Metropolitan College, Boston University

Boston, MA 02215

Fourth International Symposium on Entrepreneurship and Technology

Entrepreneurship Ahead: AI, Innovation, and Transformative Learning Systems

March 19-20

This conference arrives at a decisive moment when artificial intelligence, entrepreneurial imagination, digital transformation, and human-centered learning are converging to redefine how societies create value, build enterprises, govern technology, and prepare future generations. As AI moves from experimentation to enterprise adoption, from classrooms to work systems, and from isolated tools to agentic and intelligent ecosystems, the need for rigorous scholarship, bold practice, and responsible public dialogue has become urgent. This conference invites paper contributors and participants to engage with that urgency by presenting ideas that do more than describe change; they should question assumptions, advance theory, test models, offer evidence, and propose actionable pathways for inclusive, ethical, and sustainable transformation. The proposed tracks collectively position the conference as an interdisciplinary platform for researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, managers, policymakers, technology developers, investors, and students who seek to understand the next frontier of entrepreneurship and innovation. Contributions are encouraged from diverse methodological traditions, including conceptual research, empirical studies, design science, case-based inquiry, qualitative narratives, teaching innovations, policy analysis, venture experiments, and industry applications. Papers may examine emerging technologies such as generative AI, agentic systems, digital twins, blockchain, quantum applications, robotics, and immersive learning environments, while also addressing critical questions of governance, trust, inclusion, sustainability, financing, enterprise modeling, and societal impact.

This is an opportunity for authors to contribute to a forward-looking scholarly conversation that bridges theory and practice, connects local entrepreneurial realities with global innovation debates, and transforms research into knowledge that can guide ventures, institutions, and communities. For participants, the conference offers a space to discover new ideas, build collaborations, exchange teaching and research practices, engage with frontier technologies, and participate in conversations that may shape future business models, educational systems, policy frameworks, and responsible innovation ecosystems. The conference therefore calls for contributions that are original, relevant, analytically strong, and socially meaningful, and that can inspire entrepreneurs, inform educators, support decision-makers, and help societies navigate the opportunities and risks of an AI-enabled future. The central theme of this symposium emphasizes the transformative power of AI-enabled entrepreneurship as a catalyst for reimagining venture creation, innovation ecosystems, learning systems, and institutional development. In this context, entrepreneurship is no longer confined to business start-up activity; it increasingly represents a dynamic process of opportunity recognition, intelligent experimentation, digital capability building, and responsible value creation across enterprises, universities, communities, and public systems. The integration of AI, generative technologies, intelligent decision systems, digital platforms, and immersive learning environments is reshaping how entrepreneurs discover markets, design scalable business models, mobilize resources, manage uncertainty, and build resilient organizations. At the same time, the conference foregrounds the ethical, inclusive, and human-centered dimensions of technological advancement, encouraging contributors to examine how innovation can serve economic growth, social progress, sustainability, workforce readiness, and global collaboration. By bringing these perspectives together, the symposium seeks to advance a richer understanding of entrepreneurship as an adaptive, technology-driven, and socially responsible force for the future.

This conference track portfolio explores how artificial intelligence, innovation, entrepreneurship, and transformative learning systems are reshaping organizations, markets, education, and society. The tracks invite interdisciplinary contributions from researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and practitioners working at the intersection of emerging technologies, responsible innovation, enterprise development, and future-ready learning ecosystems.

Discussion Pathways (Tracks)

Authors should select the track that best reflects the primary contribution of their submission. If a paper spans multiple areas, choose the track aligned with the paper’s central research question, main audience, and strongest expected contribution. In addition to full research papers, the symposium welcomes practice-oriented and developmental contributions, including case studies, work-in-progress papers, doctoral and early-career researcher sessions, practitioner workshops, industry panels, policy roundtables, teaching demonstrations, experiential learning sessions, and student innovation or venture showcases. These pathways are intended to broaden participation while preserving the twelve-track structure as the main organizing framework.

Track 1: AI-Driven Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation

• AI-assisted opportunity discovery and venture ideation
• AI-enabled startup validation and market testing
• AI-native business model design
• Predictive analytics for early-stage venture growth
• Entrepreneurial decision-making under uncertainty
• Agentic AI systems, copilots, and autonomous venture workflows
• E-commerce venture creation and platform entrepreneurship
• Digital customer acquisition and venture growth
• Cross-border digital entrepreneurship and global venture networks
• Global MSMEs, informal enterprises, and entrepreneurial resilience
• Startup incubators and accelerators

Track 2: Innovation Management, Digital Transformation, and Business Ecosystems

• Enterprise digital transformation strategy
• Open innovation and cross-sector collaboration
• Platform strategy and digital business transformation
• Industry 5.0, smart enterprises, and human-centric automation
• Technology adoption, diffusion, and organizational change
• Innovation portfolio management and competitive renewal
• Digital ecosystem formation and network effects
• Sector-specific digital ventures in FinTech, EdTech, HealthTech, and AgriTech
• Social, mobile, and creator-economy entrepreneurship
• Public-private partnerships for responsible digital transformation

