Highlands and Islands Enterprise is delighted to announce it’s sponsorship of the Social Enterprise Exchange event at the SECC in Glasgow.

The Social Enterprise Exchange 2012 is the result of an exciting partnership, which brings together the two leading social enterprise events in the UK and Scotland respectively:  Voice and S2S.  This unique initiative between Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) and Social Enterprise Scotland, delivered in partnership with CEiS, will create the world’s largest social enterprise event in 2012.

The name Social Enterprise Exchange signifies what the event seeks to achieve:

• A business exchange with a focus on trading by and with social enterprises
  
• An exchange of best practice and practical experience between Scotland, the UK and the world
  
• An exchange of leading-edge ideas and policy thinking on social enterprise

In 2011, Voice had 130 exhibitors and over 1300 delegates, while S2S had over 100 exhibitors and 600 participants.  Year-on-year, both events attract not only hundreds of social enterprise participants, but also organisations and individuals from across the charity, public and private sectors, from senior cabinet ministers to small voluntary groups, from local authority leaders to private sector buyers.

Social Enterprise UK and Social Enterprise Scotland believe that bringing these two events together will build on this collective track record to create the most visible, well attended and talked-about social enterprise event of the year in 2012.

HIE’s sponsorship package includes the opportunity for social enterprises from Highlands and Islands to have a stand at the exhibition free of charge.  8 stands are available as follows:

• 3x2m exhibition stands (includes 1 delegate ticket per stand)
• 2x2m exhibition stands (includes 1 delegate ticket per stand)

Travel bursaries for those wishing to take up the opportunity of a free stand will be available.
To register your interest in an exhibition stand, please contact:  fiona.robb@hient.co.uk 
For further details of the exhibition please go to: www.socialenterpriseexchange.com