Irene Bengo

• Phd
• Engineer at Politecnico di Milano

This paper presents a systemic methodology by which engineering is put to use in vulnerable communities through applied technological research and the main results of its application. The methodology presented corresponds to one implemented and designed by two groups of Engineers without Borders in Europe and Latin America, to integrate technical k...

At present, a wide range of stakeholders including consumers, regulators, shareholders and public bodies are demanding that companies address sustainability in a more comprehensive way. However, even if a company actually wishes to innovate its processes for improving the way to account for sustainability, it will face relevant difficulties to deal...

Over the past 20 years, the issue of performance measurement in Social Enterprises (SEs) has gained increasing relevance among researchers and practitioners. From an academic perspective, there has been an explosion in methodologies and tools for assessing social performance and impact, but with little systematic analysis and comparison across diff...

This paper aims to perform a review of different accounting frameworks, including indicators and metrics applicable to the social business sector, discussing the strengths and the weaknesses of different approaches in relationship to their ability to respond to objectives and interests of different stakeholders in the social business ecosystem. The...

Despite the general hype, Social Impact Bonds’ (SIB) rate of adoption is still modest. The mismatch between widespread interest and actual adoption raises interesting questions as to whether we are still in the early adoption phase of SIBs and massive diffusion is yet to come, or we are observing a marginal phenomenon. In order to shed some light o...

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have emerged as promising and dynamic means to provide public goods, infrastructures, and services, thus representing a potential solution to grand societal challenges and social value generation. Despite this, such potential of PPPs is challenged by contractual issues, that can arise from conflicting objectives a...

Impact investing funds (IIFs) are a type of investment fund that aims to achieve both financial and social goals, and they have become a valuable resource for social purpose organizations (SPOs) seeking capital. Our research evaluates the investment process by comparing approaches in two countries, Italy and Australia. We conducted semi‐structured...

This paper investigates the capacity of impact assessment processes to settle the category of hybrid entrepreneurial organisations. This potential lies in two main endeavours: the integrated and holistic assessment of the economic and socio-environmental fields, and the provision of robust and comparable results balanced with a tailored representat...

Sustainability is becoming the main character of the financial industry in Europe, especially after the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) 2019/2088, which came into force on March 10th, 2021. However, despite the top‐down indications for disclosing and reporting sustainability practices provided by this new policy, financial actors s...

Social impact investing (SII) is a strategy of asset allocation that aims to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Compared to other approaches of sustainable finance it holds an enormous potential of generating solutions to societal challenges. However, scholars have claimed that social impact often just employs lo...

Innovation systems are increasingly oriented towards the solution of societal and environmental problems. Social entrepreneurship can be regarded as a market-based actor, inherently aimed at finding solutions for these problems. The development of technologically advanced social entrepreneurship represents an outcome of problem-oriented innovation...

The commitment to generating a blended value is increasingly spreading in the business sector. At the forefront of this movement, impact ventures are organizations born to produce value for the society, i.e. social impact, while engaging in commercial activities to sustain their operations. On the other end, we have observed an increased emphasis o...

This paper contributes to the current debate about Benefit Corporations, presenting the development of this organisational model in Italy, the first country to introduce this hybrid form after the US. Grounded on an institutional logic perspective, it provides a picture of the institutional dynamics that have characterised the rise of this new entr...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to perform a critical analysis of the relationship between small- and medium-sized social enterprises (SMSEs) and banks. Based on the conceptual framework for the analysis of SME’s credit availability developed by Berger and Udell (2006), this study aims to contribute to the current debate in two ways: first, ou...

How do the distinctive managerial challenges of hybrid organizations appear in practice? Which skills can be taught to respond to those challenges? These important questions are investigated based on, first, an in-depth study of social incubators/accelerators and social ventures (SVs). Second, building upon the ‘paradoxical leadership model for soc...

Recent debate on VET, at both institutional and academic levels, points out the need for new approaches able to face the current and future challenges: (technical and social) innovation, attitude to lifelong learning, internationalization, literacy, among the others (Dato, 2017). A stronger partnership between the industrial and the educational sys...

In recent years, car-sharing models have undergone relevant changes, leading to the emergence of different operational models, managerial and technological solutions, and more in general different vehicle-sharing configurations. These models are able to answer in different ways to potential mobility needs, put forth by both individual citizens and...

In the panorama of materials for design, a novel phenomenon is emerging. We already individuated it and called DIY-Materials. In the developed countries (mostly in Europe and North America), DIY-Materials are the response to an increasing standardized industrialization in the field of materials and technologies. Thanks to the democratization of tec...

This chapter aims to contribute to the debate about performance measurement and management in the social business sector through the analysis of the critical issues that arise in the implementation of impact assessment models in social business organizations. To this aim, the social impact measurement approaches, which are suggested in the literatu...

This paper presents a roadmap to support the development of social impact bonds (SIBs) in Italy. Current barriers and opportunities are explained. SIBs should be piloted in areas where the cultural, ideological, technical and governance barriers are low. Accurate measurement systems will be necessary and an effective governance structure needs to b...

In order to develop an effective method for appropriate technology diffusion, as in the solar water heater (SWH) case, the technical aspects (appropriate technology) and the planning aspects (stakeholders participation, training, and skills transfer, etc.) are both fundamental. Appropriate technologies must always take into consideration many aspec...

Poverty is widely considered as the major problem in the socioeconomic development of Pakistan. The main objective is the alleviation of poverty through the start-up of a microcredit system in the Walled City of Multan for the promotion of income-generating activities and the rehabilitation and strengthening of local arts and crafts. A theoretical...

Two natural smectite clays (STx-1b and SWy-2) were studied as solid sorbents for uptake and release of lanthanum. Since the obtained global efficiencies of lanthanum recovery were about 30-35%, the same considered natural clays were modified by intercalating a PEGylated ethylene diamine having chelating properties, in order to evaluate a possible i...

In the last decades, the issue of energy access has attracted increasing attention from both academic and practitioners and the debate has gone beyond purely technical issues, raising the interest of the public opinion and private citizens. Particular attention has been given to the question: how private and public organizations can ensure energy a...