Track 3: Transformative Learning, Smart Education, and Workforce Development

• AI-enhanced instructional models
• Adaptive and personalized learning pathways
• AI-enabled assessment, feedback, and academic integrity
• Faculty development and institutional AI adoption in education
• Teacher-AI-student collaboration models
• Equity, accessibility, and inclusion in AI-enhanced learning
• Immersive learning environments using AR, VR, XR, and MR
• Gamification, simulation, and experiential learning design
• AI literacy, digital skills, and career readiness
• Startup incubation, acceleration, and student venture ecosystems

Track 4: Generative AI, Knowledge Creation, and Intelligent Decision Systems

• Generative AI for research, writing, design, and knowledge work
• Human-AI teaming, agency, and collaborative intelligence
• Large language models for organizational and academic workflows
• AI-assisted research methods and scholarly innovation
• Creativity, ideation, and content generation with AI systems
• Knowledge management and intellectual capital in AI-enabled organizations
• Business intelligence and predictive modeling
• Intelligent decision support and managerial decision systems
• Evaluation of AI-augmented human performance and decision-making
• Measurement, benchmarking, and impact assessment frameworks

Track 5: Entrepreneurial Leadership, Organizational Agility, and Enterprise Operations

• Leadership in technology-intensive organizations
• Entrepreneurial mindset and intrapreneurial behavior
• Strategic agility, resilience, and organizational adaptability
• Leading innovation during uncertainty and disruption
• Future-ready leadership capabilities and talent development
• Managing human-AI collaboration and organizational change
• Enterprise architecture and business process modeling
• Digitized operations, hybrid work systems, and enterprise applications
• Supply chain management, logistics, and operational resilience
• Future of work, workforce redesign, and AI-enabled operating models

Track 6: Responsible AI, Governance, Ethics, and Digital Trust

• Responsible AI implementation and organizational accountability
• Ethical entrepreneurship and responsible innovation practices
• AI governance, assurance, and risk management frameworks
• Data privacy, cybersecurity, and digital trust
• Bias, fairness, explainability, and transparency in AI systems
• Trustworthy AI for education, enterprise, and public use
• AI security, model risk, and resilience
• Data governance and responsible data ecosystems
• Cybersecurity for AI-enabled ventures and digital platforms
• Public-sector accountability in digital and AI-enabled systems

Track 7: Sustainable, Inclusive, and Social Entrepreneurship

• Sustainable venture models and responsible value creation
• Green entrepreneurship and climate-oriented innovation
• Climate-tech ventures and adaptation-oriented innovation
• Nature-based solutions and climate-resilient entrepreneurship
• Circular economy and regenerative business models
• Social enterprises, impact ventures, and inclusive innovation
• ESG, SDGs, and sustainability-oriented growth
• AI applications for environmental and social impact
• Microenterprise development and community-based entrepreneurship
• Women entrepreneurs and inclusive venture support

Track 8: Entrepreneurship Policy, Economic Development, and Innovation Systems

• Entrepreneurship policy and regulatory environments
• Regional, national, and sectoral innovation systems
• Comparative entrepreneurship across regions and institutional contexts
• Entrepreneurship in emerging, transition, and crisis-affected economies
• Public-sector innovation, GovTech, and digital government
• Digital public infrastructure for inclusive innovation
• University-industry-government collaboration models
• Economic development impacts of AI and technological change
• Inclusive enterprise development policies and support systems
• AI for public value, civic resilience, and institutional trust

Track 9: Future Technologies, Digital Architecture, and Frontier Commercialization

• Quantum computing applications and venture opportunities
• Blockchain, Web3, and decentralized innovation
• Internet of Things platforms and connected products
• Autonomous systems, robotics, and intelligent machines
• Cyber-physical systems and next-generation infrastructure
• Commercialization pathways for frontier technologies
• Digital public infrastructure and trustworthy enterprise systems
• Digital enterprise architecture and systems integration
• Digital twin modeling for operations and infrastructure
• AI infrastructure, compute ecosystems, and scalable deployment models

Track 10: Entrepreneurial Finance, Capital Access, and Venture Governance

• Entrepreneurial finance policy and capital access
• Banking, investment, and venture financing models
• FinTech-enabled financing and digital financial services
• Public funding programs for local and regional enterprise growth
• Angel investment, venture capital, and startup valuation
• Microfinance and inclusive finance mechanisms
• Financial planning, capital formation, and venture governance
• Alternative finance, crowdfunding, and platform-based capital access
• Investment readiness for AI, climate-tech, and frontier ventures
• Financial inclusion and responsible venture financing

