Research Center Events

Social Entrepreneurship Takes Center Stage at 9th Annual Conference

The largest academic conference of its kind, in terms of research paper submissions, NYU Stern’s Ninth Annual Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, organized by the School’s Business & Society Program Area and the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, convened scholars from around the world, as well as practitioners and students, to explore topics in social enterprise, innovation, sustainability and impact.

On November 7-8, academics from leading universities, including NYU Stern, Cambridge, Harvard, INSEAD and Oxford, representing more than 25 countries, shared the latest theory and research on social entrepreneurship and its impact on global communities. Themes included:
• The social entrepreneurship process: opportunity recognition and evaluation
• Organizational forms of social enterprises
• Challenges of scaling and measuring social impact
• Emerging themes in social entrepreneurship education
• Cross-cultural comparative studies in social entrepreneurship
• Research challenges in social entrepreneurship

Conference organizers, Jill Kickul, director of Stern’s Program in Social Entrepreneurship, and Sophie Bacq of Northeastern University, released their new book, Patterns in Social Entrepreneurship Research. In addition, Professor Renee Rottner, presented joint research on “Legal Frictions: Traits and Tensions of the Benefits Corporation and Low-profit LLC.”

On November 9, practitioners and students joined the academics for the “Global Conference for Social Change: Making a Business Case for Sustainability,” held in association with the United Nations and the Foundation for Social Change. See conference highlights, including this year’s Leaders of Change:


Al Gore, co-founder of Generation Investment Management, and Kelly Semrau, SVP Global Affairs of SC Johnson, were also recognized as recipients of the 2012 Leaders of Change Award.

See the Ninth Annual Conference in Social Entrepreneurship Program

Find out more about Stern’s Program in Social Entrepreneurship

Visit Stern’s Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Learn more about Stern’s Business & Society Program Area