Background
The challenge of sustainable development and the ethics of business management are widely discussed against the background of the current economic, ecological and social conditions. Experts in climate change advocate a radical rethinking of current energy and resource consumption patterns while UN resolutions argue for coordinated and effective efforts to reduce poverty and increase support for human rights. The education of responsible leaders, based on ethical and moral principles, represents a societal demand both on universities and their students: social entrepreneurship can forge a new path.
For many years, European universities have worked towards the enhancement of entrepreneurship education within and beyond their regular study programs. Still, the potential for initiatives which aim at social change or improvement of ecological conditions (without a dominant target in terms of profit) lies largely fallow. This is exactly where impACT³ takes a stand: within the short span of six weeks students see what they can achieve and the difference they can make. The competition conveys a concrete picture of how to create and measure not only financial "value added", but also the associated social and environment impact. Through their own actions with trial and error, students will truly understand what it means to initiate and bring about something new.
Participants in the competition come from nine different European universities, establishing a framework for students to prove their teamwork abilities and intercultural competencies. In homogeneous or international teams the motto "think globally, act locally" can be implemented in various ways. Moreover, during the first step of the evaluation stage the goal is high public visibility. From the point of view of the initiators, Jacobs University Bremen and Vodafone Foundation Germany, the student contest is an endeavor to signal that every individual and every population group can make a contribution to change in the economy and society.