Education plays an essential role in shaping attitudes, skills and culture – from the primary level up and is essential for developing the human capital necessary for the society of the future. The earlier and more widespread the exposure to entrepreneurship and innovation, the more likely it is that students will consider becoming entrepreneurs in the future. Schools and universities must play a key role in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, helping students learn not just how to start, but also how to grow, enterprises. These skills and attitudes can take many forms during an individual’s career, creating a range of long-term benefits to society and the economy.

It is not enough to add entrepreneurship on the perimeter – it needs to be central to the way educational institutions operate. Educational institutions need to adopt 21st century methods and tools to develop the appropriate learning environment for encouraging creativity, innovation and the ability to “think out of the box” to solve problems. This requires new models, frameworks and paradigms in which cross-disciplinary approaches and interactive teaching methods are central.

The role of educational institutions within the entrepreneurial ecosystem is changing. Increasingly, academia needs to work with the public and private sectors as well as other stakeholders to more effectively develop entrepreneurial societies. First and foremost, entrepreneurship education requires close cooperation between academia and business. Past barriers to academic collaboration with business need to be broken down and outreach both encouraged and supported. Companies and entrepreneurs play instrumental roles by providing knowledge, expertise, mentoring, social capital and, in some cases, financial support.