8th Paper Development Seminar (8PDS)
This is already the 8th edition of the PDS (Paper Development Seminar) on Entrepreneurship Process Research. Quite a significant achievement for a modest seminar started in 2018, which has survived a global pandemic and seems now to be relatively consolidated in the academic area of entrepreneurship. This year, it was held on June 2nd and 3rd, 2025. As in previous instances, the venue has been the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences at the University of Seville.
This edition has attracted participants from institutions in 14 different countries not only in Europe (Finland, Norway, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria, Poland, Latvia, Portugal, Italy and Spain) but also from Colombia and Brazil. Thus, this 8PDS has been a truly international event. Participants have benefited from the possibility of presenting their results to an audience of researchers in a similar field of investigation and they have received their comments and suggestions. They have also received written feedback from at least two highly experienced journal editors on how to improve their papers to get them published in academic journals.
The 8PDS is co-organized by the University of Seville and the Observatory of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of Andalusia (OEEA, www.oeea.es), and has been held in the beautiful city of Seville. The OEEA is a key entity responsible for the well-known GEM and GUESSS projects in Andalusia. The OEEA is affiliated with the Spanish Entrepreneurship Observatory (www.observatoriodelemprendimiento.es).
The 8PDS has been sponsored by the ECSB, through its ECSB Event Fund initiative. It is also a co-branded ECSB event. The Entrepreneurship & Innovation (E&I) research group and the IUSEN research institute have also supported the event.
The invited professors have imparted the following keynote speeches:
Monday, June 2, 2025:
- Prof. Martin Obschonka (University of Amsterdam) will address “AI in Entrepreneurship Research.” Martin is a field editor of Journal of Business Venturing & Associate Editor of Small Business Economics.
- Prof. Susana C. Santos (Florida State University) will explore “Poverty and Entrepreneurship.” Susana is a co-editor of the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship & associate editor of Journal of Small Business Management.
- Prof. Miruna Radu-Lefebvre (Audience) will talk on “Legacy in Organizations: A Social Constructivist Lens.” Miruna is the Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneurship & Regional Development.
Tuesday, June 3, 2025:
- Prof. Eric Liguori (Florida State University) will close the plenary sessions with “Beyond the Journal: Mobilizing Entrepreneurship Research for Broader Impact.” Eric is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Small Business Management.
- Round table on “Becoming a better researcher” with Profs. Liguori, Obschonka, Radu-Lefebvre, Santos & Liñán.
The papers from the participants range in topic from adolescent entrepreneurship, to municipal vitality, resilience in contexts of adversity such as war, to business model innovation in startups, or to the impact of cultural values on entrepreneurship.
The Best Paper Award, sponsored by the ECSB, consists of a one-year free membership to the ECSB. This price has been granted to Elina Isakova (co-authored by Julia Stroila and Helle Neergaard) for her paper on “ Entrepreneurial Ecosystems’ Narratives and Women Entrepreneurs’ Identities: Women Can(’t) Have It All!”.
There were two additional papers that were selected as runners up for the award: “It’s all personal! the role of the entrepreneurs’ locus of control on leveraging past experiences for new startups” (authored by Sergio Rodríguez-Garnica, Eduardo Melero, and Adrián L. Mérida) and “Family governance practices in young and small family firms: Does the impact on the business family translate into firm resilience?” (by Izabela Koladkiewicz, Lukas Kozlowski, and Marta Wojtyra).
The seminar also includes a cultural and social component. This year, the participants have enjoyed a private visit to the rooftop of Seville Cathedral, followed by a dinner at Rio Grande Restaurant (on the terrace by the river). This took place on the evening of Monday, June 2, providing excellent networking opportunities. As in previous editions, the feedback from the participants has been very positive. They specially value the combination of academic and social activities within the programme.
Author: Francisco Liñán, Professor, University of Seville.
