Moving the Needle in Entrepreneurship Education and Bridging the Gaps

Abstract

Several German states have implemented programs and funding to promote entrepreneurship education and culture within their universities. These programs and projects are typically awarded on a competitive basis to several colleges and universities in order to raise awareness and enthusiasm among students and to provide skills in the context of innovation and entrepreneurship. This chapter reflects upon the impacts of two of these projects on students’ motivations to start their own businesses, as well as which ideas they pursue. In the first project, several thousand students were exposed to entrepreneurship early in their studies. The other is a related program that—at a later stage—has helped more than 600 teams of student entrepreneurs to further validate their ideas. Findings from both studies are interpreted in the context of funnel logic to derive recommendations for overcoming the gaps and breaking points in students’ entrepreneurial journeys.