Research Centers

Introduction

Led by IMD’s newly appointed EMBA Dean, Professor Vanina Farber, the center focuses on researching and sharing insights on the supply and demand of social innovation, from impact investing and ESG to social entrepreneurship and blended finance. Its goal is to inspire leaders in business, government and civil society to embrace social innovation across the global economy. The center’s capacity to deliver on this mission was boosted in 2021 with the recruitment of Katherine Milligan, Maximilian Martin and María Helena Jaén as the first Senior elea Fellows.

Year in review

Programs
The center continued its close involvement with IMD’s MBA and EMBA degrees in 2021. EMBAs were offered an online course in impact investing and ESG integration, while also participating in an immersive Discovery Expedition to Peru to explore the social entrepreneurship landscape and, ultimately, to make recommendations to impact investors. MBAs took part in a course on social and financial innovation, an International Consulting Project in Peru and a start-up project with social enterprise Montagnard.

The elea team also delivered a custom program “Leading for Impact” with the elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization, co-directed by Professor Arnaud Chevallier, and led a day on gender lens investing during a NEXUS Diversity and Inclusion Discovery Event.

Research
Center experts authored three book chapters and two academic articles that were published in 2021, covering themes such as market infrastructure for social ventures, subsidy design, sustainable business, stakeholder capitalism and gender and entrepreneurial propensity.

A white paper on social innovation explored ways to mobilize private capital for impact and six cases studies shared insights on approaches to sustainability, investing and social innovation through the examples of brands such as Tesla, Chanel and Triodos.

Outreach
As part of its efforts to encourage the IMD community to drive positive change, the center, through its Social Impact Recognition initiative, paid tribute to the social impact that six EMBA and MBA alumni have had in their professional careers. Three alumni launched the IMD Social Entrepreneurship community to galvanize and enhance work by alumni in the field.

The center delivered seven webinars and conference presentations, including at the International Social Innovation Research Conference, covering topics such as investing in emerging markets and the role of female investors in social justice. The “Social Innovation: Mobilizing Private Capital for Impact” webinar series continued to resonate with an international audience.

elea experts also collaborated with academic and industry peers in two research groups, the Swiss Lab for Sustainable Finance and the Gender Lens Initiative for Switzerland. The center also received an E4S grant to carry out research on blended finance.