The European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB) is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to advance the understanding of entrepreneurship and to improve the competitiveness of SMEs in Europe. The ECSB is an affiliation to the ICSB (International Council for Small Business).

The RENT XXIV conference will take place Maastricht, the Netherlands, in November 18-19, 2010. It is hosted by the Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics.

The theme for the conference is “The Entrepreneurial Process in A Changing Economy”. The 24th RENT conference aims to discuss issues related to the entrepreneurial process. How do entrepreneurs discover or create new opportunities in a time of (or beyond) crises, and which business models and innovation methods are used to exploit these opportunities. Which are the challenges entrepreneurs face with regards to leadership, social issues and attracting capital? Both theoretical and empirical research papers can be submitted, but the organizers specifically welcome studies that emphasize longitudinal research issues. Besides the conference theme, researchers and practitioners will have the opportunity to share their ideas on general topics from entrepreneurship, focusing on a great variety of interesting questions and current issues that are pertinent to the different tracks.