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More than 120 guests and project partners from all over the world participated in the conference and symposium during the anniversary week organized by SEPT.

The SEPT Competence Center at Leipzig University is celebrating 30 years of promoting entrepreneurship and innovation. And it has been celebrated in style with a major international conference and symposium during the SEPT anniversary week from Monday, September 19 to Wednesday, September 21, 2022, at the Campus Jahnalle in Leipzig.

The anniversary conference, whose motto is "Fostering internationalization through university-business linkages", started on Monday 19 with welcoming remarks by SEPT Director Prof. Dr. Utz Dornberger, who recalled the three-decade-long history of the SEPT Competence Center from its inception as an MBA program in 1992 until today that also incorporates other units specializing in business and internationalization consulting, coaching for startups, and training for companies and entrepreneurs, among other regional and transnational projects.

The Vice Rector for Campus Development, Cooperation, and Internationalization at Leipzig University, Prof. Dr. Matthias Middell, also took part in welcoming the conference. He highlighted the impact of the SEPT Competence Center's work in promoting entrepreneurship and internationalization of the university through its activities and projects over the past three decades.

The conference also featured: an interesting keynote by Prof. Dr. Robert Kappel, who is the founder of the SEPT program at Leipzig University, on "Future trends in internationalization of businesses"; four specialized workshops for participants; panel discussions with invited experts and SEPT alumni; and a hybrid award ceremony of the AGEA Business Idea Competition with contestants from Africa.

More than 120 people participated in the SEPT anniversary conference streamed live on YouTube.

On Tuesday, September 20, the second conference day was followed by a SEPT anniversary celebration at the headquarters of Egenberger Lebensmittel GmbH, which together with the entrepreneurship initiative SMILE is a partner of the SEPT Competence Center for the "Regioküche" project in Saxony.

Finally, on Wednesday, September 21, to close the SEPT anniversary week, an international symposium on "International Collaboration in Entrepreneurship Promotion at Higher Education Institutions (HEI)" was also held at Campus Jahnallee, with the participation of SEPT project partners from different parts of the world such as Ghana, Benin, Uganda, Bangladesh, Poland, among others.

On behalf of the SEPT team, thank you all for celebrating our 30th anniversary together!

More Information about the SEPT Competence Center