ROMA (ITALPRESS) – With the National KickOff event held at the Elis headquarters in Villa Fassini in Rome, the second edition of Social Innovation Trail (SIT), the national program promoted by Elis, in collaboration with Aiccon Research Centre and with the support of UniCredit.
SIT was born to accompany the Third Sector Entities in addressing one of the most decisive challenges of our time: transforming technological innovation, and in particular Artificial Intelligence, into a concrete lever of social impact, inclusion and territorial development. After the first edition, the program evolves and strengthens its position: not only support for individual projects, but construction of real territorial social infrastructure, capable of generating lasting and scalable impact.
Since today, applications for Third Sector Entities are officially open, wishing to take a path of social innovation and digital transformation. “With Social Innovation Trail we want to accompany the Third Sector along a path of concrete and sustainable growth. Social innovation today also passes by artificial intelligence: tools that, if used with responsibility, can help organizations read better the needs of communities, measure impact and use resources more effectively. Through a impact-driven approach, the program aims to generate solid, scalable and truly financeable projects that attract social investors. In UniCredit we believe that our role is to combine financial skills, technology and social vision to generate a real and lasting change,” said Stefano Gallo, Territorial Development UniCredit Manager.
The first edition of SIT involved 30 Third Sector organisations and led to the development of 7 high-impact projects, which were activated throughout the country. A path that has demonstrated the ability to set up skills, local needs and collaboration between profit and non profit, generating concrete, sustainable and replicable solutions.
The 2026 edition of SIT focuses on the AI for Good paradigm. Artificial Intelligence is not proposed as an end in itself, but as a strategic tool to amplify the social impact, improve the effectiveness of services, strengthen organizational models and make organizations more able to operate in complex and rapidly changing contexts. SIT accompanies the Third Sector bodies in use: aware, because it is based on the real needs of people and territories; ethical, attentive to the themes of data governance and inclusion; value oriented, able to generate social benefits measurable and sustainable over time. Technological innovation becomes community infrastructure, not barrier.
“Digital must have an inclusive vocation: it cannot be content to work but must start the territory in order to promote new economies with social impact, that is systemic,” said Paolo Venturi, Director AICCON Research Center.
The path culminates in Social Investor Day, a key moment in which design is publicly presented and can access funding opportunities and scale-ups.
“Social innovation today requires a paradigm shift: going beyond the financing of individual projects and taking responsibility for the future of a territory together. It means building impact ecosystems, not isolated initiatives, activating skills, technology and strategic alliances. An active territory is not limited to representing its excellence, but creates conditions to generate value over time. With Social Innovation Trail we accompany this step, using AI for Good as a concrete lever to make the impact more sustainable, scalable and adherent to real needs,” said Luciano De Propris, Director ELIS Open Innovation.
– Unicredit press office photos –
(ITALPRESS).
