From international student startup competitions to an impactful research pillar – The main focus of the Danube Cup international collaboration is on entrepreneurship education at different levels of teaching and research. The goal was to publish the outputs of successful research and best practices in written form, thus promoting the sharing of knowledge.
The concept of university-centred entrepreneurial ecosystems (‘entrepreneurial universities’) has a long history. The model encourages universities to cooperate with the local/regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and, especially, to help university students and staff bring their innovations to the market. There is a vast literature on the concept of entrepreneurial university. All models emphasise that creating entrepreneurial universities is a long process, lasting several years, where adaptability and flexibility are key. The activity counts for international accreditation: e.g. for the Business School Impact System (EFMD).
The Danube Cup network of universities along the river Danube is committed to quality in entrepreneurship and start-up education, to facilitating knowledge sharing among instructors and researchers and to promoting international cooperation. After several successful student start-up competitions had taken place annually at different universities, a few years ago the idea arose that international cooperation should also be extended to the research area. The first Danube Cup conference was organised in 2022 by the Corvinus University of Budapest and the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics – the two founding institutions of the Danube Cup. The 1st Danube Cup conference offered a wide range of interactive sessions, presentations and lectures led by academics. Presenters came from Austria, Germany, Poland, Serbia, Moldova, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
We are happy to share that in total 3 special issues with 12 research articles, 3 forewords and an interview were published after the conference, demonstrating the potential of the international network. The special issues contain the following articles in detail:
Volume 45 (2023) Issue 1 of Society and Economy, Corvinus University’s flagship journal, deals with topics around entrepreneurship education. The special issue of Society and Economy includes the following open access and free-to-read articles around the topic of entrepreneur education:
Volume XXII (2022) issue 4. of Information Society (in Hungarian: Információs Társadalom), Budapest University of Technology and Economics’ outstanding journal illustrates in a broader sense the complexity of entrepreneurship education. The special issue presents several such alternative, innovative teaching methods and learning approaches:
Volume 17 (2022) Issue 3 of Review of Economic Theory and Policy (in Hungarian: Köz-gazdaság), the peer-reviewed academic journal published at the Corvinus University of Budapest, contains a mix of research studies on start-ups, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship education. It tries to form a bridge between researchers of the start-up field, specialists dealing with entrepreneurship education, and practising entrepreneurs, with a regional focus.
The next Danube Cup conference is going to take place on 24th-25th November 2023 in Belgrade, organised by the Faculty of Organisational Sciences of the University of Belgrade, a leading Serbian faculty in management and information systems and technologies. Any topic is accepted from the entire range of entrepreneurship education research.
The Call for Papers can be read here.
Applications with an Abstract/short summary are due by 1 September 2023
Website of the conference: http://danubecup.fon.bg.ac.rs
Members of the Danube Cup Scientific Committee are: