The 12th International Conference ‘Empowerment Entrepreneurship: How Entrepreneurs & Stakeholders Can Build a Sustainable Future’ was held in September, 2 – 5, 2024, in Albena, organized by the Institute of Entrepreneurship and the Chair of Entrepreneurship of the UNWE, the Bulgarian Association for Management Development and Entrepreneurship (BAMDE), in partnership with the University of Economics – Varna, the Institute for Economic Research of the BAS and the European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB), and with the support of the National Science Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science.

 

Assoc. Prof. Kostadin Kolarov, PhD, opens the conference with a brief retrospective of the previous editions

 

Assoc. Prof. Radan Miryanov, PhD, Vice-Rector of the University of Economics – Varna, welcomes the participants in the conference and presents the role of the university in building a sustainable future

 

Keynote speakers at the conference were:

• Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, OBE, Founder, UK Fast Growth 50 Index and the National Startup Awards;
•  Professor Raymond Saner, PhD, International Relations & International Management University of Basle, Switzerland;
• Professor Lichia Saner-Yiu, Co-Founder and President of the Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development (CSEND), Genève, Switzerland, Taiwan, A UN ECOSOC accredited think tank with Special Consultative Status;
• Professor Diego Matricano, PhD, Department of Management, Università degli Studi della Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Chair of SIG Entrepreneurship @ EURAM Conference
• Mr. Aurel Laurentiu Plosceanu, EESC Vice-President for Communications
• Assoc. Professor Milena Angelova, PhD, SME Envoy of Bulgaria, SME Envoys Network, DG GROW, on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Industry.

 

Prof. Dylan Jones-Evans, OBE, at the end of his keynote speech ‘Empowered Entrepreneurship – Engaging the Innovation Ecosystem to Build a Sustainable Future’ shares his tribute to Prof. Kiril Todorov, DSc, founder and longtime chairman of the International Conference on Entrepreneurship

 

Prof. Raymond Saner, PhD, presents his keynote ‘Business Diplomacy for SDG Implementation through Intra- and External Entrepreneurship’

 

 

Prof. Lichia Saner-Yiu presents her keynote ‘Sustainability & Global Supply Chain’

 

Prof. Dr. Diego Matricano presents his keynote ‘Entrepreneurship and Social Development Goals: A relationship worth investigating’

 

Mr. Aurel Laurentiu Plosceanu delivers his keynote speech on ‘The Role of EESC in Support of Sustainable Development’

 

Assoc. Prof. Milena Angelova, PhD, presents her keynote ‘Modern Business Responsibility: Enabling SMEs Transition to Sustainability’

 

Ms. Anelia Zografova, founder and CEO of a large enterprise operating with environmental goals, shares her entrepreneurial experience and her views on the challenges to sustainable development

 

Participants in the plenary session

 

The rest of the participants presented papers covering various aspects of entrepreneurship and sustainable development, which apart from the immediate feedback from the sessions, will be further peer-reviewed with a view to targeting them for publication in journals and books of reputed international publishers.

 

 

Within the framework of the conference, with the kind hosting of the University of Economics – Varna, a workshop was held on the topic ‘How to get published in renowned international journals; the do's and don'ts’, led by Prof. Diego Matricano, PhD, author of more than one hundred publications (papers, monographs, and chapters) focused on entrepreneurial processes, profiles and dynamics, the winner of the Best Book Award 2024 (“Interdisciplinarity in Entrepreneurship” published by Palgrave Macmillan/Springer)  assigned by the European Academy of Management (Bath, June 2024),  Associate Editor for several top-ranked journals and is the Chair of SIG Entrepreneurship at EURAM Conference and Co-coordinator of the Thematic Group “Entrepreneurship” at SIMA – Società Italiana di Management.

 

Participants in the conference before leaving for the University of Economics – Varna

 

With the Vice-Rector for Research and Development of the University of Economics - Varna – Assoc. Prof. Vladimir Dosev, PhD

 

Opening of the workshop led by Prof. Diego Matricano

 

 In this year's edition of the conference, along with the traditional participants, new participants from Bulgaria and abroad played an active role, who confirmed the usefulness of this forum and expressed their interest in participating in the next editions. Among the new participants were prominent scientists such as Prof. Igor Kononenko, DSc, as well as many doctoral students and young scientists.

 

Despite the rich scientific program of the conference, a social program with memorable events was traditionally organized, in the organization of which Dr. Yordanka Stoeva, Chairwoman of the Municipal Council of the town of Shabla, and the opera singer Mr. Vladimir Marinov played a key role. These events contributed to the creation of a friendly atmosphere, encouraging informal communications and the establishment of new academic partnerships.

 

Moments from the cultural program in Shabla and Tyulenovo

 

Before the participants parted

 

The 12th International Conference on Entrepreneuship proved its role in the exchange of new knowledge, research practices and the creation and development of international scientific networks.