The Queen has been instrumental in shaping a national agenda for lifelong, impactful entrepreneurship education. During conversations with students, educators, entrepreneurs and policymakers, she underlined the powerful message that entrepreneurship is no longer a niche but a life skill that creates proactivity, resilience and a readiness to respond to emerging challenges. Demonstrating this were the student ventures; their pitches connected them to funders, mentors and start-up experts during speed-date sessions.
“Thinking and acting entrepreneurially is essential to making meaningful impact, whether you're founding a business, driving change in an organisation, tackling public challenges, or shaping the future of education,” said RSM’s Professor of Corporate Entrepreneurship Justin Jansen. “The day showcased what this looks like in action.”
Activities included:
- Presentations about regional initiatives to embed and extend entrepreneurship in education at Hanze Hogeschool in Groningen, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, ROC van Twente, Albeda College and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
- Panels about the future of entrepreneurship education featuring Selim Tuncyurek, Lisanne Bouten, Michiel Muller and Dimitri Verzijl. A panel about scaling featured Emma Wolthuizen and Peter-Paul Laarhuis.
- Deep conversations about transforming a student start-up into a ‘unicorn’ – a high-value and non-listed start-up company – with entrepreneur and RSM alumnus Pieter Zwart from Coolblue.
“Let’s keep building a strong and impactful platform for entrepreneurial learning across disciplines, education levels, and regions. Let’s move beyond seeing entrepreneurship as a career path, and embrace it as a capability for innovation, inclusion, and resilience. And let’s ensure that every student, whether future founder, policymaker, teacher, or team leader, is equipped with the necessary skills and mindset to thrive,” concluded Prof. Jansen.
He extended his thanks to the community that gathered under the #O2LAB hashtag on social media platforms, volunteers from ECE Students, Erasmus Enterprise and the Graduate Entrepreneur Fund.
