KIMU BERRI, A UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE FOR PROMOTING YOUTH ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET

Europe is undergoing a crisis that has hit young Europeans with unprecedented levels of unemployment and the risk of social exclusion and poverty. In real figures, the unemployment rate of young people (aged 15 to 24) rose sharply from 15% in February 2008 to an unprecedented 22.6% in June 2012 (Commission, 2012). Complementarily, there are several studies that show the contribution of Entrepreneurship to job creation and economic growth (Commission, 2003). However, the proportion of young people running their own business is very low in Europe: about 4 % of young people aged 15-24 and 9 % of the age group 25-29 are self-employed (Commission, 2009).
In this context, this paper shows how a university-industry collaboration initiative can create diverse forums for promoting the entrepreneurial spirit among higher education students. The university-industry experience called “Kimu Berri” (with the support of the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa) has been developed through the last three years by a consortium of public and private entities from Gipuzkoa (Basque Country); which is made up of the Engineering and the Business Studies Faculties from Mondragon University, the Business Innovation Center Saiolan, Athlon S.COOP., Isea S.COOP. and the Regional Development Agency Debagoiena. The objective of the project is to promote the entrepreneurial mindset among higher education students from Mondragon University; based on youth’s specific technological and market domains, such as products, services and business models related to leisure. For achieving this main objective, it has been developed two specific objectives: (1) to develop prospective and innovation events related to leisure, sport and youth among Mondragon University students; and (2) to identify opportunity areas for new business from prospective projects in leisure, sport and youth developed by Mondragon University students.