It is becoming increasingly important for universities to reflect on their own impact on the economy and society and to present this impact in a comprehensible way. With this in mind, WU has published a Third Mission Impact Report, which describes an initial selection of 19 different Third Mission activities at our university. Among them the Social Impact Award (SIA), which was founded by WU’s Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (E&I).

Back in 2009, the social entrepreneurship field was still underdeveloped at WU and in Austria as a whole. The foundation of the SIA is one of WU’s most impactful projects and contributes directly to its social responsibility commitments.

The story behind it, is affected by fortunate coincidences: In 2008, Joachim Hunold, long-time CEO of Air Berlin, had just won the prestigious Schumpeter Prize. At the award ceremony, he spontaneously decided to donate the award money to Professor Nikolaus Franke, founder and director of the E&I Institute. Within the E&I Institute, PhD student Peter Vandor had the idea of using the € 14,000 for the field of social entrepreneurship. The award money from the Schumpeter Prize became the start-up capital, and Peter Vandor became the driving entrepreneur of the Social Impact Award. The newly created course “E&I Social Entrepreneurship” at WU was one of the first application-oriented courses in the German-speaking world and already in the first year there were 58 submissions for the Social Impact Award.

Download the full Third Mission Impact Report.