The International Consortium for Entrepreneurship Research (ICER), a cross-continental network of five leading academic institutions from Italy and the BRIC countries, organized its First International Conference on "Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation: International Models and Benchmarks" during December 8-10, 2011 at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB).
The ICER Network was established in 2010 with a vision of developing collaboration among like-minded professionals from various countries, starting with the BRIC nations, for research, training, and consultancy on entrepreneurship and related issues, especially in the high-tech sectors. The network has already initiated a major research project among the BRIC nations and Italy with funding support from Fondazione Cariplo. The special focus on the BRIC nations, to begin with, is in recognition of their emergence as major players in the world economy. The international conference, coordinated by Professors Mathew J Manimala and K Kumar in association with partners from BRIC countries and Italy, is the second major initiative of the ICER Network. While the conference was designed to be self-supporting, it received partial funding support from three organizations, namely: Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, University of Essex, UK; Emerald Group Publishing Limited; and Texport Syndicate (India) Limited.
The aim of the ICER-BRIC conference was to bring together academicians, entrepreneurs and policy-makers from various parts of the world to discuss a wide range of issues related to entrepreneurship and policies for supporting new venture creation in BRIC countries and what they can learn from the best practices of other countries. The conference was inaugurated by Dr. Pronab Sen, Principal Advisor to Planning Commission, Government of India. He briefly discussed the various policy initiatives undertaken by the Government of India to promote entrepreneurship at various levels. The presidential address was delivered by Professor Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIM Bangalore.
The three days of the conference were divided into six plenary sessions in the mornings held at IIMB Auditorium, and twenty-four parallel sessions in smaller conference rooms, where the research papers were presented. The plenary sessions were based on keynote speeches delivered by renowned scholars on broad themes of contemporary importance, such as: Institutions and entrepreneurship; Academic partnerships in BRIC countries for entrepreneurship development; Entrepreneurship in clean technologies; Emerging economies and emergent entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship as method; and Ecosystem for entrepreneurship. The keynote speeches were delivered by Professor David Smallbone, Associate Director of Small Business Centre, Kingston University (UK), and President of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB); Professor J Philip, Founding Director and President of XIME Bengaluru; Ms Leena Pishe Thomas, Regional Manager (Bengaluru), European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC); Professor Jay Mitra, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship Research, University of Essex (UK); Professor Saras Sarasvathy, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia (USA); and Professor Daniel Isenberg, Director, Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project (BEEP) at Babson Global (USA).
In addition to the keynote speeches and the discussions on them, there was a plenary panel session on the findings of the BRIC countries entrepreneurship research project, which was led by the five academic partners of the project: Professor Fabio Corno of Milano-Bicocca University (Italy); Professor Renata Lebra La Rovere of Institute of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Professor Elena Pereverzeva of Moscow International Business School (Russia); Professor Mathew J Manimala of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (India); and Professor Daniel W. Lund of Fudan School of Management, Fudan University (China).
The academic papers presented in 24 Parallel Sessions in the two afternoons on the 8th and 9th December added to the conference the flavor of on-going research in the field. A total of 96 papers, selected after rigorous review from among 200-odd papers submitted by scholars from over 30 different countries, were presented in the conference. For the purpose of thematic unity in presentation, these papers were grouped under the following 12 themes: Financial support; Emerging economies; Innovation and R&D; Socio-cultural factors; Social entrepreneurship; Women's entrepreneurship; Rural entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial personality; Entrepreneurship education; Entrepreneurship development; Government policies and programmes; and Enterprise management and performance.
The ICER-BRIC Conference also served as a venue for a book release function for the book titled: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development, authored by Professor Jay Mitra and published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group), UK: 2011. Professor Mathew J Manimala introduced the book and its theme to the audience, and Professor David Smallbone released the book by presenting a copy to Professor Y. K. Bhushan, Senior Advisor and Campus Head of ICFAI Business School, Mumbai, and Vice Chancellor of ICFAI University Meghalaya.
The valedictory function of the conference had two distinguished speakers: Mr. Suman Bose, the Country Managing Director and Vice President for India of Siemens Industry Software Limited spoke on the role and relevance of entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship) in corporate organizations, and Mr Vinay Deshpande, Chairman and CEO of Encore Software Ltd and Managing Trustee of Simputer, spoke on the pleasures and pains of being an ICT entrepreneur. The conference concluded with an award ceremony, where scholars were presented with Best Paper Awards in three categories from among the papers presented in the conference: Best Conceptual Paper, Best Empirical Paper, and Best Case Study. Besides, there was a Special Award for the Best Paper among all the submitted papers.
