The awards organized every year by the SERES Foundation distinguish the actions that create value for society and enterprise. They also recognize the ideas that help to empower corporate social action by publicizing the real-life cases rolled out by different companies and by motivating other companies to get involved in a process that generates value for society and business alike.

At the prize-giving ceremony, the president of the SERES Foundation, Francisco Román, put a particular emphasis on “the importance of creating a sustainable world in which assets are shared to achieve value. Corporate Social Responsibility lies in the possibility of solving social problems while at the same time creating a healthily competitive environment for everyone.” The president of the SERES Foundation was accompanied by the members of the Executive Committee.

Ana Sainz, the general manager of the SERES Foundation, stated that “these awards allow us to think on a bigger scale. It is crucial to establish goals – not only to implement programmes but also to consolidate the figure of leader (senior management) as a key element in cultural change in order to transmit their responsible vision to the rest of the organization and achieve more successful companies that strive for excellence.”

The SERES Awards (Responsible Society and Enterprise) recognize the strategic and innovative projects that transform society and generate solutions through collective work, helping to create value and solve social problems. Fundación Telefónica was recognized for its “Everbody Included” employment project which is intended to improve young people’s inclusion in the labour market. Now in their sixth edition, the awards also recognized Batec Mobility, Clínica Rementería and Fundación La Caixa.

The winning companies of the SERES Awards 2015

Fundación Telefónica was recognized for its “Everbody Included” project, an initiative to improve employment opportunities for young people through educational, social and cultural projects adapted to the challenges of the digital world. “All Inclusive” provides a response to the problem of unemployment, which is particularly high among young people, and helps to generate opportunities based on three key cornerstones: entrepreneurship, training and employability, and breaching the digital divide, which to a large extent are achieved thanks to the ‘Educational Challenge’ project.

Educational Challenge was designed with the dual objective of exploring the world of social innovation to identify the most effective initiatives that help to increase science and technology vocations and skills, and to promote Spain’s involvement in initiatives with greater efficiency and potential, examples being Jump Math and Apps for Good. The results of the international research to identify these innovations are reflected in the report “Top 100 Educational Innovations.”

This is the second SERES Award won by Fundación Telefónica. In 2011 it was recognized for its commitment to underprivileged people and groups at risk of social exclusion, specifically for its social work in the Proniño programme which fights to eradicate child labour in Latin America.

Batec Mobility won the award for its Batec handbike, a traction system that is fitted in a matter of seconds and allows a manual wheelchair to be used indoors on easy surfaces as well as outdoors over long distances and challenging terrain. Pau Bach, who has been tetraplegic since the age of 18, was the inventor of this device and the founder of the company in which 50% of the staff belong to the collective at which its products are targeted. The project, a benchmark in innovative aids, achieved sales of 0.6 million euros in 2012, 1 million in 2014 and 2 million in 2014. It has grown by 58% in Spain and 769% abroad. In one year, exports have increased to representing 42% of turnover.

Clínica Rementería won the award for its work on the research, prevention and treatment of ocular diseases in people with limited resources. Clínica Rementería has collaborated in a corporate volunteer programme for the last 15 years in Tindouf (Algeria) and in the Mangola Valley (Tanzania). It is also involved in the San Antonio Dispensary and with Cáritas and the Pharmacists’ Association in providing free ophthalmological healthcare to people without resources. These initiatives have reached 16,451 beneficiaries, with 100% of the team being involved in the national projects and 50% in international projects.

Another initiative distinguished by the SERES Awards is the Incorpora programme of Fundación La Caixa, which promotes the occupational integration of people with particular difficulties in accessing the labour market as a means of preventing social exclusion. Between 2006 and 2014, Incorpora has facilitated more than 86,000 contracts, involving some 33,729 companies.