Special events and activities

Global Entrepreneurship Week

Austrian schools take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Week. Young people and teachers should be inspired to develop the entrepreneurial spirit. During the Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Entrepreneurship Summit (Summit Wien) takes place, aiming to encourage change makers and people who support others in developing ideas.

Fairs

Fairs related to entrepreneurship take place on a regional level, such as the founder fair (Gründermesse) in Styria and the Youth & profession (Jugend und Beruf) fair in Upper Austria. They are in many cases co-founded by the Federal Province and the regional Economic Chamber.

Your projects (EureProjekte)

EureProjekte (project duration: 2014 - 2021) encouraged young people to develop and implement their own project ideas. It has made young people’s innovation and commitment visible and has fostered their entrepreneurial spirit. Young people aged 14 to 24 with a project idea could apply for grants of up to € 750. In addition to this initial funding, they have also received an individual project consultation with employees of the youth information centres in the Federal States. EureProjekte was an initiative of the Department for Family and Youth at the Federal Chancellery and is carried out by the National Network of Austrian Youth Information Centres.

ENSI - Environment and School Initiatives

In terms of promoting social entrepreneurship, Austria is part of ENSI -Environment and School Initiatives. ENSI is an international network to support educational developments, environmental understanding, active approaches to teaching and learning, through research and the exchange of experiences internationally since 1986. The Association aims at supporting educational and pedagogical developments that, via research and international exchange of experiences, promote insight into learning for sustainable development, environmental studies, active forms of learning and teaching, as well as education for citizenship.

Networks and partnerships

Junior Chamber Austria (Junge Wirtschaft Österreich, JWÖ) connects young entrepreneurs as the association of young entrepreneurs between the age of 18 to 40 years. JWÖ is part of the Austrian Economic Chambers (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ) and services and lobbying for better regulations for enterprises as well as national and international networking opportunities with more than 600 events each year all over Austria. The National Congress with 1 000 participants is the biggest Austrian wide convention for young entrepreneurs and therefore is our flagship project. On the international level, JWÖ is part of Junior Chamber International (JCI). For members, export missions, trips to leading exhibitions and to international conferences for young entrepreneurs are coordinated.

In order to further strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research implemented the EESI impulse centre (EESI-Impulszentrum). Alongside EESI-multipliers in the provinces, it shall foster entrepreneurship training and a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship among pupils and teachers.