Europe’s unique Conference on Entrepreneurship is successfully hosted in Luxembourg
The EIASM/ECSB RENT Conference (Research in Entrepreneurship and Small Business) is firmly established as the premier entrepreneurship research conference in Europe. In 2014, the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance of the University of Luxembourg and the Chamber of Commerce hosted this event in the context of their joint Business Education Partnership. It took place at the Chamber of Commerce from November 19 to 21 and attracted more than 165 leading academics from all over the world.
With the theme “Entrepreneurial endeavours: a profusion of research, policy and practitioner practices”, the conference offered to leading academics in this field the possibility to present and debate leading edge research in a wide variety of entrepreneurship related topics.
An extensive program gave interesting opportunities for academics to debate topics such as international entrepreneurship, strategic entrepreneurship, family business as well as a range of presentations relating to financial entrepreneurship. A doctoral workshop and a policy workshop on the topic of “SME Financing for Innovation and Growth” was held on November 19. In the evening, the opening reception took place at the Philharmonie where guests from all over the world were welcomed by Marc Hansen, Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research, and members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Faculty of Law Economics and Finance.
On November 20, a panel debate occurred on the topic “Entrepreneurship Inquiry in 2020: Critical Questions and Future Challenges”. The plenary speaker Professor Martin Ruef of the Duke University made his presentation about the “Institutional Change and Entrepreneurship: From the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age”.
These three days of knowledge about entrepreneurship were a great exchange for researchers and educators. Academics were able to present their research and discuss their findings with other experts. The Chamber of Commerce and the University of Luxembourg will continue to support education and knowledge exchange initiatives in the future relating to entrepreneurship and innovation.