Social Entrepreneurship Summit 2024
Strategies for Stronger Social Impact
28th – 29th August
Sofia, Bulgaria & Online
Host: University of National and World Economy
The Social Entrepreneurship Summit (SES) is an event that brings together individuals from various sectors such as academia, business, government, and social entrepreneurship to collaboratively address some of society’s most challenging issues. The summit aims to foster collaboration and provide hands-on support to social entrepreneurs and other ecosystem partners. SES is powered by ELANET, an international university centred ecosystem in support of social entrepreneurs, https://www.elanet-se.org/
The 2024 Social Entrepreneurship Summit comes for the first time to Europe and will be hosted by the University of National and World Economy in Sofia. After 5 successful editions, the summit has attracted the interest of over 1000 participants from around the world, including those attending in person and online. Our most recent summit was held in Cartagena, Colombia with more than 100 participants attending from different countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and Latin America. Alongside the summit, we also host the Social Entrepreneurship Fair, a parallel event that provides local social entrepreneurs with an opportunity to showcase their projects, sell their products, exchange ideas with participants, and receive feedback on how to further develop their ventures while increasing their impact.
We are proud to present the SES2024 edition “Strategies for Stronger Social Impact”. We look forward to engaging with academics and practitioners in discussing different micro, meso, and macro-level elements, processes, resources, and actors required to design and implement suitable strategies to maximize social impact. In our current times, where we are facing the post covid global shock, and amidst several international conflicts, this topic has become quite relevant and sound. This summit will open the space for debating and constructing ideas on how to develop further ecosystems that can support more sustainable, resilient and longslasting business models of social enterprises.
SES2024 A Hybrid Conference in different Languages
Over the past years, we have been able to offer the possibility to participants to attend the summit online. This has made our event more accessible to participants who prefer(or can not) attend the event physically, opening the possibility to have within our communities attendees who would not have joined otherwise.
Our event is primarily in English. However, we also offer the possibility to run this conference in different languages depending on the selected city for the event. It has been the case (in previous editions) that this summit has offered the possibility to receive submissions in Spanish. In 2024, this summit will be:
* Onsite (English and Bulgarian)
* Online (English, Bulgarian, and Spanish).
Who can participate?
- Academics with research interest on Social Entrepreneurship;
- University leaders (International Relations, Outreach, Community Engagement) with the main interest in the relationship between the university and local communities;
- Students and professionals, with interest in social entrepreneurship;
- Social entrepreneurs and business representatives, currently working on all type of projects with a social or environmental impact;
- Business leaders and practitioners with connections to Social Entrepreneurship and CSR;
- Policymakers and other government agencies;
- NGO’s and other organizations with social/environmental projects;
- Leaders from incubators, accelerators, coworking spaces, and innovation.
What can you expect from this summit?
By attending the Social Entrepreneurship Summit, you can expect to:
* Gain inspiration from a range of presentations by academics, students, business leaders, government officials, social entrepreneurs, and other key stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem;
* Build long-lasting connections and explore new avenues for creating sustainable solutions, drawing on the knowledge and experience of other participants;
* Receive valuable feedback on your current social entrepreneurship projects and ideas, helping you to refine your approach and increase your impact.
* Acquire new knowledge and skills to take your social entrepreneurship initiatives to the next level, with innovative and effective ideas for creating positive change in your community and beyond.
What are the main topics?
* New approaches to Social Entrepreneurship: Exploring new frameworks and paradigms;
* Social Innovation and Societal Impact;
* Ecosystems for Social Enterprises: governance, organization, strategies, policies;
* Measuring Social Impact: Methodologies and tools for evaluating impact.
* Cross-Sector Collaborations: Partnerships for social change, including public-private partnerships.
* Policy and Social Entrepreneurship: Governmental strategies and regulatory environments.
* Case Studies and Success Stories: Real-world examples of impactful strategies.
* Technology and Social Innovation: Leveraging digital tools for social good including the new developments in Artificial intelligence;
* Scaling and Sustainability: Approaches for growing social ventures sustainably.
* Social Impact in Emerging Economies: Unique challenges and opportunities.
* Social Economy in Europe: challenges and opportunities, including its potential in EU candidate members.
* Social Entrepreneurship Education: Internationalisation, academic perspectives, and curriculum development.
* Work integration social enterprises: opportunities to address most pressing EU challenges and opportunities during crises
This is not an exhaustive list of topics. Therefore, we will welcome any other submission on topics related to Social Entrepreneurship.
What are the participation styles?
Academic Presentation: We welcome all types of scientific research, including literature reviews, conceptual papers, case studies, and qualitative/quantitative research.
University Initiatives Presentation: Universities are invited to showcase their exemplary cases on how to support/stimulate social entrepreneurship through teaching, research, or outreach activities
Practitioner’s Presentation: We welcome social enterprises, practitioners and government officials to share their ideas and experience on the topic, by presenting their cases, best practices and discuss their challenges with a broader audience to create awareness, establish new connections, and receive feedback;
Round Table Debates: Proposals are welcome to open up debates on challenging topics in the support of social entrepreneurship.
Abstracts of 1,000 words are required for all submissions, which should mention one of the above types and elaborate on proposed ideas. Both English and Bulgarian presentations are welcome, with a clear presentation of preference. All submissions will be subject to peer review.
Publication opportunities
Selected papers will be considered for publication in a special issue in the Economic Alternatives Journal. For more information about the journal, please visit this link: https://www.unwe.bg/eajournal/en/journalissues/list/180)
Tickets
Onsite Participation
- General admission: 150 Eur
- Student: 100 Eur
- Social Entrepreneurs: 100 Eur
Online Participation
- General admission: 40 Eur
- Student: 25 Eur
- Social Entrepreneurs: 25 Eur
Sponsors
- Sponsor ticket: 500 Eur
Please note that there will be no refunds in case you are registered for onsite participation but decide for whatever reason to participate online.
Important dates #SES2024
Abstract Submission Deadline: May 5, 2024
Notification of Acceptances: June 5, 2024
Deadline for Registrations: August 1, 2024
Summit Dates: 28 and 29 August, 2024
Submission platform
Submissions will be handled via the Easychair System. Please follow this link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ses2024
Contact information
Prof. Dr. Nikolay A. Dentchev
Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, University of National and World Economy (Bulgaria) & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
nikolay.dentchev@unwe.bg
+359 895 883 855
Dr. Abel Diaz Gonzalez
Assistant Professor, School of Business and Economics
Maastricht University (The Netherlands)
abel.diazgonzalez@maastrichtuniversity.nl
+32 484 413091
