Abstract:

This paper analyses continuing Entrepreneurship education activities implemented as Academia-industry collaboration in the Alpine Space. The later is a region in Europe characterized by its richness in resources, both natural and socio-cultural, that offer clear benefits to large parts of society. The focus of the paper lies on the question of what potential success factors are relevant when developing and managing continuing Entrepreneurship education activities as an example of Academia-industry collaboration? This is a relevant question on the policy level as the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region seeks to support opportunities exist for better valorizing or capitalizing on Alpine resources in the future. Especially in Entrepreneurship Education there is a rich tradition in reviewing literature on success factors in university–industry relations. Regarding Continuining Education Activities in the Alpine Space focused on Entrepreneurship the Interreg Alpine Spaces Project Scale(Up) Alps offers continuing education targeted at stakeholders relevant not only for Startups but also Scaleups. To shed further light on this topic a qualitative research approach was implemented: First a qualitative content analysis based on the selected cases was done and second three in-depth interviews with educators were carried out. The results show two ways of offering continuing Education for Startups/Scaleups. The distance learning approach is based on webinars and also Moocs which both give the companies the opportunity to work independently from a fixed schedule. The blended learning approach showed a workshop/webinar based concept focusing on different problems and challenges in the growth phase and providing not only knowledge but also supporting the idea of a developmental network where less experienced companies profit from more experienced ones by using feedback patterns. These results contribute to the growing body of literature in continuing Entrepreneurship education and underline the difference between activities with a clear focus of a target group with entrepreneurs who need to decide how and when to invest time and money for their education. Moreover it suggests a “relevance check” on a larger scale regarding the way how continuing education is implemented (online versus offline), within the particular context of continuing education‐related partnerships. Based on the interviews and case studies, implications for management and further research are discussed.

Keywords:

Continuing Education, Scaleups, Startups, Distance learning, Blended Learning, Alpine Space.