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The COVID-19 Virtual Idea Blitz: Marshaling social entrepreneurship to rapidly respond to urgent grand challenges

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  • Bacq, Sophie
  • Geoghegan, Will
  • Josefy, Matthew
  • Stevenson, Regan
  • Williams, Trenton A.

Abstract

In response to societal grand challenges, professors have unique opportunities to effect change, repurposing their expertise to deploy relevant, timely, practical, and research-backed knowledge for the betterment of communities. Drawing on scholarship on postcrisis organizing, entrepreneurial hustle, and social entrepreneurship, we provide a firsthand, real-time case description of a three-day “virtual idea blitz” organized in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The event was organized and executed in less than a week and ultimately involved 200 individuals, including entrepreneurs, coders, medical doctors, venture capitalists, industry professionals, students, and professors from around the world. By the end of the weekend, 21 ideas with corresponding pitches were developed in five thematic areas: health needs, education, small businesses, community, and purchasing. We describe how the community was rapidly rallied, and we discuss the key learning outcomes of this spontaneous entrepreneurial endeavor. We provide evidence from participants and mentors that showcases the value of the time-compressed virtual idea blitz in accelerating social entrepreneurial action. We offer practical guidance to academic, community, and professional institutions that would like to replicate or build upon our approach to stimulate the formation of community and to coordinate efforts to thwart the ongoing threat of COVID-19, as well as other societal challenges that might emerge in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Bacq, Sophie & Geoghegan, Will & Josefy, Matthew & Stevenson, Regan & Williams, Trenton A., 2020. "The COVID-19 Virtual Idea Blitz: Marshaling social entrepreneurship to rapidly respond to urgent grand challenges," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 705-723.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:63:y:2020:i:6:p:705-723
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2020.05.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    12. Dahlke, Johannes & Bogner, Kristina & Becker, Maike & Schlaile, Michael P. & Pyka, Andreas & Ebersberger, Bernd, 2021. "Crisis-driven innovation and fundamental human needs: A typological framework of rapid-response COVID-19 innovations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    13. Modgil, Sachin & Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Rana, Nripendra P. & Gupta, Shivam & Kamble, Sachin, 2022. "Has Covid-19 accelerated opportunities for digital entrepreneurship? An Indian perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
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    15. Ebersberger, Bernd & Kuckertz, Andreas, 2021. "Hop to it! The impact of organization type on innovation response time to the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 126-135.
    16. Yuan Zhi Seah, 2021. "COVID-19 and Its Effects on Attitudes toward Opportunity-Motivated Entrepreneurship: Before and after Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-13, August.
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    18. Simplice A. Asongu & Mushfiqur Rahman, 2022. "A Review of Covid-19 and Employment Implications: Evidence from Human Resource Management," Working Papers 22/058, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    19. Sophie Bacq & G. T. Lumpkin, 2021. "Social Entrepreneurship and COVID‐19," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 285-288, January.
    20. Xu, Zeshui & Wang, Xindi & Wang, Xinxin & Skare, Marinko, 2021. "A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of entrepreneurship and crisis literature published from 1984 to 2020," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 304-318.
    21. Andreas Kuckertz & Leif Brändle, 2022. "Creative reconstruction: a structured literature review of the early empirical research on the COVID-19 crisis and entrepreneurship," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 281-307, June.
    22. Vineet Kaushik & Shobha Tewari, 2023. "Modeling Opportunity Indicators Fostering Social Entrepreneurship: A Hybrid Delphi and Best-Worst Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 667-698, August.
    23. Carsten Bergenholtz & Kim Klyver & Oana Vuculescu, 2023. "Self-Efficacy in Disrupted Environments: COVID-19 as a Natural Experiment," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(3), pages 724-750, May.

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