The European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA) in Berlin announces its 2007 State of the World Week on Social Entrepreneurship. A limited number of places is available for external students. Please see below for further information.

Broadly put, ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ refers to initiatives with two goals in mind: they seek to fill a social need which is not being met by the State or by private enterprise, and to be financially self-sustaining. Social Entrepreneurship can include work in a wide range of fields, including health, education, and cultural production. There is much debate about what counts as Social Entrepreneurship, about its future potential as an economic model, and its historical significance.

A forum for inquiry into current affairs, the State of the World Week at ECLA (SWWE) in 2007 is built on a set of morning lectures by speakers that will share their experience in the field and offer political, sociological and philosophical analysis, and on a project incubator in the afternoon, that will bring together students, faculty and speakers to work in groups on social entrepreneurship projects proposed by students prior to the beginning of the week. A jury will award the best group project with a prize at the end of the week.

Invited speakers include Johanna Mair (Management, IESE Business School Barcelona). Nir Tsuk (Director of Global Fellowships, Ashoka), Krzysztof Stanowski (Social Entrepreneur, Warsaw), Adam Davis (Philosopher, University of Chicago), and Paola Grenier (Sociologist, London School of Economics).

In addition to ECLA’s academic community, SWWE draws on participation from ECLA alumni and students from other institutions. A limited number of places is available for external students. There is no registration fee, but students will have to pay for their travel costs, and will be asked to make a small contribution for food and accommodation costs. If you would like to apply, please send a short email to Catherine Toal (C.Toal@ecla.de) or to Rafael Ziegler (R.Ziegler@ecla.de) that briefly explains your reasons for wishing to participate. Is there a social problem that you propose to address with a project? You should also attach a short CV. The deadline for applications is 1 April 2007. Applicants will be notified in the first half of April.