University of Szeged has recently held its national launch where the audience could get an insight about the challenges and opportunities of nowadays young (Generation Z) entrepreneurs and the ways how their competences can be fostered. The EEE event was attended by over 50 regional business partners, stakeholders, academics and students. The focus of the event was the EEE specialized course, that involved local entrepreneurs as lecturers and mentors of the students. In the plenary session four presentations were delivered by project representatives, students and external stakeholders of the EEE semester program.

In his presentation Dr. Norbert Buzas has focused on the function of accelerators, characteristics of modern day entrepreneurs, and approaches to provide this new generation of entrepreneurs the best assistance during their development. Márk Olajos a young entrepreneur, who was involved as a mentor in the EEE course, highlighted the main challenges that nowadays Generation Y and Z entrepreneurs are facing. The third presenter Dr. Szabolcs Pronay introduced the EEE Teaching Toolkit to the audience, describing the methodology to be followed in successfully integrating the modules into the course programs, as well as indicating the potential barriers that can be faced in the process. The last presenter of the plenary session was Attila Tóth – a student who participated in the EEE semester course. He highlighted how the course learnings have had an impact on students’ mindset and equipped him with the right skills to successfully launch his start-up (called: Pricemind). The plenary session was followed by a workshop on the pathways to integrate regional stakeholders in entrepreneurial course program development and delivery.

Following plenary sessions and the workshop, in the afternoon, there was a joint event, the national final of a new presentation challenge, called “Prezilimpia – the Presentation Olympics”. This new challenge was co-organized and co-hosted by the Hungarian EEE team and it aimed to foster the presentation and pitching skills of the young entrepreneurs. 8 young entrepreneurs competed in front of the jury of local entrepreneurs and professional presenters. With this joined event a county-wide audience was reached and the program of the EEE National Launch was boosted to a full-day program about young (Generation Z) entrepreneurs, that also generated a larger media coverage.

© All rights for the images used in this post belong to the University of Szeged

Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) successfully introduced EEE project and the first project outputs to the regional entrepreneurial community and wider public at the Innsbruck Startup Festival and the innovation workshop.   

For a day, the old city of Innsbruck transformed itself from a historic neighbourhood to a modern entrepreneurial hub together with The Startup Festival, organized by Startup.Euregio. On 24 November, 2017, the pop-up start-up focal point ‘BASE EINS’ united more than 200 students, investors, start-ups, experts and other individuals passionate about fostering entrepreneurship in Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino. As an active participant, Management Center Innsbruck showcased its activities and recent outcomes, which have been well received by the visitors.

‘Innopun(s)ch’ workshop

A week after, on 1 December, 2017, EEE project was highlighted at yet another engaging event – ‘Innopun(s)ch’ workshop by MCI and Werkstaette Wattens. 20 participants from different backgrounds came together to discuss latest topics in the field of innovation management. A special focus has been laid on interactivity and practice to not only understand, but ‘feel’ and ‘touch’ innovation. Modules from the Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit have been employed in order to enrich the workshop and enhance the experience of its participants.

The EEE consortium has concluded its first national launch Weinberg Campus Bio-Zentrum Halle/Saale, Germany on Tuesday 21.11.2017. The high-level event was attended by 40+ participants coming from HEIs, VET provider, state ministries, intermediaries, as well communal bodies and showcased the educational resources developed within the EEE partnership.

In his introductory note, Mr. Bert Arnicke of Bio-Zentrum Halle took chance to highlight the importance of European cooperation projects as EEE for the international recognition and visibility of Weinberg Campus Halle. Furthermore, Mrs. Claudia Zott (Head of EU-Service Agency Saxony-Anhalt and co-host of the event) stretched the point that the European Project is undergoing hard times but is more important than ever for nurturing prosperity and peace in Europe. As such, successful European partnerships like EEE are important not only because of the valuable resources that are developed in such projects but also for establishing strong ties between Europeans on a personal level.

In the plenary session of the national launch Florian Bratzke and Daniel Worch explained EEE targets and educational intentions to the participants as well as how an inter-European project as EEE fits in with the long-term strategy and mission pursued by Univations GmbH. Their presentation was followed by an insight view on current developments of EU policies provided by Dr. David Fenner of the Representation of the State of Saxony-Anhalt to the EU. After the plenary session, the participants were asked to split up into separate work shop groups to detail the discussion about EEE outputs and potential involvements in Erasmus+ funded strategic partnerships. Overall, the EEE representatives received very positive and valuable feedback on each EEE intellectual output. As a matter of fact, participants feedback will be exploited to further ameliorate EEE intellectual outputs which are made available in beta version on the official EEE Learning Platform (http://www.eee-platform.eu/). After participants were given chance to attend both workshops, this part of the national launch was concluded with a qualified workshop summary provided Dr. Susanne Hübner, Head of the Start-Up Service at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg.

At the end of the EEE National Launch Germany, Mrs. Kathrin Hamel of EU Service Agency Saxony-Anhalt took chance to quickly inform all present guests about upcoming funding possibilities in the year 2018 as well to point to the valuable assistance her agency provides for stakeholders interested in getting involved in Erasmus+ as well as other European funded projects and partnerships.

The EEE National Launch in Halle/Saale, Germany has been the first of a series of EEE national multiplier events in Innsbruck (Austria) and Szeged (Hungary). The launch events on national level are a prelude to the international presentation of all EEE resources that will take place alongside the high-level UIIN University Industry Interaction Conference in London from 20-22 June 2018 (https://www.university-industry.com/).

 

 

Photo credits: © Jakob Adolphi