During the Aurora Spring Biannual 2024 in Naples, the Aurora team for Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation unveiled seizmic, its freshly rebranded online platform.

Launched during the first phase of the Aurora European university alliance, this platform was previously known as SEISMIC (Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Scales to Measure Impact Competence). SEISMIC referred only to the survey tool that provides quantitative measures for the twelve competencies needed to achieve societal impact.

Following the rebranding, the social entrepreneurship online platform today goes by the name seizmic. It consolidates diverse tools and elements that equip students with the competencies required to drive impactful societal change.

One Platform, Multiple Applications for Social Entrepreneurship

Led by Professor Kai Hockerts and Aurora Institutional Coordinator Anne-Karen Hüske of Copenhagen Business School (CBS), the development of teaching and learning activities related to social entrepreneurship and innovation has grown in strength within Aurora universities. Further boosted by the Aurora 2030 project, there is continuous effort to unify all such activities under one seizmic identity:

• seizmic Courses: These learning modules present the latest research and tools on how social entrepreneurship can address current societal challenges.

• seizmic APP: This free web-based digital platform guides learners through the social business development process. It focuses on identifying solutions against issues related to different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• seizmic BUSINESS MODEL: This tool covers each step in the social entrepreneurship development process: from problem identification to growth and replication, and beyond.

• seizmic Awards: An annual award ceremony celebrating the creativity and innovation of students and early-stage social entrepreneurs.

• seizmic Survey (former SEISMIC): A tool to assess how study programmes or courses contribute to enhancing students’ social entrepreneurship competencies.

• seizmic Community: seizmic gathers students and budding social entrepreneurs under one space. They collaborate on entrepreneurial projects with a common vision to make positive societal impact.

Educating the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs

seizmic enables Aurora students to engage in social entrepreneurship and innovation in multiple ways. They learn through seizmic Courses and use the seizmic APP to build business models. In addition, they participate in seizmic Awards and further assess their competencies with the seizmic Survey.

With the recent addition of the MSCA-funded seizmic Doctoral Network, seizmic offers new doctoral positions across Aurora partner universities in Europe. The Doctoral Network aims to develop an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for studying the replication and imitation of social entrepreneurship ideas. It will also set new benchmarks for doctoral training.

As part of the work undertaken in Aurora, seizmic aspires to cultivate a community of educators dedicated to advancing the discussion and research around social entrepreneurship and innovation.

On 28 May  2024, rectors of Aurora’s universities came together to sign the Common Footprint Reduction Plan during the Aurora Spring Biannual at the  University Federico II of Naples. This collective effort is a unified commitment to sustainability and sets the stage for a greener future for universities within Aurora.

The Common Footprint Reduction Plan serves as a subsequent step to the Sustainable Campus Action Plan. Lorenzo Rieg, Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Innsbruck and Lead for T6.2 on Aurora Sustainable Campus, shared: “We had the Sustainable Campus Action Plan as our first deliverable from Aurora universities, committing to being sustainable and responsible universities making positive change in our societies. This Common Footprint Reduction Plan builds on the first by adding specific actions focused on several sustainability measures.”

Aurora Common Footprint Reduction Plan

The Common Footprint Reduction Plan underscores that each university will create tailored sustainability plans to suit its unique circumstances. Universities within Aurora will determine a baseline for CO2 emissions, preferably from 2019 onwards, and commit to achieving net carbon neutrality by 2040. This includes a 50% reduction in CO2-equivalent emissions by 2030.

Furthermore, universities will also commit to:

• Net-zero emissions
• Join the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Education Race to Zero.
• Measure the baseline for CO2 emissions and implement monitoring measures in key action areas.
• Initiate sustainability reporting by 2025 with annual updates, ideally following Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) regulations.
• Set specific targets in at least three action areas from the Sustainable Campus Action Plan.

Zuzanna Hunkova, Coordinator for Sustainable Development at Palacky University Olomouc and Co-lead for T6.2, said: “The Common Footprint Reduction Plan isn’t only about reducing air travel but encapsulates much more.” While all Aurora universities will implement the Aurora travel codex, other elements in the plan include procuring 100% certified green energy and committing to certify newly (re)constructed buildings according to a green building standard.

Through these actions, universities within Aurora reaffirm their commitment to the outlined sustainability goals, underlining the critical role in our mission to enhance sustainability on campus by setting clear, comprehensive, and measurable goals to reduce our carbon footprint.

