Networks join forces to move entrepreneurship education forward in Europe

Europe needs more entrepreneurs, so investing in entrepreneurship education is one of the best investments we can make. A new organisation seeks to do just this. While research shows the positive socioeconomic effects of entrepreneurship education, increased policy support is needed to strengthen and grow its penetration.

The European Entrepreneurship Education NETwork (www.ee-hub.eu) is working to become a focal point for entrepreneurship education in Europe.

Initiated by education organisation, JA Europe, the EE-HUB will act as a centre for supporting increased levels of entrepreneurial activities in schools.

The network brings together organisations and individuals from the public and private sectors with strong records of accomplishment in entrepreneurship education at regional, national and European level. It is a consortium composed of four partners: JA Europe, EUROCHAMBRES, SEECEL and EUproVET.

The partners have members in more than 40 countries. Additional private sector partners include Cisco, EY, Intel, Microsoft, and Visa. The network is supported by the European Commission's COSME Programme.

EE-HUB is about collaboration and creating value, both through innovation and through sharing. The network of 50 individual experts are committed to entrepreneurial learning and are engaged with organisations or sister networks in the field and/or with national or regional governments. They will collect, analyse, innovate and recommend best practice from the field, as well as share these recommendations with ministries, organisations and practitioners during peer-learning activities and meetings.

Priority areas

Five areas are crucial for moving entrepreneurship education forward in Europe. The EE-HUB has set these five areas as a priority with regards to development and best practice sharing:

• solid national framework to support entrepreneurship education;

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• eacher training;

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• nvolvement of business, organisations and associations;

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• cosystems to mainstream activities and support schools;

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• nstruments to collect and assess information.

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'The EE-HUB is a welcome progress in a very important field, a targeted action that can help us build the next generation of entrepreneurs, businessmen, inventors, problem-solvers, leaders. The generation that will move European economies and societies forward. Entrepreneurs and politicians are mutually interrelated. Entrepreneurs "make" and politicians "do". Particularly, we need to DO much in order to enable them to MAKE; to ensure that a real entrepreneurial culture is cultivated in Europe', MEP Ambassador Eva Paunova during the EE-HUB Launch.