Our history

The Center for Sustainable Entrepreneurship (CenSE) emerged from the merger of the Study Center for Entrepreneurship (SVO) - the former SME study center of the HUB on the one hand and the Center for Sustainability Odisee (CSO) on the other.

The team thus formed seeks to connect practice-oriented research and education from a diversity of expertise in order to support sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation in family businesses and SMEs.

SVO

The SVO, the oldest study center in our country conducting scientific research on entrepreneurship, was the spiritual continuation of the SME Study Center founded in 1983 at K.U. Brussels by Prof. Rik Donckels. In 2002, Prof. Dr. Johan Lambrecht took over and the name was changed to Study Center for Entrepreneurship. 

The SVO conducted scientific research in an independent manner, with an explicit practical focus on family businesses and SMEs, and over the years has built a solid reputation in the scientific and entrepreneurial world.

CSO

The Center for Sustainability Odisee was a more recently established research core focused on sustainability research. The sustainability agenda 2030 and sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations form a guiding framework here, with an initial focus on the prosperity and people clusters. This is reflected in the connection with the focus points of the Business Administration study area such as entrepreneurship, in the ongoing projects of the research group and in the competencies present within the team. In addition, various partnerships allow for working on the other sustainability goals as well.