On 24 and 25 of September, representatives of night region from the iEER pilot action - train the trainesr - met in Valencia to review the results of the iEER pilot actioin. The two days was full of experience exchanges bringing staffs and teachers and the students to share what they had learned.
At the closing session, Mrs. Teresa García, Director general of Entrepreneurship and Cooperativism of the Valencia Regional Government emphasised that “The success of Aula Emprende at European level confirms the Consell’s commitment to promote entrepreneurial culture”. She further suggested that 9 regions and 31 universities that replicated this best practice emerging from Comunitat Valenciana to maintain and and enhance this operation through an Aula Emprende network all over Europe.
According to the director general, “the iEER project has made it possible to provide international projection to an initiative in the promotion of entrepreneurship among the university community, such as Aula Emprende, which has had the support of the Conselleria for Sustainable Economy since the year 2014, through the ‘Campus of Entrepreneurship Innovation’ (Campus del Emprendimiento Innovador).
Teresa García encouraged the regions participating in the iEER Interreg project to continue this action, and to foster it, even, “through joint initiatives such as creating an Aula Emprende network at European level, establishing awards to promote entrepreneurship skills in their classrooms, and any other means of collaboration that may be considered appropriate.”
Aula Epmrende pilot has successfully involved 31 universties, trained 352 teachers and professors and taught 1101 students in nine regions replicating the Motivem model.
What's iEER Aula Emprende Pilot action?
After the recognition in 2015 of Comunitat Valenciana as a ‘European Entrepreneurial Region’ (EER), it had the opportunity to participate in an Interreg project called ‘Boosting Innovative Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Regions to Support Young Entrepreneurs’ (iEER), led by the Helsinki-Uusimaa region, bringing together 10 European regions, which aims to improve the capacity of regions to facilitate young entrepreneurship through higher education institutions.
During the project, the participating regions identified 54 best practices in the field of entrepreneurship; 6 of them corresponded to Comunitat Valenciana, including Aula Emprende, the Valencian Council of Entrepreneurship and the Patents and Knowledge Bank. These 6 best practices were included among the 19 selected as iEER ‘Outstanding best practices’, because of their high potential and capacity to be replicated in other regions.
The regions participating at the meeting of the 9th monitoring committee of the iEER Interreg project, held at the end of January 2018 in Helsinki, selected Aula Emprende as a joint action to be proposed to the Joint Secretariat by requesting a Pilot Action.
Aula Emprende is a workshop for motivational teachers that is divided into two stages. The first stage aims to implement various useful university teaching techniques for detecting and fostering entrepreneurial values among students. During the second stage the knowledge acquired by teachers is transferred to students by setting up multidisciplinary teams of students for the development and presentation of entrepreneurial projects and social initiatives.
