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Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

classroom atmosphere with that of a workplace. In Belgium some IVET
institutions have organised classes to teach entrepreneurial values to young male
students who are at risk of leaving education, especially those from minority
backgrounds. The classes involve the transformation of the classroom into a
business, led by the teacher. Students subsequently take on different roles within
the ‘class/business’ to help them understand the value of work.

3.3. Enterprise familiarisation activities

Enterprise familiarisation activities go further by showing how and why
businesses operate, and about entrepreneurial practices and environments, by
undertaking activities set in enterprise contexts. Three different types have been
identified as part of this research: innovation camps, business competitions and
other approaches.

3.3.1. Innovation camps
Innovation camps are one of the prime examples of an enterprise-oriented
activity which give students a flavour of entrepreneurial processes, challenges
and activities, and encourage creativity and innovative thinking. They are
facilitated by Ja-Ye branches across Europe and by their central organisation at
European level. Innovation camps involve students working on real business
challenges in a 24-hour intensive workshop. Students come from schools,
colleges and HEIs of both general and vocational orientation though this
approach is seen to suit vocational schools in particular as it increases
collaboration with companies. Ja-Ye Europe has created a European network of
providers of innovation camps. comprising 390 vocational schools and 7 800
vocational school students in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey;
600 directly participate in the challenge in each country. The project also involves
390 newly-trained teachers, 390 newly-trained business volunteers, 13 trainers-
for-trainers and thousands of parents.
Innovation camps have proved to be incredibly popular among students and
businesses alike. There is significant amount anecdotal evidence from a number
of different European countries that innovation camps are helping to raise
awareness about entrepreneurship as a professional career choice and they are
increasing students’ interest in other entrepreneurship-oriented activities, such as
mini-companies (see Chapter 3.4). They are also increasing companies’ interest
in such activities, under their corporate social responsibility agenda.

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