IntoAction

Platform: Smart Design

Project code: 9201005001_0016

Language: Finnish

Project Description

Students currently have limited opportunities to learn through practical business activities. Another challenge is the verbalisation of entrepreneurial skills, which makes it difficult to identify and develop them. According to a recent study, university of applied sciences students consider entrepreneurship studies to be very important for developing expertise (52%) and fostering entrepreneurship (49%).

The IntoAction project addresses these skills challenges and supports professional mobility in Ostrobothnia by developing continuous learning opportunities that build successful entrepreneurship and leverage experience-based skills. The project targets students, the unemployed, and individuals in employment who are at transitional stages in their careers.

The project creates a learning environment developed through strategic experiments. The development of functional entrepreneurial skills is promoted and facilitated according to active learning principles. The learning environment comprises authentic learning situations, a digital learning platform, and a structured learning path.

Goals

The objective of the project is to design and pilot a continuous learning environment for developing functional entrepreneurial skills in Ostrobothnia. The project aims to enhance entrepreneurship education to support these skills and foster the creation and growth of start-ups. In addition, it seeks to contribute to innovation development, business growth, competitiveness, and internationalization in the region.

Results

The project will produce several concrete outcomes that strengthen functional entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial thinking. These include a publication on a learning path for developing practical entrepreneurial skills and a publication on strategic experiments conducted in authentic learning situations. In addition, a digital learning environment based on active learning will be created and made openly available online as an application. The project will enhance participants’ entrepreneurial skills, reinforce entrepreneurship as a means of employment, and particularly increase women’s interest in entrepreneurship.

The results will be verified in multiple ways. The learning path and strategic experiments will be documented in publications, the digital learning platform will be evaluated through its open accessibility, and at least 50 participants from the target group will take part in the strategic experiments. New skills and entrepreneurship as a pathway to employment will be assessed through participant learning evaluations.

In the long term, the project will strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Vaasa and support Ostrobothnia’s smart specialisation strategy by increasing the number and impact of new businesses and creating structures for continuous learning and centres of expertise. Promoting entrepreneurial thinking, operational capabilities, and an entrepreneurial culture will support the creation of new businesses and the survival of start-ups. The entrepreneurial skills gained will also benefit existing companies through innovation expertise, reflected in new products, services, markets, and processes that enhance growth and competitiveness. Finally, new start-ups will generate jobs in the region, while the employment of international students in their own start-ups will strengthen the region’s knowledge capital and overall employment.

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