Training entrepreneurship at universities: a Swedish case

In Sweden today there are many initiatives to stimulate individuals to act in an entrepreneurial manner, including professorships in entrepreneurialism at universities, new courses and training programmes, while firms such as Ericsson, Telia and Saab have established “innovation units” to stimulate new ideas and utilize the energy and ideas of their employees. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyse such an initiative: the Entrepreneurship and New Business Development Programme (the ENP‐programme) for the training of individuals in the start‐up of new technology‐based or knowledge‐intensive enterprises. The model has been developed by the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Linköping University and a private network of enterprises. This article begins with a comprehensive discussion on what characterises entrepreneurs and what implications this has in the training of individuals. Subsequently, the ENP‐programme, feedback from the participants in the programme, and what characterises a successful entrepreneurship programme are presented.