INTERNATiONAL CONFERENCE

"FOSTERING AND SCALING SOCIAL INNOVATION IN ASIA"

November 10 & 11, 2017

National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam

Social entrepreneurship, social innovation and social enterprises are emerging as a worldwide phenomenon in the field of both research and business practices. Social enterprises are recognized in the new Enterprise Law 2015. The period of 2016 – 2020 is considered as a 5-year period of the startup nation by Vietnamese Government.

Since 2012, National Economics University has been a target partner of British Council in integrating social entrepreneurship into research and teaching activities in Vietnam. 3 conferences, 2 of which were about social innovation and social entrepreneurship in 2015 and 2016, were co-organized by National Economics University and British Council. Especially, the conference in 2016 inspired many international scholars to submit papers and give presentation in the conference.

In 2017, National Economics University founded Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CSIE) with the support from British Council Vietnam, which is the first research center in this field in Vietnam. The center’s mission is to develop social innovation and social entrepreneurship in the region.

Asia has a strong development potential, adding to that, East Asia and South-East Asia has been currently the most powerful development areas in social entrepreneurship, with legal framework, policies, investment and support activities for social enterprises, especially with the integration of these into teaching in the undergraduate and graduate programs in East and South-East Asia countries such as Korea, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines,… Although each country has a different approach to social innovation and social enterprises, they are sharing a mutual understanding, same characteristics of Asian social enterprises areas, similar lessons in developing an ecosystem for social innovation and social enterprises, specifically in policy making, social enterprise governance, relationship between social enterprise areas and sustainable development goals, and experiences in developing training programs on social innovation in universities.

The conference is a forum for policy makers, scholars, social entrepreneurs, experts, and organizations to discuss, interact and set up a beneficial network for the startup ecosystem and social innovation in general for Asia and Vietnam.

This year, National Economics University represented by its Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in cooperation with British Council Vietnam, University of Northampton to organise its 3^rd annual international conference “Fostering and Scaling Social Innovation in Asia”. The conference is a forum for policy makers, scholars, social entrepreneurs, experts, organizations and young people to discuss, interact and set up a beneficial network for the startup ecosystem and social innovation for Asia and Vietnam.