Youth entrepreneurship
In the spotlight
Take a look at how youth entrepreneurship can be boosted in your region and create new opportunities for young innovators. Our experts have hand-picked the most relevant content on the topic for you so you can dive right in and discover strategies to support and nurture youth-driven startups and initiatives.
Student entrepreneurship and exploitation of research results in Southern France
On 7 and 8 December 2021, the Policy Learning Platform organised an online peer review with the French Région SUD Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur as host. The two-day review revolved around student entrepreneurship and the exploitation of research results through innovative start-up creation and technology transfer.
Early school leaving and integration of NEETS into the labour market in Réunion Island
On 28-30 November 2023, the Policy Learning Platform hosted a peer review for the Regional Council of La Réunion (France). The Region was looking for advice and inspiration on how to prevent school and academic dropout rates, as well as to increase the employment rate of young people.
The Regional Council of La Réunion wishes to put in place an action plan to prevent and combat early school leaving, which is a major regional cause. This action plan will be based on a strategy to be defined with the local stakeholders. In this context, the following challenges were discussed:
Entrepreneurial education: a case of excellence
Entrepreneurship: high on the EC agenda
For the European Commission (EC), entrepreneurship is the act of seizing opportunities and ideas and transforming them into value for others, which can be financial, cultural, or social.
With the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan adopted in 2013, the EC set out a renewed vision and a series of actions to be taken at both EU and Member State levels to support entrepreneurship in Europe.
Trainee Sør (Trainee South)
Many European regions struggle to attract and retain young professionals. In the STEM sector, with a smaller talent pool and lower % of women, this impacts negatively on the gender gap.
This is an issue in the Agder region, whose key business sectors are ship technologies, marine engineering and offshore drilling. Trainee South was launched to meet companies’ needs to attract young professionals to the area. Enterprises, universities and public institutions participate and use their communication channels to publicize the program.
In terms of criteria to participate, it is open to graduates up to 30 years old from across Norway, who have an excellent academic background and demonstrate a strong motivation to boost the development of Agder. Enterprises benefit from a professional recruitment service, guaranteeing that the most skilled applicants are selected. Evaluation of skills helps eliminate gender bias that can discriminate against women in male-dominated sectors.
Concerning activities, selected applicants participate in an 18-month-long paid traineeship, working in different companies and institutions (6 months each). They are in close contact with a daily manager and other trainees to ask questions and share experiences. They are also coupled with a carefully selected mentor who helps them to identify goals and overcome challenges. Trainee South also organizes parallel networking events, study trips and courses and training events, such as public speaking courses.
