Social economies, community wealth and applied research

This paper examines a 10-year engagement between Queen’s University and social enterprises involved in urban regeneration in inner-city Belfast. Resisting growth-centred local development and broad neoliberal modes of planning, the work aimed to support an alternative community wealth building approach, centred primarily on a network of asset-based social enterprises. The programme consists of applied research, market and sectoral analysis, project evaluation and social return and local multiplier methods aimed primarily at community businesses. However, it also developed conceptual, comparative and best practice analysis to argue for a stronger regulatory, financial and skills environment to help scale the social economy. Conscious of a distinct ‘local trap’ in places characterised by weak demand, lack of cash and poor access to capital, the research sought to strengthen the wider ecosystem for community wealth building. For example, a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) aimed to strengthen innovation and market diversification, but also placed pressures on social enterprises concerned about their tradition, value base and commitment to neighbourhood. Here, the paper reflects on tensions within and between the community and researchers and the need for an ethic of objectivity to challenge understandings, assumptions and demands of neighbourhood groups and in particular, social enterprises. The analysis concludes by reflecting on the value of university-led research partnership; the need to integrate research with education and capacity building; effective governance models; and for better engagement skills among researchers as well as the researched.