Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES!): developing a toolkit in entrepreneurial and innovation education for 8-16 year olds in Europe

The overall aim of YES! is to empower young people in their personal and professional development whilst contributing to local, regional and global challenges. Evidence from industry (Accenture, 2016), government (European Commission 2013) and students
themselves (Yale et al 2016; Drayson et al 2012) suggests that young people could be better prepared to deal with a world of supercomplexity (Barnett 2000). This includes in terms of skills, knowledge, mindset and competencies and applies to individuals in employment as well as budding entrepreneurs.

The main objective of YES! is to develop a toolkit in entrepreneurial and innovation education for 8-16 year olds in Europe based on the EntreComp: the Entrepreneurship Competence Framework and principles of life design and using the UN Sustainable Development goals as a point of reference. The combination of these elements supports both sustainability literacy and entrepreneurship. Young participants will be provided opportunities to grapple with ‘wicked problems’ (Martin and Murray 2011) in the form of authentic sustainability challenges which may require innovative and/or entrepreneurial solutions. These opportunities will be situated within a global context, and will create a new channel for dialogue on such issues between a young audience and other stakeholders.

The scheme will be delivered by a consortia led by Nottingham Trent University (UK), ABIS (Belgium – Co-ordinators), ESADE (Spain), Technical University of Munich (Germany), University of the West of England (UK), University of Padova (Italy), Kozminsky University (Poland), University of Malta, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and the Aldridge Foundation (UK).