This national entrepreneurial skills study, focusing on 16-25-year-olds, was funded by Innovate UK and commissioned by UK Innovation District Group (UK IDG) and Connected Places Catapult.
The study was commissioned in response to a decline in the UK’s youth entrepreneurial activity in the last 3 recorded years and a desire to better understand how this impacts and interfaces with the innovation economy. Urban Foresight was appointed to lead this study on behalf of the UK IDG.
The research covers a review of the UK’s current entrepreneurial skills landscape. Areas covered by this research include:
- Understanding which factors contribute to comparatively low entrepreneurial activity and start up rates within this 16-25 age group, with a special emphasis on underrepresented groups.
- Assessing what provisions currently exist to support the development of entrepreneurial skills amongst young people, identifying gaps and creating opportunities for improvement.
- Understanding the role of Innovation Districts as hubs of innovation in overcoming regional and demographic variations when seeking to create more impactful and inclusive skills development initiatives for young people.
- Identifying entrepreneurial skills needed to support enterprises with high growth potential aligned to the sector strengths of Innovation Districts, and examining models of provision for these skills.
- The insights and findings of this research have guided the development of recommendations, and a youth entrepreneurial skills pilot development framework, that can be tailored and put into practice by Innovation Districts and regional place leaders.
UK Innovation Districts Group Entrepreneurial Skills Report
For summary slides of this skills report, click here