Educational challenges in entrepreneurship training. A systematic analysis of academic initiatives in the Italian context.

Abstract

In the last twenty years, universities have enhanced the valorisation of research results through incubation initiatives of spin-offs and start-ups in the context of the third mission. Although these initiatives are consolidated, there are different organizational and training models.

On the one hand, these initiatives claim to be inspired by, among others, UNESCO documents or the key competence EntreComp as a path of sustainable and responsible human development to create economic, social and cultural value for communities and society. However, this inspiration frequently translates into business-oriented training on technical skills with an inadequate attention both to personal and social competences and to the community and social impacts produced by these initiatives. This reflection, resulting from the evidence produced in an international research project, is based on the systematic analysis of these initiatives present in the academic context in relation to the training offer provided for start-ups and spin-offs.

The results show how the socio-political and cultural models in force have a profound effect on the educational and training practices adopted in these initiatives, indicating, as a training problem, the difficulty of placing the challenge of education at the center of new subjectivities, projects, professionalism in connection with the social and community context in order to develop human and social development projects and not just business projects.