Maarten Hogenstijn

Biography

Maarten is trained as a social geographer and has worked as a senior researcher at the AUAS since 2015. “Social entrepreneurs prioritize making a positive impact,” he says. “For them, money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. I see social entrepreneurs as pioneers on the road to the sustainable and fair economy of the future. At the same time, social entrepreneurship is still a relatively new field, and all sorts of questions arise. What skills do you need as a social entrepreneur? How can you recognize a social enterprise? How do you measure your impact? And how can social enterprises, together with other organizations, accelerate the transition to a new economy? We are conducting research into all these questions now and in the coming years.”

The professorship will be positioned within a larger research unit, in this case the Innovation and Entrepreneurship department at the knowledge center of the Faculty of Business and Economics. The goal is for the professorship to grow into a core professorship at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences within four years. Maarten is confident about this. “The theme is highly relevant, and many questions arise. More and more new social enterprises are emerging, and existing ones are also taking steps in this direction. The City of Amsterdam has been committed to this for years, it’s well-established nationally, and Europe also recognizes an important role for social enterprises.”

In addition to his role, Maarten also remain active in education. “I find that connection with education incredibly important. I teach the minor in Entrepreneurship for Society, in which students set up their own social enterprises, and the Master’s program in Economic Transformation. There, I can effectively share the latest research insights, and students can contribute to research. Education is also important in the research projects of the professorship: for example, I coordinate an  international project  developing educational materials on social entrepreneurship for children in primary and secondary school. As far as I’m concerned, you can’t start developing social entrepreneurial skills too early.”

Maarten Hogenstijn has published extensively on social entrepreneurship, including two textbooks. In 2024, “Social Entrepreneurship: Impact First” was published, which is available online in open access  . He is also a member of the international research network EMES and the Review Board of the Social Enterprise Code, and is one of the founders of the Knowledge Network for Social Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands (KSON).