FONDAZIONE GIACOMO BRODOLINI SRL SB

Their core work

Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini is an Italian social research and policy consultancy that specializes in labor market analysis, social policy evaluation, and gender equality in institutional settings. They conduct applied research on working conditions, in-work poverty, and the emerging platform economy, translating findings into policy recommendations and institutional change tools. Their work bridges academic social science with practical interventions for governments, employers, and civil society organizations across Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 involvement (2017) centered on institutional gender equality — auditing organizations and building reflexive learning processes for transformation. From 2019 onward, they shifted decisively toward labor market precarity: first examining platform workers and the gig economy (PLUS), then broadening to in-work poverty and EU social rights frameworks (WorkYP). The trajectory shows a move from internal organizational change toward systemic labor policy questions at the European level.

They are moving toward larger-scale European social policy research on working poverty and digital labour, suggesting future projects will focus on fair work, platform regulation, and social safety nets.

How they like to work

Fondazione Brodolini operates exclusively as a consortium participant, never as coordinator, suggesting they contribute specialized social research and policy analysis expertise rather than managing projects. With 40 unique partners across 19 countries from just 3 projects, they consistently join large, pan-European consortia — averaging over 13 partners per project. This makes them an experienced team player comfortable navigating large multi-country research collaborations.

Despite only 3 projects, they have built a remarkably wide network of 40 partners across 19 countries, indicating participation in large pan-European consortia with strong geographic diversity rather than repeated partnerships with the same organizations.

What sets them apart

Fondazione Brodolini combines the rigour of an applied research institute with the flexibility of a private social enterprise (SRL SB — società benefit). Their dual expertise in gender equality transformation and labour precarity research is uncommon — most organizations specialize in one or the other. For consortium builders, they offer an Italian partner with deep European policy networks and a track record in participatory, bottom-up research methodologies.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WorkYP
  Their largest project (EUR 195K, nearly 4x their other grants), addressing in-work poverty — a politically salient topic tied directly to the European Pillar of Social Rights.
• PLUS
  Tackled the intersection of platform economy and urban welfare — a timely topic as EU platform work regulation gained momentum during the project period.
• TARGET
  Focused on reflexive institutional transformation for gender equality, providing practical audit and self-assessment tools rather than purely academic outputs.