These recommendations have the potential to mobilise €500M to the ecosystem by 2030, tripling the current market size. By promoting innovative solutions to social challenges, Agenda for impact 2030 aims to keep Portugal at the forefront of impact investment and to make it the European hub for social innovation.

The Agenda for impact 2030 (API30) is a national strategy developed to strengthen the social innovation and impact investing ecosystem in Portugal started in 2014. This work follows the thriving European agenda on social innovation3 and builds on the pioneering work of the Portuguese Social Investment Taskforce, which promoted social innovation and impact investment at the national level. The taskforce published two reports: the first one, in 2015, setting 5 recommendations for the growth of the ecosystem, and the second one, three years later, monitoring the progress made by then. Through the work developed Portugal became the first country to mobilize EU funds to test social innovation financing instruments, currently ranking 2nd in Europe and 3rd worldwide in number of social impact bonds contracted.

The API30 results from the joint effort of 40+ representatives of influential institutions from public, private and social sectors. Together they constitute the Steering Committee for the National Competences Centre for Social Innovation, created in 2021 and led by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Driven by the belief that social innovation is key to positive social impact, the group worked for a year to redefine the priorities for the social innovation ecosystem in Portugal for 2030. maze actively managed the group’s work dynamics, systematised members’ contributions, and drafted the API30.

This agenda targets the main players of the Portuguese ecosystem — the market champion (Portugal Social Innovation), promoters of social innovation initiatives, public entities, and impact investors — and sets the following five objectives:

14 recommendations are to be implemented by 2030 to achieve these goals and ensure capital mobilization, development of capacity-building programs, and promotion of outcomes-based commissioning and simplified cost options practices. These recommendations intend to sustain long-term change by continuing the good work carried out by the social innovation ecosystem (scale) while testing new initiatives (innovation). This ambitious agenda is aligned with the current maturity level of the ecosystem and the national context.

The achievement of the established goals depends on the engagement and collaboration of all players in the ecosystem. The API30 offers clear guidelines for current players and potential newcomers, allowing them to align their practice with the common goals. It encourages the use of social innovation and impact investment as tools to alleviate or solve the most pressing social challenges, with the end goal of positively impacting the most vulnerable groups of the Portuguese population.

Maze has been lucky enough to closely follow the great progress of the social innovation and impact investment ecosystem in Portugal. Our team will keep working hard to implement this agenda and to support the ecosystem moving forward.

If you are impact-driven, the API30 is your call to action!

Read the report

1 Social innovation occurs when resource-efficient solutions are created to address social needs that either have persisted for many years — and to which there is no adequate social response — or are arising due to recent social phenomena.

2 Social impact investment is the provision of finance to organisations tackling social challenges with the expectation of a measurable social and financial return.

3 The European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), launched in 2013, is a European Union (EU) financial instrument allocated to support social innovation across Member States. Also, the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) is an instrument for investing in people and supporting structural reforms in key social areas. The EaSI and ESF+ co-funded an initiative that aims to create Nacional Competences Centres for Social Innovation in 24 Member States and in the United Kingdom.

4 Government Outcomes Lab, Impact Bonds Database, https://golab.bsg.ox.ac.uk/knowledge-bank/indigo/impact-bond-dataset-v2/?query=&maptype=markers, [accessed 3 Nov 2022].