Sustainable development is at the very heart of the European Union (EU). Every EU initiative is aimed at improving citizens’ lives, on a healthier planet, for a sustainable future. The world faces many increasingly pressing challenges. The EU’s main sustainability challenge for the coming decade is to decouple its economic development from environmental degradation and overcome the remaining social inequalities. The EU is committed to striving for a green and inclusive economy, setting the bar high for the sustainability transition and blazing the trail globally. Open innovation is at the heart EU policy as 2020 draws to a close. This means opening-up the innovation process to people with experience in fields other than academia and science; including more people in the innovation process; allowing knowledge to circulate more freely; developing products and services that can create new markets. Innovative entrepreneurship with its disruptive trademark is central to the innovation and sustainable goals of all EU Member States. While every new business start-up represents an important milestone for the individual involved and the area where it is established these aren’t the kinds of businesses that are the true growth engines of our economy. In fact, according to research conducted by Amar Bhide in 2018, one of the world’s leading entrepreneurship experts, “85% of entrepreneurs around the world build businesses based on someone else’s idea. Only about 15% of them launch ventures based upon their own original idea”. Economic development is highly associated with entrepreneurship, creating new wealth, contributing to employment creation and to socio-economic change but the thing that differentiates a business start-up from a truly entrepreneurial venture is innovation. Innovation-based entrepreneurs play an important role in boosting economies all over the world. Although innovative entrepreneurs come from different backgrounds and environments, they share common traits, motives and competencies. In addition, innovative entrepreneurs are known to have a strong educational background and work experience of 5-10 years prior to launching their first venture. They are neither beginners nor novices. True innovative entrepreneurs are serial innovators who leave a portfolio of successful and not-so-successful ventures behind them at the end of their career. Supporting the growth of innovative entrepreneurs through VET can therefore expect to achieve an enduring impact. Creative thinking, problem solving, leadership and team management, innovation management, agile management, strategic planning, risk management, business model development, raising venture capital and rapid experimentation are the major trainable competences for innovative entrepreneurs. Providing training materials that address each of these competences and presenting them in a bespoke innovation education ecosystem that is accessible, attractive and appropriate for the very specific target group of the project is not only worthwhile but also necessary. The aim of the 8 PER CENT project is to support the growth of innovative entrepreneurs in Europe. To achieve this, the project will develop the following intellectual outputs: IO1 – Compendium of interactive infographics providing innovation entrepreneurship training IO2 – In-service training for VET tutors IO3 – 8 PER CENT MOOC
The 8 PER CENT consortium has worked to support the growth of innovative entrepreneurs in Europe by developing training materials around the main skills of innovative entrepreneurs and presenting them in an innovative, accessible, attractive and appropriate education ecosystem. It was a question of proposing a pedagogical approach based on the game and relying on an immersive process using mobile devices (mobile phone or tablet) and social networks. 40 interactive infographics serve as the basis for educational resources (presented as images on social media sites and other specialized sites with direct access by scanning the QR code) The provision of a continuing education program for VET professionals enables them to develop digital media skills, build confidence to work in e-learning environments and learn more about the skills of innovative entrepreneurs.
Innovative enterprises play an important role in stimulating economies around the world. However, only a small percentage of new ventures are innovative. Therefore, the objective of the 8 PER CENT project is to support the growth of innovative entrepreneurs in Europe. The project involves 8 partners who are located in France, Portugal, Cyprus, Spain, Croatia, Germany and Netherlands and who have experience in the fields of entrepreneurship, continuing education and education. The 8% consortium proposed to meet the need of innovative entrepreneurs to train throughout their professional career. This was done through the development of digital training material, which addresses the ten key skills to be developed by innovative entrepreneurs, hosted in an educational platform that is accessible, attractive and adapted to the target group. Furthermore, the project contributes to the professional development of teachers, trainers and mentors in VET. A continuing education program allows them to maximize the potential of new, dynamic and media-rich educational resources.