The International Consortium for Entrepreneurship Research (ICER), a cross-continental network of five leading academic institutions from Italy and the BRIC countries, organized its First International Conference on "Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation: International Models and Benchmarks" during December 8-10, 2011 at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB).
The ICER Network was established in 2010 with a vision of developing collaboration among like-minded professionals from various countries, starting with the BRIC nations, for research, training, and consultancy on entrepreneurship and related issues, especially in the high-tech sectors. The network has already initiated a major research project among the BRIC nations and Italy with funding support from Fondazione Cariplo. The special focus on the BRIC nations, to begin with, is in recognition of their emergence as major players in the world economy. The international conference, coordinated by Professors Mathew J Manimala and K Kumar in association with partners from BRIC countries and Italy, is the second major initiative of the ICER Network. While the conference was designed to be self-supporting, it received partial funding support from three organizations, namely: Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, University of Essex, UK; Emerald Group Publishing Limited; and Texport Syndicate (India) Limited.
The aim of the ICER-BRIC conference was to bring together academicians, entrepreneurs and policy-makers from various parts of the world to discuss a wide range of issues related to entrepreneurship and policies for supporting new venture creation in BRIC countries and what they can learn from the best practices of other countries. The conference was inaugurated by Dr. Pronab Sen, Principal Advisor to Planning Commission, Government of India. He briefly discussed the various policy initiatives undertaken by the Government of India to promote entrepreneurship at various levels. The presidential address was delivered by Professor Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIM Bangalore.
The three days of the conference were divided into six plenary sessions in the mornings held at IIMB Auditorium, and twenty-four parallel sessions in smaller conference rooms, where the research papers were presented. The plenary sessions were based on keynote speeches delivered by renowned scholars on broad themes of contemporary importance, such as: Institutions and entrepreneurship; Academic partnerships in BRIC countries for entrepreneurship development; Entrepreneurship in clean technologies; Emerging economies and emergent entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship as method; and Ecosystem for entrepreneurship. The keynote speeches were delivered by Professor David Smallbone, Associate Director of Small Business Centre, Kingston University (UK), and President of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB); Professor J Philip, Founding Director and President of XIME Bengaluru; Ms Leena Pishe Thomas, Regional Manager (Bengaluru), European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC); Professor Jay Mitra, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship Research, University of Essex (UK); Professor Saras Sarasvathy, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia (USA); and Professor Daniel Isenberg, Director, Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project (BEEP) at Babson Global (USA).
In addition to the keynote speeches and the discussions on them, there was a plenary panel session on the findings of the BRIC countries entrepreneurship research project, which was led by the five academic partners of the project: Professor Fabio Corno of Milano-Bicocca University (Italy); Professor Renata Lebra La Rovere of Institute of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Professor Elena Pereverzeva of Moscow International Business School (Russia); Professor Mathew J Manimala of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (India); and Professor Daniel W. Lund of Fudan School of Management, Fudan University (China).
The academic papers presented in 24 Parallel Sessions in the two afternoons on the 8th and 9th December added to the conference the flavor of on-going research in the field. A total of 96 papers, selected after rigorous review from among 200-odd papers submitted by scholars from over 30 different countries, were presented in the conference. For the purpose of thematic unity in presentation, these papers were grouped under the following 12 themes: Financial support; Emerging economies; Innovation and R&D; Socio-cultural factors; Social entrepreneurship; Women's entrepreneurship; Rural entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial personality; Entrepreneurship education; Entrepreneurship development; Government policies and programmes; and Enterprise management and performance.
The ICER-BRIC Conference also served as a venue for a book release function for the book titled: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development, authored by Professor Jay Mitra and published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group), UK: 2011. Professor Mathew J Manimala introduced the book and its theme to the audience, and Professor David Smallbone released the book by presenting a copy to Professor Y. K. Bhushan, Senior Advisor and Campus Head of ICFAI Business School, Mumbai, and Vice Chancellor of ICFAI University Meghalaya.
The valedictory function of the conference had two distinguished speakers: Mr. Suman Bose, the Country Managing Director and Vice President for India of Siemens Industry Software Limited spoke on the role and relevance of entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship) in corporate organizations, and Mr Vinay Deshpande, Chairman and CEO of Encore Software Ltd and Managing Trustee of Simputer, spoke on the pleasures and pains of being an ICT entrepreneur. The conference concluded with an award ceremony, where scholars were presented with Best Paper Awards in three categories from among the papers presented in the conference: Best Conceptual Paper, Best Empirical Paper, and Best Case Study. Besides, there was a Special Award for the Best Paper among all the submitted papers.