Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education: Laying the foundation for future change agents

Relaziona

Thomas Lans

Education and Learning Sciences

Wageningen University (NL)

Introducono

Enrico Dainese

Preside Facoltà di Bioscienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari e Ambientali

Paola Pittia

Delegato del Rettore all’Internazionalizzazione

Raffaele Mascella

Delegato del Rettore alla Qualità

e all’innovazione della didattica e all’ICT

Erasmus+ Strategic partnership INTRINSIC

Emilio Chiodo

Facoltà di Bioscienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari e Ambientali

At first glance entrepreneurship may bring up the image of something that is connected with self-interest, money-making, fast growth, competition and disruption, echoing something rather unsustainable. However, such a focus would neglect the agency and intention of entrepreneurial individuals who shoulder risks and uncertainties to create value, innovate traditional business models and actively preserve ecosystems, counteract climate change, reduce environmental degradation, improve agricultural practices, and maintain biodiversity. The difference between conventional entrepreneurs and sustainable entrepreneurs is not just about the difference in the nature of the opportunity to be exploited, but also has to do with the value oriented character of the decisions made which entails making the trade-off between economic, social and environmental values without, a priori, choosing one over another – even if this entails tensions and conflicts. Sustainable entrepreneurs thus require different skills, knowledge and values which enable them to achieve sustainability goals through their entrepreneurial actions. Life Sciences Universities can lay the foundations for these competencies. However, what is sustainable entrepreneurship education? An oxymoron, an add-on to regular entrepreneurship education or a pathway towards agency and new pedagogies? In this seminar, I will discuss the background of sustainable entrepreneurship education and provide practical tools and examples for educators to kick-start thinking about the potential of sustainable entrepreneurship education in Life Sciences education.

Thomas Lans, visiting professor presso la Facoltà di Bioscienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari e Ambientali, è professore associato in Entrepreneurship Education alla Wageningen University and Research (WUR, Paesi Bassi), coordinatore dell’Unità di Ricerca Entrepreneurship Education @ Wageningen e coordinatore del corso di studio Entrepreneurship Education della Wageningen Academy.

Il progetto Erasmus+ Strategic partnership INTRINSIC (Innovative Education for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences) ha come fine quello di sviluppare azioni innovative per l’educazione all’imprenditorialità sostenibile nell’ambito delle Università nel settore delle Life Science, con l’obiettivo di preparare i propri studenti ad intraprendere e condurre azioni efficaci per affrontare le sfide di un futuro sostenibile per l’Europa.