Suara is a cooperative born in 2008 with a history of almost 40 years.
In 2008 three non-profit social cooperatives decided to stop competing, merge and set up Suara.
We are a social initiative work cooperative, we employ 5.000 people (of which 1.300 are work partners) and 90% women.
More than 230 services. From child care, from preventive services to highly specialized services, people at risk of social exclusion, families, education, occupation and a wide package of services oriented to the elderly from residential services where people live, to home care services.
We are present mainly in Catalonia and offer services to some communities in Spain and Chile.
Social Digital Lab (https://www.suara.coop/en/innovacio) is an innovative concept tailored to the new needs of today’s world, where technological experimentation, research and support for social and digital innovation projects are the cornerstones. It is a user-centric open-innovation platform based on a systematic approach to co-creation, which integrates research and innovation processes in communities and real-life environments.
Our Social Digital Lab emerges as an innovative concept for research, development and innovation, focusing on involving users in all phases of this process, generating a huge potential for the creation of ICT-based products and services, which is why it is necessary to bring all relevant actors (public and private) together in a collaborative approach. We propose a real environment for experimentation in which users and producers jointly create innovations. For this reason:

-We foster entrepreneurship and social innovation.
-We facilitate partnerships with technological and digital startups.
-We generate spaces for co-creation with new methodologies and agile dynamics.
-We partner with knowledge centres, government bodies, social organisations and technological companies.
-We are a pilot test and experimentation bank.
-We support innovation processes, bootcamps and hackathons.