1. 1
Silja Suntola
Project Director
Aalto University,
School of Business, SBC
Finland
Creative Entrepreneurship
in Schools:
Policy Recommendations
from the CENTRES project

2. 2
Horizontal and integrated approaches to creative
entrepreneurship in schools
• The nature of work and society are
changing from manufacturing products
and goods to offering innovation and
services
• While manufacturing decreased from
16,9% in 2000 to 9,7% in 2011. Copyright
share increased from 3,9% to 4,8%, and
their share of Manufacturing & Services
from 5,4% to 8,4%
• The role of arts and cultural skills needs
to be understood way beyond creative
industries – in all sectors of society.
Education is in a key role!

3. 3
Art subjects and art-based skills need
to be increased and incorporated into
the curricula horizontally
• We also need to build the confidence
and competency of teachers for
incorporating art-based methods
horizontally
• We need to improve the offer
provided by the arts and cultural
sector to improve the offer provided
by the arts & cultural sector
An arts revival in our schools
Q: Does our art education
train artists for these needs?

4. 4
• Acknowledging the lack of multi-
disciplinary approaches / a strong
emphasis on specific disciplines
• Creative competencies and art-based
skills need to be incorporated into
education horizontally
• Skills pertinent to multi-disciplinary
working (such as interpersonal skills)
need to be identified as well as
discussing values, ethics and exploring
other cultures
Toward a creative entrepreneurship curriculum
As ”tradinional” jobs are quickly
disappearing in all sectors – we need
to quickly make our education meet
these.

5. 5Pervasively digital creative learning
• Digitalization and new / emergent
technologies offer much untapped
potential for releasing creative ideas
• Digitally-enabled entrepreneurship
programs that combine the
application and interpretation of
digital technology, encouraging
young people to explore the
boundaries between technology and
creativity
• This should be encouraged
increasingly in partnership with
genuine industry actors and
educational institutions
This will be a real catalyst for
future economy!

6. 6
Dedicated creative entrepreneurship programmes
• Formal and informal education should
become a compulsory part of the
educational system
• Every secondary school student should
participate in at least one informal
entrepreneurship educational
programme
• A variety of measures such as
incubators, talent development projects
etc. should be supported in co-
operation with educational institutions
• Accreditation systems need to be
developed
We need to integrate a creative
entrepreneurial mind-set in all
education

7. 7Enabling programmes for creative entrepreneurship
teaching
• Entrepreneurial education and
creative methods should be
mandatory for teachers
• Programmes that enable links
between schools and businesses
should be supported
• Continuing education for teachers
should be provided – also as a
means to secure industry needs
A positive trust towards ones own
skills and abilities, forms the basis
towards entrepreneurial behaviour

8. 8
Coordinated programmes to link education and business
• Bridging the gap between
educational institutions and different
business support systems
• Creative hubs, mentoring networks
etc. to support and deliver in-and-
out of school activities (mini-
company programmes, start-up
programmes, work-related learning
and more)
• Brokered creative investment, fiscal
incentives for firms as part of talent
recruitment strategy
Many creative enterprises have
launched from passionate hobbies.

9. 9
THANK YOU!