Building a competence center for entrepreneurial learning in Northern Scandinavia

In Sweden the introduction of entrepreneurial learning into curricula in the entire school system has prompted a need for competence development and research on the subject to satisfy the demand for practical guidance on the practical level and policy development on the different government levels. To address this, Luleå University of Technology together with Umeå University will build a competence center for entrepreneurial learning with a special focus on northern Sweden. In this presentation we will describe and reflect on 1) the current situation in terms of actors and resources linked to entrepreneurial learning; 2) the process we plan to apply in building this competence center, including attracting international actors to a reference group, Swedish national actors as partners and local actors as core center participants; 3) the content in terms of research, education, competence development and collaboration; and 4) guiding principles for how the center will work where the idea is to practice aspects of entrepreneurial learning (i.e. be proactive, creative and initiate action that have potential to provide positive change). One area where we will try to use our innovative power is on how we in a sparsely populated area can reach out to places far away from the University using new technology for communication and collaboration. Here the center can collaborate with CiiR (Center for interorganizational innovation research) an existing Vinnova excellence center at LTU/UmU focusing on innovation in sparsely populated areas.Godkänd; 2013; 20130605 (ysko