Each year, EGOS organizes its annual event that is attended by over 2000 scholars from around the globe. Together with professor Henri Schildt, Head of the Department of Management from Aalto University, Elke Schüßler and Georg Reischauer from the Institute of Organization Science organized the sub-theme “Organizing Innovation and Entrepreneurship in and for a Sustainable Society” at this years’ conference.

The sub-theme attracted 38 submissions from colleagues from institutions such as Copenhagen Business School, ESCP Business School, ESSEC Business School, ESADE Business School, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Montpellier Business School and University of Leeds. 22 papers were accepted for presentation. These covered a range of important topics such as entrepreneurial emancipation among socially deprived women, grassroots innovation to tackle inequality and power in innovation processes, sharing economy business models in developing countries, refugee entrepreneurship, sustainable food supply chains, entrepreneurship for frugal innovation, the circular economy and a reflection of underlying concepts such as innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Several papers hereby discussed how digital technologies can be leveraged to become more sustainable. Examples were papers on sharing economy business models for elderly people, emergence of digital forms of organization in established organizations, dynamics of knowledge flows in online communities, and platforms that foster empowering data practices.

As many conferences these days, the Covid-19 crisis required a fully virtual format instead of the original venue Hamburg. All authors were asked to record their presentations in advance so as to keep the synchronous time focused on discussion. The intensive virtual discussions allowed participants to improve their work and connect. Overall, the sub-theme showcased the JKU BUS competence in the research priorities “Digital Transformation” and “Sustainable Development: Responsible Technologies & Management” and the idea of the “Entrepreneurial University” to a broader international audience.

Aside from organizing the sub-theme, Elke Schüßler also organized the Pre-Colloquium Post-Doctoral & Early Career Scholars Workshop together with colleagues from Hebrew University Jerusalem and Copenhagen Business School. This year’s workshop focused on how to develop a meaningful and sustainable career path in academia. Early scholars were invited to reflect on their current and aspired CVs, and to discuss tensions in shaping their career paths together with leading organizational and management scholars from around the world.