By the end of the course, students will develop knowledge and understanding of the importance of interdisciplinarity in research. Through topics that include social innovation, social entrepreneurship, social marketing, and entrepreneurial ecosystem participants will be able to explore diverse processes occurring in those fields. Students will learn about current trends in the contexts of social value creation through these disciplines. After successful completion of the course, students will be able to conduct a field research and apply interdisciplinary approaches for in-depth problem analysis.

Lectures, readings, group project work, and other interactive elements

- Introduction to social innovation: Definitions, process, examples • Search strategies for social innovations- Overview of social entrepreneurship: Theory, practice and trends • Sustainable social impact- Outline of Social Marketing: Process, features, strategy, good practice- Introduction to Social Innovation Ecosystems: Components, actors, model, dynamics, overview of Carinthian social innovation ecosystem- introduction to field research (interview technics, transcription, data analysis)

Will be presented on moodle before start of the course.

Presentations, short essay, discussions

- Presenting a scientific paper- Writing a reflection paper,- Contributing to the discussions in the seminarWithin the field research you will be required to prepare and present a project from a social business perspective. Students can either select an entrepreneur or focus on a social innovation ecosystem.The research project involves:(1) interviewing social entrepreneurs or social innovators from the region OR exploring the Carinthian social innovation ecosystem,(2)  analyzing motivation factors of the entrepreneurs as well as marketing activities, impact, ... of the social businesses(3) making a creative presentation of your findings and exhibit on the Long Night of Research.

- Fulfilling the criteria of a scientific presentation- Fulfilling the criteria for a reflection paper- Fulfilling the criteria for a poster presentation- Participation in the seminar discussions