2023 Impact Investing Days

Why - Purpose of the event

Initiated by Copenhagen Business School in 2018 and previously hosted in Denmark and China in in-person and virtual formats, Impact Investing Days is a discussion forum for impact investing practitioners, social entrepreneurs, and academics. The conference aims to challenge current practice and use evidence-based research to develop better insights into the links between social/environmental impact, financial returns, and investment decisions. We intend for the Impact Investing Days to eventually result in a series of national and international research/practice co-operations to help understand the effectiveness of impact investing and social entrepreneurship.

The discussions during the Impact Investing Days will critically reflect upon current impact investing practices by inquiring in-depth into topics such as social outcome contracting, non-financial support for investees, the integrity and governance of impact investing, and so forth. More specifically, we will explore various topics from six dimensions of impact investing (intentionality, additionality, contribution, materiality, measurability, and attribution), which we propose allow to describe different sub-clusters of how the term is used in research and practice.

The 2023 Impact Investing Days invite academics, impact investors, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, and policymakers to jointly discuss research needs and priorities for inquiry in relation to how impact investing can help address societal challenges. The event aims to support the formulation of a relevant research agenda that will help understand the effectiveness of impact investing as a tool to re-shape our society to be fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable. This, in turn, is intended to guide investors towards implementing impactful investment strategies.

Who – Participants of the event

Participants in the event will be representatives of academia, financial institutions, philanthropic foundations, policymakers, and social enterprises. The conference will offer plenty of room for both formal discussions and informal discourse between participants.

What - Specifics of the event

The first day of the conference will feature keynote talks and panel discussions aimed at encouraging debates between academics and practitioners. Here impact investors map out their needs for relevant and rigorous academic research. They will be flanked by academic presentations that will critically reflect upon the state of the field, drawing on insights from academic research. The second day, there will be presentations of academic papers at various development stages to capture the latest ideas. In particular, we hope to attract high-quality research contributions to be submitted to academic journals.