The European Research Area Forum, in collaboration with the Commission and stakeholders, has developed guidelines to promote the responsible utilisation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) within the European research community.

These guidelines, influenced by established frameworks like the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and guidelines on trustworthy AI, provide crucial recommendations to researchers, research organisations, and funders across Europe. With the rapid spread of this technology’s use in all domains, including science, the guidelines address key opportunities and challenges. However, despite its benefits, the commission advises researchers to remain vigilant of potential pitfalls such as plagiarism, privacy breaches, and inherent biases. Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President, emphasised the importance of fostering an AI ecosystem in Europe while upholding ethical standards, urging researchers to leverage generative AI for the betterment of society.

Key highlights from the guidelines include refraining from sensitive activities like peer reviews, ensuring privacy and intellectual property rights, and fostering transparency in funding processes.

Aurora representatives played a significant role in shaping these guidelines, with contributions from experts such as Prof. Kamil Kopecky (Palacky University) and Prof. Koen Hindriks (VU Amsterdam), supported by Pim de Boer from Aurora Central Office and expertise from the University of Iceland. These guidelines mark a pivotal step towards establishing a reference for European research, with plans for continuous updates based on scientific and stakeholder feedback. Moreover, they align with Aurora networks’ involvement in the proposal for a European Research Area action plan for 2025-2027.

The Aurora board is pleased to welcome Dr Ramon Puras as its new Secretary-General, effective 1 May, 2024, marking the beginning of a new era within Aurora.    

The Secretary-General serves as chief operational officer and is the most senior appointed official within the Aurora network. Dr Ramon Puras will succeed Frans Snijders, who has been the interim Secretary-General. Ramon Puras, previously Dean of the Faculty of Education at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, brings a robust portfolio of achievements to Aurora. He has led educational and research initiatives that have substantially advanced the pedagogical landscape in Amsterdam. His dedication extends to employing cutting-edge research and emerging technologies to enrich and continuously innovate higher education programmes.  Apart from his managerial commitments, Dr Puras finds joy in teaching an innovative course, Gastronomy, the Art and Science of Cooking, bridging his interests in science, cooking and education. This multifaceted approach highlights his drive to explore and foster interdisciplinary connections within the academic realm.  

The Aurora board believes Ramon will bring great expertise to Aurora as Secretary-General, focusing on engagement with Aurora’s member and partner universities. Aurora’s President, Jón Atli Benediktsson, expressed: “Dr Puras is an outstanding fit for Aurora. His lifelong background in higher education, international experience, and prior leadership positions are particularly relevant to Aurora. Furthermore, his perspective that students must be engaged with research from the very beginning of their undergraduate studies is nothing short of inspiring. Dr Puras has all the makings of a successful Secretary-General for the international network that Aurora is, and I welcome him warmly.” 

With Ramon at the helm, Aurora anticipates a strategic leap towards matching academic excellence with societal relevance. Ramon notes: “The combination of excellence in academia to create positive societal impact speaks to my heart. I’m excited to be part of Aurora and lead its future development towards achieving this objective.”  

As Aurora embraces this new chapter in its leadership, its community welcomes Ramon on board and supports the innovative directions he envisions to drive profound and impactful change.  

Aurora Student Council (ASC) members and students Sören Daehn from Copenhagen Business School and Suvarn Nagan from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam represented Aurora universities’ student voice at the 3^rd edition of the European Student Assembly- ESA 24, hosted by the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Over three days, Sören and Suvarn gathered with 250 students from 59 nationalities, 41 European university alliances and 170 universities. They discussed, debated, collaborated and voted on a collection of over 80 policy recommendations on 11 political topics. The European Student Assembly generally aims to:

• Provide a platform to voice the opinion of students from European universities of different countries, backgrounds, fields and levels of study, all recruited for their engagement and motivation;
• Foster the participation of students, strengthen collaboration between them and increase the impact and visibility of European university alliances;
• Advocate for deliberative processes to reinforce European democracy and to reduce the gap between citizens and decision makers; and
• Encourage students to be involved in European democratic processes, and European politics at local, national and European levels.

