July 5-7, 2023 at UQAM’s School of Management campus in downtown Montreal

The Georges Doriot Days : Why?
Every two years, the Georges Doriot Days are an opportunity to put three strong principles into practice:
– Practical intelligence: entrepreneurship is a field where interweaving academic thinking and practices is necessary and fruitful.
– A transdisciplinary vocation: the Doriot days make it possible to approach entrepreneurial phenomena from various lenses: managerial, legal, psychological, historical, etc. In addition to management sciences, the Doriot Days are open to experts in economics, legal sciences, cognitive sciences and more broadly, in humanities and social sciences.
– The relationship between entrepreneurship and society: the Doriot days wish to put emphasis on entrepreneurship as an agent of social transformation, not reducing it to the mere creation of wealth.

(Read more here)

If you ask the average entrepreneur what lessons or skills they have learned and developed over the past year, one answer comes up again: ZOOM (a.k.a. flexibility.) There is no flexibility in the modern business world without a digital presence. The tools exist for small businesses to create an online, global platform that can work towards various societal needs with very few input resources. The future of education is digital, and tying your business’s investment in digital presence to skills training or other educational opportunities is a brilliant, cost-effective way of growing your footprint.

COVID-19 and the resulting changes to the day-to-day operations of millions of people worldwide have accelerated this shift toward digital infrastructure and technological competency.  At ICSB, we believe that this transition to a more global and digitally connected environment provides opportunities for all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and sustainable entrepreneurs to increase their knowledge and to network through a collection of digital conferences.

We want to emphasize that while the potential value of digital conferences and the broader expansion of technological advancement, in-person meetings, and opportunities to meet and socialize remain the ideal for a robust exchange of information and perspectives. However, in a world that continually asks us to adapt, we must continue to be ready to do so.

One of the main attractions of a digital conference is location neutrality. Conferences can be hosted from wherever, and it becomes exponentially easier for distant parties to attend events that would ordinarily have been very difficult in regular times. This approach also centers on disabled actors and other parties that require a different set of accommodations. When we say we want to build a more equitable and just world, these are some of the more minor, more complicated things we must pay attention to.

Additionally, a digital conference’s environmental impact is a fraction of the average ecological costs of long-distance travel and other amenities of an in-person function. We must emphasize sustainability and consider expenses that we have historically ignored.

While this age of digital conferences and events is relatively new, there are ways to maximize your event’s effectiveness. As Lawton (2020) writes, some of the key considerations include:

1. Timetabling of speakers should be optimized to account for the different time zones in which speakers and participants are located.
2. Presenters should be taught how to use the software before the conference, including optimizing their environment, lighting, positioning, and digital broadcast clothing.
3. Audience participation via asking questions and voting in polls is essential to keep the audience engaged and scrutinizing presented material.
4. Technological failures are distracting and time-consuming. A dedicated team should be assigned to troubleshoot and make contingency plans when the issue cannot be resolved.
5. Decide how recorded content will be made available and whether this will be restricted to registered participants or open to a broader audience.

The details will change according to the specifics of certain events. Still, we believe a foundation emphasizing preparedness, audience engagement, and technological competency is a definite beginning as we evolve our practices to meet the times’ challenges. Additionally, we believe incorporating these strategies will create a special and unique experience that does not merely look to replicate the features of a traditional, in-person event. Digital conferences and circumstances are individual and offer their pros and cons.

We believe we must lean into these challenges if we want to continue to succeed.

Entrepreneurship Education sits as the cornerstone of creating socially and environmentally conscious entrepreneurs. When we imagine the future of humane entrepreneurship, it includes empowered employees and well-educated entrepreneurs making intelligent decisions to heal the environment and benefit the world. To enable entrepreneurs to make these changes we envision, we must educate them on the issues that truly matter, such as integrating social entrepreneurship with sustainable entrepreneurship and employing business practices that protect our planet, communities, and future generations.

First, we must consider the significance of climate change and the role that government officials and entrepreneurs play in preventing further damage to the planet. Although governments are making changes to reduce negative environmental impacts, we are still concerned about whether profitability and sustainability coexist. We must educate all stakeholders about climate risk and their duty to promote sustainability in response to this. As observed by Dr. Mariya Yesseleva-Pionka, Global Certificates Manager for ICSB and adjunct professor at the University of Technology Sydney, “With every new business venture comes a great responsibility for making climate-friendly decisions.” Therefore, we must continue developing and supporting eco-friendly solutions such as green start-ups, fin-techs, and sustainability reporting and educate entrepreneurs on properly implementing SDGs and sustainable business practices. It is imperative to note that long-term profits will not matter if the planet deteriorates due to climate change.

This sustainability education is inherently tied to education about social entrepreneurship, as both of these entrepreneurial approaches target issues on a human and environmental level. Although there exists an increasing amount of research on social entrepreneurial intention (SEI), or the motivation of entrepreneurs to build new social enterprises, we still lack knowledge about different SEI antecedents, such as personality, cognition, and experience, as well as variables moderating antecedent-SEI relationships, including economic and social influences. According to Dr. Phillipp Kruse, a scientific staff member at the Dresden University of Technology, the solution to these research issues lies in examining SEI in countries with different cultures and economic situations and developing a validated instrument with which to measure SEI. Additionally, social entrepreneurship educators must include more psychological input in university courses to strengthen participants’ motivational ties to social entrepreneurship.

With entrepreneurial learners’ power to change the future of business and the environment, we owe them the best education, educators, research, and settings. We must listen inclusively to these learners’ and new and small businesses’ voices. Dr. Norris Krueger, the Senior Research Fellow at the College of Doctoral Studies, UOPX & Entrepreneurship Northwest, stated, “Students are our secret weapon. In terms of learning and educating, especially in the ecosystem.” To provide entrepreneurial learners with the best resources, we must shift from top-down systems to bottom-up, from institutions to people, and from hierarchies to networks. Inclusivity and active listening are the keys to discovering what our entrepreneurial students need to flourish, improve their communities, and shape the future of humane entrepreneurship. In educating entrepreneurs and stakeholders on their sustainable responsibilities, increasing students’ ties to social entrepreneurship at the university level, and providing high-quality, comprehensive education, we grant entrepreneurs the tools necessary to implement safer business practices and create long-term, positive change for our environment, communities, and ways of life.