G-Forum Conference 2012

The 16^th Annual Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Conference (G-Forum 2012) will take place in Potsdam (Germany) from 8-9 November 2012. Leading organizer of this year's conference is the University of Potsdam and Potsdam Transfer - the Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Knowledge and Technology Transfer at the University of Potsdam. Congress President and head of the program committee is Prof. Dr. Katharina Hölzle, Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Potsdam.

Event Partners:

Websites

FGF e.V. www.fgf-ev.de

Potsdam Transfer www.potsdam-transfer.de

The objective of the two-day G-Forum 2012 (8-9 November) is to encourage scientific discussion and the exchange of ideas among entrepreneurship scholars, entrepreneurs and policy makers. The conference program will be enriched by renowned keynote speakers.

The conference will have some "tracks" which will be held completely in English. Herewith, we want to offer an international forum and stimulate the collaboration between German speaking entrepreneurship scholars and their colleagues around the world. Next to the science track will be a practice track with a separate review process. The conference program again includes the research colloquium for doctoral candidates and the awarding of the Best Entrepreneurship Research Newcomer Award 2012 (Information on these program subjects can be found in the Call for Papers).

Venue is the University of Potsdam, August-Bebel-Strasse 89 (Potsdam-Babelsberg/Griebnitzsee), Building 6.

The social evening (conference dinner) will take place on Thursday, 8 November 2012. Further information will be announced later.

Participants

As mentioned, the G-Forum is a meeting place for scholars, entrepreneurs, practitioners and policy makers, who are interested in presenting and exchanging ideas. We welcome quantitative and qualitative scientific papers as well as presentations illustrating entrepreneurs’ experiences.

Leading issue and Topics

We ask for active participation in the conference through presentations. This years's conference will have a special focus on the conference theme "Creativity and Entrepreneurship".

The exchange between science and practice still offers room for improvement. Therefore, we are looking specifically for papers from both "worlds". You will find in the G-Forum program clearly visible workshop tracks that align with both more scientific as well as more practically relevant presentations. For this, two separate double-blind review processes will serve the different needs of theory and practice. We would like to explicitly encourage practitioners to invite their own abstracts!

The Practice Track of the 2012 meeting focuses on "Creativity". This includes but is not limited to questions of

• Design Thinking,
• Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition,
• Business model development,
• Creative Industries

The Scientific Track is aimed at the following thematic and interdisciplinary areas:

• Creativity and Entrepreneurship
• Creation Process
• Start-ups from science
• Family business and succession
• Sustainable- and Social Entrepreneurship
• Cultural Entrepreneurship
• Corporate Entrepreneurship –Establishment of entrepreneurship in large companies
• Entrepreneurial personality
• Entrepreneurial Policy and Environment
• Development and growth
• Start-up financing
• Regional Entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship Education
• Start-up Coaching

 

Abstracts from both sub-sections, that cannot be allocated to one of the main fields will be grouped in an "open topic session".  

Language

The conference will be held in German and English. Workshops will always consist of papers in just one of the two languages. There will be no simultaneous translation.  

Contributions    

If you want to present at G-Forum 2012, please submit an abstract of your paper by 17 June 2012 (deadline). Abstracts can only be submitted through the conference homepage www.gforum2012.de

Abstract should fulfill the following criteria:

• The paper focus can be theoretic/conceptual, empirical and /or experience.
• Each speaker can only submit one abstract. The number of authors per abstract should not exceed five persons.
• Abstracts can be submitted in English and German. Please indicate in your submission whether you prefer holding the presentation in English, German or if the language does not matter.
• Abstracts should not exceed 2,000 words. Please avoid extraordinary formatting as well as characters not included in the ASCII character set.We recommend the file format pdf.
• We suggest that the theoretic/conceptual and empirical studies abstracts should use the following outline.

• Tables and figures should be submitted in two separate files not exceeding 2 MB. Please refer to the tables and figures in the text as tab.1, tab.2 ... or fig.1, fig.2...    

 

Review process

All abstracts will be double-blind reviewed by members of the conference committee.

Selection and evaluation criteria for "scientific papers" are:

Selection and assessment criteria for "practice-oriented papers" are:

 

We expect to inform authors of the acceptance of their abstracts early September 2012.

FGF Best Sustainable- and Social-Entrepreneurship Research Award 2012

The theme "Sustainable- and Social-Entrepreneurship" must attain greater importance within  Germany in regards to advancing social development, both nationally and internationally. Enabling Germany’s entrepreneurs to facilitate their initiatives and projects, though, demands improved financial and institutional frameworks. Achieving these improved conditions requires more scholarly evaluation of the fields sustainable and social entrepreneurship, again in German-speaking countries and internationally.

With this in mind, the Hans Sauer Foundation and the Social Entrepreneurship Academy present the "Best Sustainable- and Social-Entrepreneurship Research Award 2012", a first-time award of € 2.000 for research projects in these fields , which will be awarded during the 16^th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Entrepreneurship Research (G-Forum 2012).

The award is directed at those who have submitted a proposal for the G-Forum 2012.

The award-winner will be determined in a two-step selection process. The first stage is the review process from the G-Forum 2012. Here, reviewers will evaluate the following categories:

•     Use / relevance for entrepreneurial research and practice
•     Conceptual foundation
•     Quality of research methods
•     Originality / novelty
•     Comprehensibility

In the second stage, the authors of the five best-rated proposals are selected and asked to submit within 6 weeks a thirty-page paper that further explain and outline their proposals. Based on these papers, a jury of researchers and representatives of the Hans Sauer Foundation will select the winner. The award presentation will take place at the banquet of the G-Forum 2012 in Potsdam on the 8 November.

