Abstract:

In the business sector, innovation is not just science and technology; it is also the creation of a multitude of new products and services in all sectors of the economy, new marketing methods and changes in ways of organising businesses, in their business practices, workplace organisation and external relations. In this framework, innovations in existing SMEs play an important role (SMEs, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, OECD Studies on SMEs and Entrepreneurship).

GrowINg - SME’s Growth and Innovation through Learning at the Workplace project is focused on promoting entrepreneurial mindsets and skills in SMEs’ employees and reinforcing training in SMEs by launching in-company projects that support employers and employees to respond to the challenges, that innovation models of the 21st century and the “Entrepreneurial Economy”, bring to the human capital and its links to SMEs’ competitive advantages. These challenges require new strategies to be set in place, and SMEs’ can harness the potential of in-house innovation/entrepreneurial processes (reflected in the advances in products, processes, organisational methods and marketing techniques into the economy) through boosting and cherishing ideas developed internally by the SMEs workforce. These strategies involve training and development of entrepreneurial mindsets and skills, which will enable the process of transforming opportunities into value.

Acknowledging the potential of non-formal learning in the workplace arena, GrowINg aims to motivate SMEs to rethink and strategically plan training opportunities and career guidance fostering the development of transversal competences, namely those linked with entrepreneurship. The project will use the Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) as a key framework, to design three main entrepreneurial tools for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs):
- An online tool to support the self-assessment of employees’ entrepreneurial skills
- A handbook for entrepreneurial skilled employees with tips to create a setting and define a strategy for the promotion of employees’ entrepreneurial skills at the workplace, comprising a set of activities for formal and non-formal learning
- Entrepreneurial challenges initiative, allowing employees to think and prepare creative and innovative solutions to address SMEs’ needs and challenges.

These products are being developed with the contribution from managers and/or human resources managers of SMEs, in-company trainers, consultants and other professionals supporting and providing services to SMEs. These professionals and experts will be also involved in the implementation of these entrepreneurial tools by:
- Attending a capacitation programme, endowing them with tools and competences to define and implement strategies for the assessment and strengthening employees’ entrepreneurial skills
- Supporting employees from SMEs in the self-assessment of their entrepreneurial skills based on the online tool
- Implementing formal and non-formal activities at the workplace, fostering the development of employees’ entrepreneurial tools

A white paper on Career Guidance and Capacity Building in SMEs with policy recommendations for mainstreaming the approach and foster a sound debate around the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial tools provided to tap the potential of learning at the workplace and enhancing entrepreneurial skills of SMEs’ employees will be prepared.

Keywords:

EntreComp, Entrepreneurial skills, adult learning at the workplace, lifelong career, business’ competitiveness, business’ innovation.