Track 11: Enterprise Modelling

• Enterprise Modelling: Innovation & Technology
• Computer-aided design and Drafting systems
• Digitization, hybridity, and business applications
• Quality of services, critical to the quality and voice of customers
• Enterprise resource planning
• New venture development
• Entrepreneurial business modeling
• Vocational education and training
• Marketing mix, branding, value creation
• Digital enterprise architecture
• SCM and logistics
• Enterprise risk management
• Digital twin modeling
• Operations management

Track 12: Case studies, Storytelling, and Qualitative Perspectives

• Critical success factors of start-up enterprises
• Success and failure case studies
• Social enterprises and storytelling (entrepreneurial journey)
• Narrative research in entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship beyond business
• Intrapreneurship

Participation

Academics, research scholars, and graduate students from Boston University and other institutions worldwide engaged in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation, technology development, operations management, project management, marketing, strategy, business analytics, and e-commerce management.

What would you achieve?

• An interactive and hands-on approach to working with innovation management tools and techniques
• Ways to explore new industrial scenarios across the destination economies
• Valuable insights on entrepreneurial development prospects, innovation management, managing market competition, and national economic policies toward regional development
• Examples, illustrations, and case studies of best practice interventions around the world
• Opportunity to delve deeper into areas such as globalization, industrial marketing strategies, innovation, digital applications, market economics, market environment, trade policies, brand management, investment, market behavior, and more

• A networking opportunity to meet international colleagues and professionals who are grappling with similar issues, problems, and concerns
• Opportunities for collaborative research with experts in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship, project management, and marketing strategy

Paper Submission: Important Dates and Guidelines

We invite full papers, posters, abstracts, and extended abstracts from interested academics, researchers, and students on the above-stated topics. Poster presentations are limited to Boston University students and faculty. The full paper should not exceed 30 pages in double space. The essential dates for submissions are as detailed below:

• Symposium Announcement-Call for Papers: September 01, 2026
• Submission of extended abstracts (Max. 2500 words): November 30, 2026
• Decision on submissions: January 15, 2027
• Submission of Posters: February 1, 2027
• Submission of Full papers: February 28, 2027
• Symposium registration opens: January 19, 2027
• Final Paper Details & Payment Due: February 15, 2027

All submissions (Extended abstracts and full papers) should be made using EasyChair in Word format. The full paper should be between 6000-8000 words, including an abstract (250 words), keywords, Tables, Charts, and references (APA style, 7^th edition). All papers will undergo the double-blind review process. Full papers selected for publication in the anthology will be notified to the author(s) separately with the submission requirements.

All submissions must be typed double-spaced with 2.5 cm or one-inch margins using 12-point Times New Roman font in a single MS Word file. All submissions must include a Title, Authors (names, affiliations, e-mails of all authors, and a notation (*) of the corresponding author), an Extended Abstract (no more than 2500 words), and 3-6 Keywords. The full paper (if called for) should not exceed 30 pages, including the Abstract, body of the text (Introduction, Theory, Methods, Findings, Discussion, Conclusions, and Implications), Tables, Figures, and References. All paper submissions must include a discussion that addresses the contribution of the author’s work to the advancement of business and business-related science and practice in the Conclusions and Implications section.

All submissions must be original, not previously published, not under current consideration, and not scheduled for presentation elsewhere.

Symposium Registration

There is no fee for authors to submit their papers to the international symposium. Only the authors/presenters of the accepted paper(s) will be asked to register to present on the Boston University or MET website. To secure their spot by paying the applicable fee as follows:

• Academic Faculty and Scholars- US$150
• Students-US$ 75
• Boston University faculty, scholars, and students are exempt from the registration fee.

Registration for the conference will open on February 01, 2027.

Publication Opportunities

Selected full papers will be subjected to a double-blind review and, upon satisfactory revision, published as an edited book in the book series “Palgrave Studies of Entrepreneurship and Social Challenges in Developing Economies” published by Springer, Cham, Switzerland, as a Palgrave Macmillan Imprint. This book series is being edited by Dr Rajagopal, Distinguished Professor (Retd.) and National Researcher at EGADE Business School, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City.

Authors may also choose to publish papers with the Conference’s partner journal (listed/indexed in Web of Science and SCOPUS).

Previous Conference Publications:

Rajagopal, Marcus Goncalves, and Vladimir Zlatev (2024). Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology - A Holistic Analysis of Growth Factors. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham: Springer. ISBN 978-3-031-65313-1 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-65314-8

Rajagopal, Marcus Goncalves, and Vladimir Zlatev (2025). Next Generation Entrepreneurship – Convergence of Innovation, Technology, and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham: Springer. ISBN 978-3-031-98512-6 https://link.springer.com/book/9783031985126

Rajagopal, Marcus Goncalves, and Vladimir Zlatev (2026). Entrepreneurship Ecosystem: Converging Responsible Innovation and Technology Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham: Springer. (In process)