In response to climate change, there has been a growing interest in the development of a ‘green’ or ‘low carbon’ economy as a means of reconciling economic development and the environment. However, research on green entrepreneurs to date has focused on individual green entrepreneurs, neglecting wider economic and social contexts within which they operate. In addition, the green entrepreneurship movement is often presented as a non-profit motivated business sector that belongs to the ‘social entrepreneurship stable’. While the emerging green megatrend has brought green entrepreneurship into sharp focus, it is still seen and regarded by many as an add-on to the market economy comprising business ventures that address and satiate the consumer habits of environmentalists and green activists. Entrepreneurs are frequently thought of as national assets to be cultivated, motivated, and remunerated to the greatest possible extent. Great entrepreneurs can change the way we live and work. If successful, their innovations can improve standards of living, create wealth and jobs and contribute to a growing economy. The European Commission first referred to the importance of entrepreneurship education in 2003, in the European Green Paper on Entrepreneurship in Europe. By 2006, the European Commission had identified a ‘sense of initiative and entrepreneurship’ as one of the eight key competences necessary for all members of a knowledge-based society. The 2008 Small Business Act for Europe, the 2012 Communication on Rethinking Education, the 2013 Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2020, and more recently the New Skills Agenda for Europe, have kept the need to promote entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial learning under the spotlight. Realising the pivotal role that education plays in the development of entrepreneurship the EntreComp framework was developed by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policy-making process. EntreComp was developed to become a reference de facto for any initiative aiming to foster entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens. It consists of 3 interrelated and interconnected competence areas: ‘Ideas and opportunities’, ‘Resources’ and ‘Into action’. Each of the areas is made up of 5 competences, which, together, constitute the building blocks of entrepreneurship as a competence. Consortium partners are of the opinion that the EntreComp framework needs to be reconsidered; it needs to incorporate and reflect the green objectives of our time. It is not sufficient to have some green entrepreneurs; rather every entrepreneur needs to incorporate environmental and ecological factors into their business from the very beginning. While greening existing businesses will be a long and arduous task most likely influenced by carbon taxation and other policy measures, the emphasis for Vocational Education and Training should be firmly placed on greening the entrepreneurship actions of next generation entrepreneurs. Greening EntreComp, as the key benchmark for entrepreneurship education is now an essential first step. Intellectual Outputs IO1 - Green EntreComp Framework - The following groups of partners will work in teams to green the different areas of the EntreComp Framework as follows: Ideas & Opportunities will be led by UPB with support from SRC and UoP; Resources will be led by UPIT with support from CALLIDUS and ISQ; Into Action will be led by CARDET with support from BFU and BFI Burgenland. These groups of partners will revise and re-draft the 3 competence areas and the 15 key competences to reflect essential sustainable entrepreneurship values and replace or revise the associated learning outcomes for each competence. IO2 - Business Modelling for Circular Economy Businesses - The following groups of partners will develop a suite of business modelling training resources that address each of the following recognized circular economy business models: SRC will lead The Co-creation of Products/Services Model supported by BFI Burgenland and UPIT; CALLIDUS will lead the The Sustainable Consumption Model supported by UoP and CARDET; and BFU will lead the The Collaborative Recycling/Reuse Model supported by UPB and ISQ. IO3 - In-service Training - UPIT and UPB will lead the development of the in-service training programme supported by CALLIDUS and ISQ IO3 - Green-4-Future MOOC – CARDET and SRC will lead the development of the Green-4-Future MOOC
Green-4-Future is a strategic partnership in VET which aims to reconcile economic goals with environmental and climate goals. A core idea is to support the ideas of the European Green Deal. Another cruicial idea of the project is to rethink the EntreComp reference framework developed by the JRC. In particular, it is about greening the EntreComp reference framework. In addition to creating a Green EntreComp Framework, i.e. a green version of the EntreComp Reference Framework, the partners of Green-4-Future aim to focus on business modelling for circular economy enterprises, create an in-service training for VET teachers and design a Green-4-Future MOOC. The nine project partners are from Germany, Cyprus, Croatia, Austria, Ireland, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Portugal. Coordinator is the University of Paderborn, Germany. The project Green-4-Future comprises 4 universities, 3 research centres/institutes, 2 vocational training institutions, all active in the field of vocational training and green entrepreneurship. The objective to design the results and a MOOC where all courses /materials are availbale and can be used is a great chance to encourage a broad audience to engage in Green Entrepreneurship.
The green economy is an economic system that prioritizes sustainability and low-carbon practices. It aims to ensure that natural resources are used in a way that does not deplete them, and that the environment is protected while promoting economic growth and social equity1. The importance of the green economy lies in its potential to address the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation while promoting sustainable development. Therefore it is important to foster start-ups in this field to make support Green change. Here the Green4Future project addresses the needs of people who wants to become an entrepreneur in this field. There was a need to revise the EntreComp framework which was developed by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science service in the past. The need for change was obvious with regard to the issues of Green Thinking and Green Economy. That´s where Green4Future stepped in with redesigning the Entre Comp into a new Green EntreComp framework and with supporting modules and eductional offers for the people who want to become Green Entrepreneurs. This fits excellent into the European Green Deal.