CONTEXT As stated in the latest OECD report on “The Missing Entrepreneurs 2019 - Policies for inclusive entrepreneurship”, digital entrepreneurship – the creation of digital businesses and the adoption of digital technologies by existing entrepreneurs – may hold potential for making entrepreneurship more inclusive. Under-represented population groups in entrepreneurship could be more likely to benefit from certain features of digital technologies for business creation and growth, including the lower start-up costs required for many digital businesses and the wider access to external markets offered by the internet. However, international surveys indicate that women, immigrants, youth and seniors are greatly under-represented among digital entrepreneurs in the EU (Eurostat, Labour Force Survey, 2019). These gaps are due to many factors, including a lack of digital entrepreneurship role models and a lack of digital skills, which affects seniors and women. Moreover, several recent studies show that many obstacles to business creation (e.g. lack of skills, access to finance, small and ineffective networks) carry over into the digital economy. Data on computer usage clearly show that women and seniors have gaps in basic digital skills, as do some groups of youth. These skills barriers reinforce the obstacles to start-up financing and networks. Therefore, the policy recommendations outline the need for actions contributing to address the barriers to digital entrepreneurship through schemes that build digital and entrepreneurship skills, including through education, training programmes and facilitating peer-learning. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The Missing Entrepreneurs Project aims to build a more inclusive culture towards digital start-ups and support the development of digital and entrepreneurship skills among vulnerable and still under-represented population groups in digital entrepreneurship such as women, immigrants, youth and seniors. To this end, a set of specific objectives and activities have been defined: - Develop a comprehensive framework of digital skill gaps of under-represented population groups (women, immigrants, youth and seniors) in digital entrepreneurship. This skill gaps mapping will be carried out in participating countries (France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Austria) and on the European level, allowing to identify common trends and shared understanding against two EU competence frameworks for digital competences and entrepreneurship. - Establish European Academy on Inclusive Digital Entrepreneurship composed of: o Extensive database of online training courses that leverages all available e-learning resources on entrepreneurships and digital skills o Practical training modules and “training pills” on digital tools available for digital entrepreneurship and digital transformation of businesses. - Enhance digital and entrepreneurial skills by deploying training courses and workshops to testing a set of innovative education materials and resources provided by European Academy on Inclusive Digital Entrepreneurship. This will allow to train at least 180 people that belongs to project target groups (women, immigrants, youth and seniors) on digital entrepreneurship by the end of the project. - Develop far-reaching educational and raising awareness campaign to combat the stereotype that digital entrepreneurs are young males by showcasing a wide range of role models and success stories. PARTICIPANTS The project targets vulnerable and still under-represented population groups in digital entrepreneurship such as women, immigrants, youth, seniors. MAIN RESULTS AND IMPACTS - Comprehensive framework of digital skill gaps of under-represented population groups (women, immigrants, youth and seniors) in digital entrepreneurship developed (IO1). - European Academy on Inclusive Digital Entrepreneurship established. It will include database of online training courses on entrepreneurships and digital skills (IO2) as well as training modules on digital tools for digital entrepreneurship and digital transformation of businesses (IO3). - Training courses and workshops Academy on Inclusive Digital Entrepreneurship organised (IO5). Relevant skills of at least 180 potential future entrepreneurs (women, immigrants, youth and seniors) will be improved. Their professional career perspectives will be enhanced as they will have increased possibilities to succeed on the labour market. - Educational and raising awareness campaign on Inclusive Digital Entrepreneurship set up (IO4). - The knowledge base increased and awareness raised of the partners in terms of learning needs and priorities within Inclusive Digital Entrepreneurship area. - Increased motivation towards lifelong learning and entrepreneurship amongst women, immigrants, youth, seniors and other people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Le projet " The Missing Entrepreneurs " vise à construire une culture plus inclusive envers les start-ups numériques et à soutenir le développement des compétences numériques et entrepreneuriales parmi les groupes de population vulnérables et encore sous-représentés dans l'entrepreneuriat numérique tels que les femmes, les immigrants, les jeunes et les seniors.
Comme indiqué dans le rapport de l'OCDE intitulé " Les entrepreneurs manquants 2019 - Politiques pour un entrepreneuriat inclusif ", l'entrepreneuriat numérique - la création d'entreprises numériques et l'adoption de technologies numériques par les entrepreneurs existants - pourrait avoir le potentiel de rendre l'entrepreneuriat plus inclusif. Les groupes de population sous-représentés dans l'entrepreneuriat pourraient être plus susceptibles de bénéficier de certaines caractéristiques des technologies numériques pour la création et la croissance des entreprises. Cependant, les enquêtes internationales indiquent que les femmes, les immigrants, les jeunes et les seniors sont largement sous-représentés parmi les entrepreneurs numériques dans l'UE. Ces écarts sont dus à de nombreux facteurs, notamment le manque de modèles d'entrepreneuriat numérique et le manque de compétences numériques, qui touche les seniors et les femmes. Par conséquent, les recommandations stratégiques soulignent la nécessité d'actions contribuant à lever les obstacles à l'entrepreneuriat numérique par des dispositifs qui renforcent les compétences numériques et entrepreneuriales.