Encouraging Entrepreneurial Competence Development in Italian University Students: Insights from the “Contamination Lab” Cases

Secundo, Giustina; Garavelli, Claudio; Paolucci, Emilio; Schiuma, Giovanni; Mele, Gioconda; Sansone, Giuliano

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42538-8_10

Cited by 2 publications

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“…In fact, in 2012, MIUR allocated funds to public universities for the creation of the so-called CLabs. CLabs are collaborative learning environments that have the aim of developing entrepreneurial mindsets in all university students by activating virtuous cross-fertilisation processes in which the creation, diffusion and valorisation of knowledge can be promoted and fertilised (Secundo et al, 2020a). The creation of CLabs as environments that are able to foster entrepreneurial mindsets and skills requires the involvement of a large community of stakeholders from the local entrepreneurial ecosystem (Bischoff et al, 2018) and students with a multidisciplinary profile enrolled in different degree programmes.…”

Section: The Role Of Entrepreneurship Education Centres In Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurship Education Centres in universities: evidence and insights from Italian “Contamination Lab” cases

Secundo

Mele

Sansone

et al. 2020

IJEBR

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PurposeEntrepreneurship Education (EE) is increasing throughout the world. In 2012, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) financed Contamination Labs (CLabs), which are laboratories that are aimed at developing entrepreneurial mindsets in all university students. This study analyses the entrepreneurial learning process mechanisms adopted in these CLabs.Design/methodology/approachAn ethnographic case study was performed in two Italian CLabs from October 2017 to December 2019.FindingsFindings demonstrate that the CLabs in Italy are promising Entrepreneurship Education Centres which create programmes to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in students with different educational backgrounds and levels. Interdisciplinarity in the composition of the student teams, virtuous contamination of knowledge and experience between the students and the stakeholders from the entrepreneurial ecosystem are the key pillars to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in all the students.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this work regard the need to expand the analysis to all the other CLabs created in Italian universities.Practical implicationsThe findings provide indications that may be used to guide a university faculty in the design and management of Entrepreneurship Education Centres in collaboration with entrepreneurs, corporations, student clubs, incubators and representatives of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Moreover, the results point out a need to develop interdisciplinary entrepreneurial programmes.Originality/valueThe originality resides in the analysis of a novel type of Entrepreneurship Education Centre in Italian Universities created as the result of an ad-hoc Italian policy.

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Section: The Role Of Entrepreneurship Education Centres In Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurship Education Centres in universities: evidence and insights from Italian “Contamination Lab” cases

Secundo

Mele

Sansone

et al. 2020

IJEBR

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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University business idea incubation and stakeholders' engagement: closing the gap between theory and practice

Secundo¹,

Mele

Passiante

et al. 2021

EJIM

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PurposeThe paper aims to contributes on the debates about University Idea Incubation by investigating the role and the engagement of different University's stakeholders in the process of opportunity recognition in an entrepreneurship education program targeted at students with an interdisciplinary background.Design/methodology/approachThrough a longitudinal case study methodology, the Contamination Lab at University of Salento (Lecce, Italy), the learning approaches and the knowledge process to create an entrepreneurial awareness, mindset and capability in students with different educational background are presented.FindingsThe findings demonstrates the crucial role of stakeholders' engagement for business idea presentation, open innovation challenge, contamination workshop on specialized topics, enterprise projects are important vehicle for effective students' business ideas and innovative projects development in a multidisciplinary environment. The close interaction among students, academia, companies and institutions creates a favourable environment that enables opportunity identification, idea generation through a deep contamination of knowledge, skills and experiences.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations include the need to generalise the results even if this limitation is typical of the case study methodology. Other research is necessary for an in-depth analysis in deep of the other Contamination Lab in Italy and to derive the “invariance traits” of this environment according to the features of the local entrepreneurial ecosystems.Practical implicationsImplications for practices include recommendations for designing innovative programs where the interactions between University-Institutions-Industry are realized.Originality/valueA conceptual framework is proposed by defining all the entrepreneurial knowledge process and knowledge creation within the Contamination Lab, highlighting the contribution of the stakeholders in each phase and learning initiative of the program.

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Encouraging Entrepreneurial Competence Development in Italian University Students: Insights from the “Contamination Lab” Cases

Cited by 2 publications

References 50 publications

Entrepreneurship Education Centres in universities: evidence and insights from Italian “Contamination Lab” cases

Entrepreneurship Education Centres in universities: evidence and insights from Italian “Contamination Lab” cases

University business idea incubation and stakeholders' engagement: closing the gap between theory and practice

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