„ScaleUp4Sustainability (S4S)“ combines two important demands called by European policy: 1) To address green entrepreneurship in higher education, this will contribute to the modernization of Europe’s higher education systems, and 2) to strengthen Europe’s capacity to innovate. S4S will increase innovation capacity by introducing new forms of student-business collaboration in developing, implementing and scaling-up eco-innovations and starting new green businesses. We refer to this activity as „green venturing“. With “green” we refer to the concept of a Green Economy and the notion of a triple bottom line.The project will focus on the collaboration of student teams and business partners in green venturing. This form of collaborative green venturing is embedded in Bachelor and Master programmes of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and is organized and coached by professors and teaching staff. Collaborative green venturing constitutes an innovative form of multidisciplinary, real problem-based interactive learning and entrepreneurship education. S4S will make use of existing initiatives and schemes for collaborative green venturing of involved universities from Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.The objectives of the proposed project are: 1) To evaluate the outputs and outcomes of collaborative green venturing,2) to develop new, innovative approaches and tools to teaching and learning sustainable entrepreneurship and collaborative green venturing,3) to stimulate sustainable entrepreneurship and green venturing skills of students, teaching staff as well as company staff,4) to scale up and diffuse innovative approaches in collaborative green venturing at the involved HEIs and regions as well as across Europe, 5) to facilitate and boost the transnational exchange of knowledge with university-business collaboration in green venturing, and, 6) to disseminate good practices and knowledge in collaborative green venturing to provide a European added value.
1) evaluate outputs/ outcomes of collaborative green venturing and identify key factors of effectiveness -2) develop innovative approaches and tools to teaching and learning sustainable entrepreneurship -3) stimulate sustainable entrepreneurship skills of students, teaching staff as well as company staff -4) scale up innovative approaches at the involved HEIs and regions as well as across Europe -5) facilitate and boost transnational exchange of experiences
Entrepreneurship is important for reaching Sustainable Development Goals and solving fundamental challenges. The Green Action Plan of the EC states, “Green entrepreneurship should already be addressed in (higher) education, to prepare the mind-set of future green entrepreneurs”. It recommends encouraging green entrepreneurship by helping potential entrepreneurs to identify sustainable business opportunities, and to develop new and creative forms of cooperation between businesses and academia.
<< Background >> Entrepreneurship is important for reaching Sustainable Development Goals and solving fundamental challenges. The Green Action Plan of the EC states, “Green entrepreneurship should already be addressed in (higher) education, to prepare the mind-set of future green entrepreneurs”. It recommends encouraging green entrepreneurship by helping potential entrepreneurs to identify sustainable business opportunities, and to develop new and creative forms of cooperation between businesses and academia. << Objectives >> 1) evaluate outputs/ outcomes of collaborative green venturing and identify key factors of effectiveness -2) develop innovative approaches and tools to teaching and learning sustainable entrepreneurship -3) stimulate sustainable entrepreneurship skills of students, teaching staff as well as company staff -4) scale up innovative approaches at the involved HEIs and regions as well as across Europe -5) facilitate and boost transnational exchange of experiences << Implementation >> S4S was implemented by University of Oldenburg, Linköping University, Vennebroek Acadmic Services, Borderstep Institut and the companies EWE, BÜFA, CEWE (Germany), Terkniska Verken and Againity (Sweden) as well as Noble Environmental Technologies Europe (The Netherlands) << Results >> 16 tested newly developed or significantly changed approaches of collaborative venturing (curricular and extracurricular), 328 business ideas developed by students, Guidelines for Evaluation, Database of Tools and Approaches for Student-Business Collaboration in Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education, Sustainable Venturing Challenges Platform (incl. Database of Challenge Providers, Tips and Tricks for Implementation of Sustainable Venturing Challenges into teaching and innovation management)