European Alternative Finance Research Conference 2018 Summary
Around sixty researchers, practioners and policymakers met in Utrecht for the 2nd edition of the European Alternative Finance Research Conference to discuss ongoing research and its implications for theory and practice.
After the keynote by Nir Vulkan entitled ‘Equity crowdfunding –a good idea?’ which centred around the evolution of equity crowdfunding in the UK and Europe, the participants listened and discussed ideas around (in)formal institutions for crowdfunding in different sectors, the phenomenon equity crowdfunding and later peer-to-business lending as well as new trends such as ICOs. In the afternoon Joachim Schwerin, Armando Melone (both European Commission) and Robert Pettigrew (UK P2P Finance Association) reflected upon the current state of crowdfunding regulation in the UK and Europe and different approaches to policy making. The conference concluded with several break-out sessions on access to finance for sustainability and reward-based crowdfunding.