forum will share cases of regional reinvention made possible through social economy in such areas as housing regeneration, resident-participating trust, senior care and childcare in the form of co-ops. It will discuss the infrastructures needed for the social economy ecosystem including human resources training, socially responsible procurement, social investments and regional foundations.
The forum will also feature opportunities to share information on the backgrounds and prospects concerning recently emerging situations like co-ops for mom-and-pop stores and temporary workers, as well as IT-based sharing economy models. It will exchange experiences and wisdom about the common task of ‘Creating Jobs for Youth’ as well. The forum will provide participants with valuable chances to become inspired by the prospect of international exchanges in a number of new areas with due attention to the areas where international exchanges are already active, including worker cooperatives, medical care, and fair trade.
Finally, the global forum will enable participants to visit ‘the Social Innovation Clusters’ currently under construction by the city of Seoul and various sites of the social economy, and obtain first-hand experience of the bold experiments and reforms that this mega city with ten million inhabitants is earnestly implementing.