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Europe's entrepreneurs to benefit from 'creative training' project

As part of the European Commission's Leonardo da Vinci Programme, €400,000 has been divided between 11 European partners from the UK, Austria, Germany, Spain and Italy, with Nottingham Business School receiving the largest share.

The funding is for the development of the 'Creative Trainer II' project, which focuses on creating innovative material and methods to train professionals who will go on to support and educate entrepreneurs. Nottingham Business School is the lead partner in developing the area of Innovation Management and New Product Portfolio Introduction.

'Creative Trainer II' follows on from the first 'Creative Trainer' programme which was aimed at supporting new entrepreneurs. The main outcome of the project was the 'Marketing & Sales Idea Machine' project; a creative module which features methods for generating ideas. The second phase will now focus on helping existing entrepreneurs to grow their businesses from small to medium.

Dr Kostas Galanakis, lead academic for the project at Nottingham Business School, said: 'The project will help entrepreneurs across the continent to receive the right support and training to escape the 'death valley', a common state where small firms cannot grow further.'

The materials generated by the project will be accessible via a database, where details of the leading partners and experts will also be stored for anyone looking for further collaboration or support.

Dr Galanakis is also currently involved in the European STARTENT programme to raise entrepreneurial aspirations across Europe. Activities run through STARTENT include awards and evening events, which aim to make young people more aware of their entrepreneurial attributes and skills and encourage them to see entrepreneurship as an option for professional life.

STARTENT is part of the Entrepreneurial Culture of Young People and Entrepreneurship Education grant programme 2009, from the European Commission, Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General.

Source:www.ntu.ac.uk|

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