Guest post: Social Innovation in Austria and Ukraine“
Guest post written by Mag. Karina Brechko (Sunlife) After coming to Graz, I wanted to find out how the Austrians worked in the social business….
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A great success – in every aspect!
That was a great evening! We welcomed around 120 guests at Social Business Meet & Greet – We celebrate the entrepreneurship of the future!, the first major networking event of the Styrian social business scene at UNICORN Startup & Innovation Hub on 23 November 2022. After a short welcome by the Social Business Hub Styria Board duo Kirsten Tangemann and Rüdiger Wetzl-Piewald, the program started straight away. The cornerstones of the events were two panel discussions. The first focused on the questions of how the Styrian social entrepreneurship landscape has developed in recent years and what the forecasts for the future look like. In the next panel discussion, we explored the question of what the term “social” means for business.
The podium welcomed the Minister for Economic Affairs Barbara Eibinger-Miedl, City Councilor for Economics and Culture Günter Riegler , Günter Leitner (Managing Director Regional Management Murau/Murtal ), Constanze Stockhammer (Managing Director SENA – Social Entrepreneurship Network Austria ) and Walburga Fröhlich (Managing Director atempo ), Christoph Schreiner (CEO of niceshops GmbH ), Katharina Schellnegger (culture manager and sustainability officer styriarte ) and Johnny Ertl (ex-professional soccer player, nature ambassador and TV presenter). During the two discussions, the panelists repeatedly emphasized the important role, that social entrepreneurs have for the economy of the future and in addition to that committed people with the right ideas and motivation, contact points with know-how and networks such as the Social Business Hub Styria are also needed to grow this sector.
The audience also listened to the two lectures by SENA Managing Director Constanze Stockhammer and Arijit Paul from the ISIS Institute at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz with great interest. In her presentation, Constanze Stockhammer reported on the new option – and one that is promising for social enterprises – of registering as a “Verified Social Enterprise”. This achievement is a milestone for the further development of social entrepreneurship. After a few introductory words, Arijit Paul showed an entertaining video to explain the platform ELANET – The European Latin America Network in Support of Social Entrepreneurs, which provides networking for social entrepreneurs at international level.
Rüdiger Wetzl-Piewald and Kirsten Tangemann provided information about the programmes and the work of the Social Business Hub Styria and that evening brought three young entrepreneurs in front of the curtain who are currently in our Social & Green Business Impact Incubation Program. This time, too, Jasmin Dhanani and Jürgen Neubauer from artSIP , Hannes Etzelsdorfer from cyclebee and Elisabeth Flik from Papperlapapp-Spielwelten were able to inspire everyone with their products and applications.
Our guests used the subsequent part of the event to network!
A full house and lots of enthusiastic feedback give us the good feeling that we have taken the topic of social entrepreneurship a step further in public. Many thanks to all participants and guests, our cooperation partners and sponsors (ELANET, Erste Bank Foundation)! We are already looking forward to the next event!
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