EntFin Conference

The full conference program and a detailed session overview of the 4th EntFin held in the historical city of Trier, Germany on July 2-3, 2019 is now online.

Further Informations

ABOUT 
After the successful ENTFIN conferences in Lyon (2016), Ghent (2017), and Milan (2018), the ENT FIN Association and the FGF e. V. will organize the fourth conference on Entrepreneurial Finance in the historical city of Trier, Germany on July 2-3, 2019.

ENTFIN is the association of Entrepreneurial Finance, gathering together scholars from finance, management, and entrepreneurship. The FGF is the leading academic association for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SME research in the DACH-region.

Focus
Recent developments in technology and regulation have led to new forms of entrepreneurial finance. New players and new ways to finance entrepreneurial firms have emerged or will emerge (Ahlstrom et al., 2018; Block et al., 2018). Some financial instruments like crowdfunding in its various forms have found their way into the entrepreneur’s toolbox and are on their way of getting mature, whilst others like initial coin offerings (ICOs) are only now becoming available but have a huge potential to shape the entrepreneurial finance landscape in the future (Fisch, 2019). This highlights that more in-depth insights are needed on optimal financing strategies for new ventures. The conference aims at exploring topics such as:

  • Bank and debt financing
  • Blockchain and smart contracts
  • Bootstrap financing
  • Business angels
  • Crowdfunding
  • Family offices
  • Incubators and accelerators
  • Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)
  • Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)
  • IP-based financing
  • Private equity and buyouts
  • Small firm financing
  • Social venture capital, social impact investing
  • Venture capital (including governmental VC, corporate VC, …)

LOCAL CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS
Jörn Block (block@uni-trier.de) and Christian Fisch (cfisch@uni-trier.de), Trier University and Erasmus University Rotterdam

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Yan Alperovych (emlyon business school), Fabio Bertoni (emlyon business school), Jörn Block (University of Trier), Massimo Colombo (Politecnico di Milano), Douglas Cumming (Florida Atlantic University), Marc Deloof (University of Antwerp), Christian Fisch (University of Trier), Alexander Groh (emlyon business school), Steven Kaplan (University of Chicago Booth School of Business), Sophie Manigart (Vlerick Business School and Ghent University), José Martí Pellón (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Aurélie Sannajust (University of Saint-Etienne-Lyon), Armin Schwienbacher (SKEMA Business School), Andrea Signori (Catholic University of Milan), Tom Vanacker (Ghent University), Silvio Vismara (University of Bergamo).

REGISTRATION AND FEES
Please register for the conference as soon as possible (preferably until May 10, 2019). To register, please fill out the registration form and send an e-mail to registration-entfin2019@fgf-ev.de.

The conference fee includes the annual membership to the ENTFIN association. The early-bird conference registration fee is € 350, including meals, beverages, and a conference dinner. The early-bird rate applies until May 31, 2019. After that, the regular conference fee of € 450 will apply.

SCHEDULE AND TRAVEL
The conference venue is the Park Plaza Hotel Trier (https://www.parkplaza-trier.de/, address: Nikolaus-Koch-Platz 1, 54290 Trier, Germany).

A get together will take place in the evening on July 1 (not included in the conference fee). The conference will take place on July 2 and July 3 and will conclude at 15.00h on July 3. After that, you can participate in a guided city tour and explore the city of Trier.

The closest airport to Trier is Luxembourg (LUX). Trier can also be reached via train, for example from Frankfurt airport (FRA), Belgium, or Luxembourg.

ACCOMMODATION
A limited number of rooms are available at the conference venue (Hotel Park Plaza, https://www.parkplaza-trier.de). Other hotels that we recommend are:

FURTHER INFORMATION
Further information about the conference and logistics is available at https://www.fgf-ev.de/entfin-conference or http://entfin.org.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
The keynote speaker for the 2019 Entrepreneurial Finance Conference will be Professor Steven N. Kaplan (University of Chicago Booth School of Business).

SPECIAL ISSUE
Selected papers presented at the conference will be invited for submission to a special issue of the Journal of Small Business Management on “Small Business financing: new actors, new opportunities, new challenges.”

GUEST EDITORS OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE

  • Aurélie SANNAJUST, Associate Professor in Finance, University of Saint-Etienne-Lyon, France
  • Giancarlo GIUDICI, Associate Professor in Finance, Politecnico Milano, Italy
  • Howard VAN AUKEN, Professor in Management, Iowa State University, USA

REFERENCES

  • Ahlstrom, D., Cumming, D., Vismara, S. (2018). New methods of entrepreneurial firm financing: Fintech, crowdfunding and corporate governance implications. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 26(5), 310-313
  • Block, J., Colombo, M., Cumming, D., Vismara, S. (2018). New players in entrepreneurial finance and why they are there. Small Business Economics, 50(2), 239-250.
  • Fisch, C. (2019). Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to finance new ventures. Journal of Business Venturing, 34(1), 1-22.