Conference: the Social and Solidarity Economy

About the conference

The University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður, will hold a conference and a workshop, called
“the Social and Solidarity Economy” (SSE), in Ísafjörður on August 24 th and 25 th . The participants in
the workshop, which will be held on August 24 th will be handpicked, but the conference, which will
be held the day after, is open for everyone.

The organization of modern society is often thought to be formed by three main goals: 1.) profit
maximation, 2.) enterprises that are owned and run by the state and, 3.) NGO´s, aid agencies, non-profit
enterprises, co-operatives, voluntary groups and other organizations that work for social and
environmental reform in the society through businesses and production of various products and
services that are based on cooperation, solidarity, ethics and democratic governance.
Synonym for all these last-named organizations is called “Social and Solidarity Economy” (SSE).

NGOs, non-profit organisations and other similar voluntary groups have always been around in most
countries of the world and can be found today in businesses such as industry, education, welfare and
health services, financial and insurance service, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, technological
companies, power plants, arts, culture, mass media and more.
Little is known of the scope of these activities in Iceland, but many NGO´s and non-profit
organizations have played a major role for many years in the Icelandic society within all kinds of
services, fighting for the cause of various groups and contributing to democratic discussions in the
communities.

The conference/workshop will focus in particular on possibilities and opportunities that the SSE has
to offer people living in the scattered settlements around Iceland. We will be assisted by some
Icelandic speakers as well as people from Denmark, Norway and Italy who will be telling us about
interesting SSE´s projects that has been implemented in their countries.

Schedule

Here you can see the preliminary schedule for the conference. Please note that the schedule could change.

Call for papers

Announced at a later time

Sign up and pricing

Workshop (Saturday, invited guests)
Registration needed for estimating lunch/coffee. No registration fee
Light lunch at UW and coffee included. 
Common dinner, restaurant t.b.a., paid individually

Symposum (Sunday)
Registration needed for estimating lunch/coffee. No registration fee
Common lunch at Tjöruhús fish restaurant, paid individually

Accomodation and transport

For accommodation please look up options at Visit Westfjords

International Flights: If you are making travel arrangements from abroad there are several airlines flying to Iceland. All of them arrive at Keflavik International Airport. The international airport is located approximitely 50 km away from Reykjavík, Icelands capital.

Airport shuttle Keflavik - Reykjavík: You can travel by coach/bus to and from Keflavik Airport. The trip from the airport terminal to Reykjavík downtown takes approximately 45 minutes. You can buy the tickets and find further details on the websites of the coach/bus companies.

Domestic Flights: From Reykjavik Domestic Airport you can fly with Air Iceland Connect to Ísafjörður which takes about 35 minutes.