For information, please contact our Managing Director Mr. Knaup at
+49 (0) 228 91077 46 or E-Mail knaup(at)fgf-ev.de.

FGF Best Entrepreneurship Research Newcomer Award 2012

The "Wissenschaftsförderung der Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe e.V." supports on the occasion of the 16^th Annual Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Conference (G-Forum 2012) junior researchers and donates the prize money of € 1,000 for the "FGF Entrepreneurship Research Best Newcomer Award 2012".

The price is explicitly directed at graduate students, postdoctoral students and junior professors. Participants are young researchers who have submitted a proposal for the G-Forum 2012.

The prize winner is determined in a two-step selection process. In the first stage, the results review process for the G-Forum 2012 will be considered. Basis here are the evaluation results of the reviewer-process in the following categories:

• Use / relevance for entrepreneurial research and -practice
• Conceptual strength
• Methodical approach
• Originality / novelty
• Readability

In the second stage, the authors of the five best-rated abstracts from this review are nominated and invited to submit a full paper. Based on this full paper a jury of researchers and a representative of the founder will make the final decision for the selection of the winner.
The assessment and the award presentation will take place at the social evening of the G-Forum 2012 in Potsdam on 8 November.

For information, please contact our Managing Director Mr. Knaup at
+49 (0) 228 91077 46 or email knaup(at)fgf-ev.de.

Research Colloquium

On 7 November 2012, we organize a pre-conference doctoral seminar that offers young scholars (Ph.D. students) an opportunity to present their ongoing work and discuss with experienced  entrepreneurship scholars.

The presentation suggestions should be about two or three pages long and in English. It should provide following information:

• Topic,
• Problem-description,
• Research design,
• Hypotheses,
• If available, first research results or publications and
• Information`s about your issues and objectives of your presentation.

Please send your application documents with the reference "Research Colloquium 2012" via E-mail directly to Ulrich Knaup knaup(at)fgf-ev.de.

The participation is linked to an registration for the G-Forum 2012 conference. For registration please click here.

Conference Fee

	Authors of accepted papers and Session-Chairs	Regular Registration
FGF/bifego Members	€ 230	€ 260
All others	€ 260	€ 290

 

The conference fee includes access to all discussions and presentations as well as lunch and refreshments during the coffee breaks. 

Students

Students may apply for a reduced participation (€ 20) in the congress. Applications for student-tickets should include a formless covering letter, a recommendation letter of one professor, a copy of the students' ID and a short motivation why to participate at G-Forum 2012. Please send the applications to
knaup(at)fgf-ev.de. A scientific committee will decide on these reduced participation tickets. The decision will be launched in October by E-mail.

Dinner Reception

The conference dinner will take place on 8 November 2012 in Potsdam. The cost for participation will be € 60 and are not part of the conference fee. Further information will be announced later.  

Cultural activities after the conference

Potsdam is undoubtedly one of Germany's most beautiful cities. Nestled in a charming cultural landscape dotted with palaces and historic gardens, which have been on the UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list since 1990, turn the capital of the Federal State of Brandenburg into a great travel destination, suiting all sorts of interests and demands. Information could be found under www.potsdam.de

Important dates

Research Colloquium:
7 November 2012
Application documents until 30 September 2012 via email to Ulrich Knaup
knaup(at)fgf-ev.de
Information on acceptance: 15 October 2012

Conference:
8-9 November 2012
Extended Submission of abstracts until 17 June 2012 via Internet http://gforum2012.de
Information on acceptance: early September 2012
Registration ends: 5 November 2012  

Accommodation:
Hotels of the venue at the University of Potsdam are reserved in various price ranges. Please contact early for your hotel reservation. Information and reservation forms are available on the Congress http://www.gforum2012.de homepage.

We are looking forward to welcome you in Potsdam!

Addresses

Venue

University of Potsdam
August-Bebel-Str. 89
Building 6
D-14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg (Griebnitzsee)/DE
Phone +49 (0)331 9 77 45 00
Fax +49 (0)331 9 77 34 25
katharina.hoelzle(at)uni-potsdam.de
www.uni-potsdam.de/db/zeik-portal/gm/lageplan.php?komplex=3

National Host

FGF, Förderkreis Gründungs-Forschung e.V.
Entrepreneurship Research
Managing Director: Ulrich Knaup
Ludwig-Erhard-Platz 1-3
D-53179 Bonn
Phone +49 (0)228 9 10 77 46
Fax +49 (0)228 5 28 81 38
info(at)fgf-ev.de
www.fgf-ev.de

Conference Chair/Program-Chair

University of Potsdam
Professor Dr. Katharina Hölzle
Lehrstuhl Innovationsmanagement und Entrepreneurship
August-Bebel-Str. 89
D-14482 Potsdam
Phone +49 (0)331 9 77 45 00
Fax +49 (0)331 9 77 34 25
katharina.hoelzle(at)uni-potsdam.de
www.uni-potsdam.de/ime/index.html

Conference organization

Conventus Congressmanagement & Marketing GmbH
Mrs. Anja Kreutzmann, M.A.
Carl-Pulfrich-Str. 1
D-07745 Jena
Phone +49 (0)3641 3 11 63 57
Fax +49 (0)3641 3 11 62 43
anja.kreutzmann(at)conventus.de
www.conventus.de