Esade-URL launches new knowledge think tank to tackle global challenges with social impact solutions

16.11.2021

The Esade Center for Social Impact (ECSI) is led by lecturer Lisa Hehenberger – a renowned expert on social impact

Tuesday, Novembre 16, 2021. Esade-URL announces today the launch of the Esade Center for Social Impact (ECSI), a new think tank focused on the study and development of social impact solutions to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. In a further affirmation of the school’s commitment to society, the center will provide answers to global problems – focusing on impact investing, impact entrepreneurship, and impact measurement and management.

The center began its work as part of the Esade Entrepreneurship Institute – and from 2017 until the creation of this think tank it was hosted by the institute. The centre’s work has been focused in areas such as the measurement of impact or the financial needs of social enterprises. The center will now develop its work independently under the leadership of international social impact expert Lisa Hehenberger. Explains Lisa Hehenberger: ‘Social impact is about the change you generate on society and on the planet with your activities. That is why we need to understand what does and doesn’t work. The Esade impact community is a vibrant network of students, practitioners, and experts working together to develop solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in society’.

Lisa Hehenberger has over 15 years of experience in the impact sector. She is a renowned expert on venture philanthropy, impact investment, social entrepreneurship, and impact measurement and management. She is a member of several international expert groups in the field of social impact – including the scientific board of the OECD Global Action ‘Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems’; the Academic Working Group on Impact Measurement and Management of CASE at Duke with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP); and she also serves on the advisory boards of impact funds Oryx Impact, Rubio Impact Ventures, and Creas. She was formerly the research and policy director of the European Venture Philanthropy Association and a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Social Entrepreneurship (GECES).

Putting knowledge into practice

The Esade Center for Social Impact team, which has its own research group, collaborates with the entire Esade community and different stakeholders, such as the OECD, Ship2b, Ashoka, SpainNAB or the Euclid network. ECSI will continue to produce relevant and innovative research that is academic and practical, and feeds into Esade’s teaching that encourages social debate among students and the impact community.

The core of ECSI’s activity is providing practical tools for businesspeople worldwide. For example, social entrepreneurship elective courses for students of Esade’s Master in Sciences of Management (MSc), Master in Business Administration (MBA) or executive courses on social impact. ECSI is also closely linked to Esade’s Careers Service and will support students who have an interest in pursuing a career in social impact and future entrepreneurs who want to set up social enterprises.