Over 1,000 impact players gathered at OGR Turin and Cottino Social Impact Campus from November 22 to 24

The European impact investing community gathered during the Impact Week in Turin from November 22 to 24 with the aim of identifying concrete proposals to promote a sustainable and resilient future for our economies and societies.

EVPA, the European network for impact investing, with Fondazione CRT and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo as anchor partners, Cottino Social Impact Campus and Fondazione Time2 as content partners, and Torino Social Impact as the glue of the rich and varied impact network of a city that has earned the title of the capital of social economy in recent years, brought together over 1,000 leaders and professionals across the spectrum of impact finance to mobilize capital for transformative change.

Impact Week is EVPA‘s annual flagship event, providing an opportunity for a global community of changemakers to encounter cutting-edge ideas, discover new trends, and engage with partners to maximize their impact on people and the planet.

After visits to Cascina Fossata, Open Incet, Via Baltea – Laboratori di Barriera, and Toolbox Coworking, organized by the City of Turin, our territory took center stage at the opening event with Guido Bolatto, Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce of Turin, Michela Favaro, Deputy Mayor of Turin, Alberto Francesco Anfossi, Secretary of the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, and Andrea Varese, Secretary of the CRT Foundation.

Special thanks go to all our partners who contributed to showcasing the TSI ecosystem: Elena Ferrero from Atelier Riforma, Emanuela Barbano from Biova Project, Monica Pillitu from Piazza dei Mestieri, Elena La Rovere from Patchanka, Sara Fortunati from Circolo del Design.

The main conversations featured young protagonists of the Impact Generation Challenge with Sara Minucci, Michele Osella from Compagnia di San Paolo, and Matteo Pessione from OGR in the impact cities panel, Giulia Mezzalama in the session dedicated to Take Care, LINKS on impacts, and Metaverso.

The Impact Deal project was presented by Ciro Cattuto, Christian Racca, Stefania Coni, experts from TOP-IX, and companies involved in the project.

The Social Impact Stock Exchange was presented in a significant discussion with Davide Dal Maso, Jeremy Nicholls, Brigitte Fellahi-BROGNAUX, and Bruno Robino.

A new European network of impact cities was designed in a workshop with Raffaella Scalisi from TSI, Coos Santing Santing from ImpactCity The Hague, and Jonas Nipkow from Social Economy Berlin. Thanks to Mariken Gaanderse for the idea and to Oscar Ugarte from Seed Capital Bizkaia for his interest.

The vision of Torino Social Impact was highlighted thanks to Mario Calderini, who participated in the sessions “Accelerating towards the SDGs finish line” and “Beyond Compliance Reporting,” with Marella Caramazza, Karen E. Wilson, and Karim Harji.

Consult the complete program and speakers’ lineup.

The European Impact Investment Market

The European impact investment market is growing, according to EVPA’s latest study, estimating the European market for direct impact investments, i.e., investments by companies addressing social and environmental challenges, at €80 billion. Social impact investments have grown by a substantial 26% from 2020 to 2021.

However, despite this encouraging growth, impact investments still represent only 0.5% of the European traditional investment market. It is crucial to accelerate the trend to address today’s pressing social and environmental needs. With the approaching deadline of 2030 for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, we need more impact investments that take risks for innovative solutions to complex social and environmental challenges, from the climate crisis to sustainable food systems.

In this context, the impact community gathered in Turin provided concrete recommendations on how impact finance actors can better mobilize resources and promote collective impact action to scale the lasting change the world urgently needs.

With “Impact Together” as the main theme, Impact Week is also a space to connect work across sectors, connect, and collaborate to navigate through the world’s crises. The conversations and sessions provided practical insights and examples of innovative discoveries in impact finance to replicate what works and collectively achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Who is EVPA

EVPA, now called Impact Europe, is the European network for impact investing, a unique network at the intersection of business and purpose, driven by knowledge and focused on impact. EVPA brings together over 300 members, a diverse group of capital providers (impact funds, companies, foundations, private equity, banks, public funders) and social innovators. Since its creation in 2004, EVPA has built a unique data hub for impact practices, trained over 1,000 impact champions, produced guidelines for defining standards and increasing impact investments, as well as for measuring and managing them. It also represents a strategic presence in the EU political sphere and plays a crucial role in global collaborations on its themes.

Watch the Impact Week’s video