Debating Issues at the Heart of Europe

During the ESA 24, 11 panels drafted several recommendations on different political issues. These included the Green Transformation, AI guidelines, public health, Euroscepticism, higher education or cultural heritage. Combined, the panels produced over 80 policy recommendations. Over 90% were then – with a majority vote – adopted by the whole assembly of 250 participants.

Alongside his panel, Sören worked on recommendations regarding reforms and changes to the current EU-Enlargement process. They highlighted that the current accession guidelines have not undergone critical reforms in many years. They further suggested that the EU-Enlargement process should not simply bring in candidate countries quickly. It should do so while protecting EU institutions and its current member states by setting realistic standards.

ESA 24 Panel with Aurora Student Council member and student Sören Daehn of Copenhagen Business School

European Student Assembly 2024

The panel developed eight meaningful and crucial recommendations, which were democratically adopted by the whole assembly. Part of their recommendations included:

• Increased and equalized economic support and investment opportunities;
• Transformation to a gradual accession process and qualified majority voting;
• Support for securing territorial integrity and deterring third-party influence; and
• Support for free media, civil society organizations and against misinformation.

Creating Impact for the Future of Europe

The ESA 24 was a great example of the importance of student involvement in European politics. Specific outcomes of the Assembly, including political recommendations, will be disseminated among relevant stakeholders, policymakers, and educational institutions.

The European Student Assembly continues to be an invaluable experience for Aurora universities students to get to know other engaged and politically interested students from all over Europe. They also learn more on how policy making in the European Union works. Most importantly, the ESA 24 provided a platform to formulate an opinion and raise the voice for European students on the most pressing current political matters.

Leading academic institutions within Aurora universities, and associated partners from diverse sectors, were recently successful in their grant application to the European Commission’s Call for MSCA Doctoral Networks 2023.

Led by Professor Kai Hockerts at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), the seizmic doctoral network (seizmic DN) is a collaborative effort that aims to research the scaling of social enterprises. Despite the recognized potential of social enterprises to drive significant societal change, their scaling processes – critical for broadening their impact – remain poorly understood. The seizmic DN addresses this gap by developing a coherent interdisciplinary theoretical framework that studies how social entrepreneurship ideas are replicated and imitated.

“As we launch the seizmic doctoral network, our aim is not only to fill a critical gap in our understanding of how social enterprises scale but to fundamentally reshape the landscape of social entrepreneurship education,” says Dr. Kai Hockerts, Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at CBS and academic lead of the seizmic doctoral network. “This grant from the European Commission empowers us to pioneer a model that brings robust academic rigor and practical insights together, setting a new standard for doctoral training in Europe.”

seizmic Doctoral Network for Social Entrepreneurship

Central to the mission of seizmic DN is a robust doctoral training programme, designed around three doctoral summer universities. These will be hosted by members of Aurora universities the University Federico II of Naples, Copenhagen Business School, and the University of Iceland, to prepare candidates for leading roles in both academia and practice. The programme offers a dynamic research environment where doctoral candidates study complex real-world examples of social entrepreneurship cases under the guidance of 22 experienced supervisors. The seizmic doctoral trainings span interdisciplinary research methodologies and include significant exposure to the non-academic sector, facilitating a practical understanding of social entrepreneurship.

“Being part of the seizmic doctoral network is a unique opportunity to bridge theory and practice in a transformative way,” explains Dr. Anne-Karen Hüske, Aurora Institutional Coordinator at CBS. “Our interdisciplinary approach is designed to equip doctoral candidates with the skills necessary to drive and influence the future of social enterprises. Through this initiative, we are committed to developing leaders who are not only scholars but also change-makers in the social economy.”

Innovation, Social Impact and Sustainability

The doctoral network combines divergent research streams across four disciplinary areas: business model design, finance, education, and digital ecosystems. It seeks to equip a new generation of researchers and practitioners with the innovative tools needed to expand the reach and effectiveness of social enterprises. This effort is particularly pertinent as it aligns with Europe’s sustainability goals and the broader vision of the European Action Plan for the Social Economy.

As seizmic DN progresses, it encourages engagement from the academic community, industry stakeholders, and the public. For those interested in the intersection of innovation, social impact, and sustainability, the doctoral network offers numerous opportunities for collaboration and professional development. The seizmic DN is more than just a research initiative: it is a vibrant community of scholars and practitioners dedicated to a better understanding of social entrepreneurship scaling.