GERN Explores New Research Questions Ahead of GEC Medellín

In the approach to the Global Entrepreneurship Research Network annual meeting, GERN has sought to explore important entrepreneurship research themes, particularly those around unaddressed – or less than thoroughly addressed – questions about entrepreneurial dynamics. Because GERN’s objectives for its third annual meeting, held as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, include inspiring new research collaborations, it has focused recent conversations on key research themes.



In January, Mariano Mayer, who heads Argentina’s small and medium business authority, Victor Mulas, an innovation specialist at the World Bank and Luis Bettencourt of the Santa Fe Institute, led a discussion around questions involved in developing entrepreneurial cities.



In December, Robin Chase, the co-founder of ZipCar, and Usman Ahmed of PayPal explored the many implications that digital platforms are having on entrepreneurial opportunities and business models. For more information about this call, and other recent GERN activities, see the January 6, 2016, GEN newsletter.



Other previous calls looked at studying the effectiveness of innovative policy experiments, the elements that lead to entrepreneurship ecosystem development (led by Professor Daniel Isenberg) and the critical factors of high-growth firms, which is now the subject of a joint GERN/World Bank study.



GERN’s last call before its annual meeting will focus on financial services and entrepreneurship, and will feature Mike Kubzansky of the Omidyar Foundation and PayPal’s Ahmed. To join us for a substantive discussion at the intersection of financing and entrepreneurial activity, contact Peter Komives at peter@gern.co.