Organized by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Vienna, Austria and the social enterprise “emersense”, the Social Impact Award supports aspiring student entrepreneurs in Austria with their first steps towards social entrepreneurship. We’re sharing here excerpts from an email interview with Peter Vandor, founder of the Award and researcher at the Institute.

Q. Can you tell us about the Social Impact Award?

Workshop at the Hub, Vienna

A. It is a combination of a competition, a student community and a series of educational events. Students can submit their ideas for social ventures, and the best four teams are awarded with 4,000 Euro, access to an inspiring working place in the HUB Vienna and professional support.

Unlike other awards, we have tried to shape the award in a way that benefits all participants. Prior to the submission deadline on 1^st May, we are organizing open and free workshops, ranging from idea generation to business planning and allowing students to meet each other and interact with experienced social entrepreneurs. That way, the award allows students to get in touch with the topic with low entry barriers in a highly supportive environment.

Q. Where are these students from? What is their background?

A. Students from all kind of backgrounds participate, from social sciences to engineering. In order to submit, at least 50% of the founding team has to consist of students enrolled in Austria. However, many of last year’s projects had an international dimension. For example, the winning project in 2009, Project-E, was submitted by a team of students from Austria and Germany, offering education to orphan girls in Ethiopia.

Q. What inspired you to set up the competition?

A. At my university, I have met many fellow students who are interested in the topic of social entrepreneurship. Many are looking to apply the skills they have learned at the university to something valuable for society. So, we decided to present them social entrepreneurship as an alternative career path. In Austria, entrepreneurship in general is less present than in the Anglo-American world, so many students have considered starting “their own thing” for the first time through this Award.

Q. What impact does the award have?

A. The award has four main goals:

- direct support for extraordinary student projects

- a good learning opportunity for all participants

- connect the young social entrepreneurship community in Austria

- inform the public about social entrepreneurship as a real career opportunity.

The first Award in 2009 had more than 59 submissions from over 200 students, and 300 participants in the online community and workshops. Given that it was the first time the award took place, the volume and quality of submissions was very high. This year, we hope to achieve an even bigger impact, and there will be more money to win, and some very interesting new workshop formats offered at the HUB Vienna.

Ennovent wishes the best for all participants in the Social Impact Award. Go ahead, change the world!

More details:

Social Impact Award (note: the website is available only in German)

EC Institute website and Emersense website (both sites are in English)