Start It Up - Support for young entrepreneurship

Abstract

[EN] The aim of the paper is to disclose how entrepreneurship education can be developed and examined in a Higher Education Insitution (HEI) via a EU funded local project. The paper examines HEI students´ motivation factors and needs concerning Entrepreneurship education (EE). Start It Up – Support for young entrepreneurship project´s objective is to support students and young people in entrepreneurship, new business creation and innovation, and also employment in and out the innovation ecosystems. Differentiating entrepreneurial methods, best practices, entrepreneurship coaching, and entrepreneurship spirit are tested and organized throughout the project. The project strives to deliver tools and motivation towards entrepreneurship. This article introduces the activities that have been done to support EE and a case study which examines how the entrepreneurship education can be improved to develop EE in the Finnish HEI. The main testing platforms for EE are presented and the results of the case study show that to promote entrepreneurship and to enhance students´ awareness and motivation towards entrepreneurship in the Finnish HEI, the offering of EE teaching, events and competitions for students should be increased and promoted more effectively.