Cooperatives have been acknowledged as important actors to contribute to sustainable development of rural and urban areas. Against this backdrop, the National University of Ireland convened a great event in Dublin on „The Role and Impact of Social Enterprises in Sustainable Development of Rural and Urban Areas“.

Prof. Richard Lang was invited to give a keynote speech at this event about his research on „Social Enterprises from a European Perspective“. In his speech, the Director of the Competence Centre for Management of Cooperatives highlighted the importance of cooperation and partnerships for cooperative enterprises if they want to live up to their aspirations to make an impact towards a more sustainable society. This includes their crucial role as intermediaries between different stakeholders and ability to establish successful connections between local communities and institutional actors.

The event in Dublin provided compelling evidence on the recent development and impact of the social enterprise sector in Ireland. It also offered interesting discussions between researchers, practitioners and policy-makers concerned with evolution, impact and facilitation of social enterprises. This made more appetite for international knowledge transfer on cooperative enterprises across Europe. Many thanks to Mary O'Shaughnessy and Lucas Olmedo from University College Cork for the invitation and we look forward to future collaborations with our Competence Centre for Management of Cooperatives at unibz.