A historical retrospective: The King inaugurated Esbri

29 years ago, Esbri was inaugurated by King Carl XVI Gustaf. Since then, its mission has remained the same: to disseminate research-based knowledge about entrepreneurship, innovation and small business to a wider audience.

“In glorious sunshine and with almost 300 invited guests, King Carl XVI Gustaf opened ESBRI. This was followed by a symposium on the theme of “Creating growth and new jobs”, which was attended by several prominent researchers, including the American David L. Birch, who is known for his research on fast-growing companies, known as gazelles.”

The quote comes from an article about the inauguration and the symposium in the first issue of the magazine Research on Entrepreneurship and Small Business, which Esbri started publishing in the fall of 1997.

Tomorrow marks the 29th anniversary of the inauguration of ESBRI. The symposium held in conjunction with the inauguration had research as its focus – but public education as its purpose.

Since then, thousands of articles have been written and published. There have also been numerous conferences, open lectures, seminars, workshops and webinars.

All to ensure that research-based knowledge is exactly what Esbri’s founder Leif Lundblad said in an interview for Esbri’s 5th anniversary: “Research must be understandable, readable and useful.”

Unfortunately, Leif is no longer with us, but his creativity and entrepreneurial spirit have been guiding principles for Esbri since its inception.

Watch a video from the inauguration below.