From 2016 to 2020, TecMinho actively collaborated in the development and implementation of the LACES project - Laboratórios de Apoio à Criação de Emprego e Empresas de Economia Social, with the aim of contributing to the development of the social economy in the Euro-region of Galicia-Northern Portugal, by providing a quantitative leap in competitiveness and stimulating social economy projects in the cross-border space.

This was a joint project implemented by TecMinho and eight other organisations from the cross-border Euro-region of Galicia-Northern Portugal: Secretaría Xeral de Emprego da Xunta de Galicia, University of Santiago de Compostela, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Municipality of Santo Tirso, In.Cubo – Incubadora de Iniciativas Empresariais Inovadoras and dedicated Social Economy associations in Galicia - Espazo Coop, AGACA and Aesgal.

The target-audience of the LACES project were social economy companies and entrepreneurs seeking support and advice for their processes of creation, modernisation and growth.

This project enabled the development and implementation of several activities and initiatives that served as a source of knowledge and innovation for the modernisation of strategies to promote and support a collaborative economy by favouring the consolidation and creation of quality companies and jobs in the Euro-region.

During these four years, the LACES consortium developed and implemented a wide range of services grouped into 4 laboratories:

1. Laboratories for the identification of business opportunities;
2. Laboratories for creativity and communication in social economy;
3. Laboratories for the creation and consolidation of social economy companies;
4. Laboratories to strengthen and improve the training of human resources.

Within the scope of these laboratories, TecMinho developed a Sectorial Agenda for Social Economy and the Environment in the Euro-region Galicia-Northern Portugal to encourage the creation and consolidation of social economy companies in this emerging sector, namely with regard to Forests, Oceans and Biomass.
Two interactive resources were developed for the conception and maturation of business opportunities: an Approach and Mapping Tool for Social Economy and Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Initiatives and a Self-Diagnosis Tool for Entrepreneurial Skills that enables a self-diagnosis of 10 entrepreneurial skills, within two components i) skills for an entrepreneurial attitude and, ii) skills for entrepreneurial activity.

LACES also included initiatives to accelerate social economy business ideas and projects, namely the IdeaLab and IgniLab programmes (online) to support their development and their market potential from a socioeconomic perspective. These initiatives involved a total of 90 business ideas and 190 participants in the six editions held. Also, four editions of the Laboratório de Empresas (Business Laboratory) were also held with the aim of providing support in the pre-launch and start-up phases of the company: to provide support in the preparation of the launch of the company launch; to guide the entrepreneur through the management of the company; and, to provide support in the elaboration and improvement of their business plan. This initiative involved 24 teams, with a total of 47 participants.

Apart from these acceleration programmes, a series of «TecMeetings» took place with a focus on social economy, an initiative aimed at challenging entrepreneurs and organisations in the region to create an active and open networking platform to share knowledge and experiences with the potential of developing new ideas and business opportunities with a social impact.

The LACES project includes the promotion of cross-border business residencies aimed at facilitating the exchange of experiences and knowledge and promoting cooperation between social economy, social entrepreneurship or the so-called impact economy companies (that have a social and/or environmental impact dimension in their core business). This programme allowed business partners/managers of companies in the Euro-region to get to know how other companies in the same sector or in other sectors work, facilitating the sharing of knowledge and enhancing cooperation, thus aligning this measure with one of the main principles of social economy. In this programme, six Portuguese social economy companies and/or with social impact were supported in the realisation of 10 exchanges between these companies and Galician companies.

Aligned with the Sectorial Agenda for the Environment, a free-of-charge 80-hour online course in the area of social economy and the environment was developed with the aim of qualifying participants in the environmental field, with a focus on economic and social impact. This course aimed to raise awareness of the range of economic activities that are, directly or indirectly, developed around the environment, the oceans and nature, such as the recovery of waste and biomass, among others, in order to reinforce knowledge in this field and help trainees to identify business opportunities. This course was directed, in particular, to entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs, employees of social economy organisations, university students or the public in general interested in the areas of the environment, social economy and social entrepreneurship, involving a total of 30 trainees.

Other activities arising from LACES involved creating and feeding an online platform to identify business opportunities in social economy, the creation of the LACES Social Economy channel for the Environment sector for the dissemination and promotion of social economy in the Galicia-Northern Portugal Euro-region, particularly valuing initiatives and business opportunities in the area of conservation and enhancement of the environment.

The LACES project was co-financed by the ERDF under the INTERREG V-A Spain-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020 programme.