Today, we kicked off the first PhD course for the seizmic MSCA doctoral network “Scaling, Publishing, and Core Competencies in Social Entrepreneurship”. 

The day began with a project meeting, where doctoral candidates and supervisors introduced themselves, Work Packages (WPs) were presented, and project deliverables, budgets, co-publishing opportunities, and more were discussed. 
 
After a welcome lunch, Professor Kai Hockerts, initiator of the seizmic project, led an engaging session exploring the core definitions and boundaries of social entrepreneurship, setting the stage for our interdisciplinary exploration of how to scale social entrepreneurship. We discussed the origins of as well as differences and commonalities between entrepreneurship, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship. For instance, reflecting on how social entrepreneurship is driven by value creation rather than value capture. 
 
The afternoon continued with a session on sustainable business model research, delivered by one of the leading experts on this topic, Professor Florian Lüdeke-Freund, introducing key concepts and foundational literature. Building elegantly on the previous session, we for example explored how business model design can help unlock the value creation potential of social innovation, and examined the overarching sustainable value creation functions. 
 
Our day concluded with a social dinner, providing an opportunity to connect informally and build relationships across the seizmic network. A fantastic start to an exciting week of learning, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing within the seizmic MSCA doctoral network!