HWR Berlin is among the first signatories of the Entrepreneurial Skills Charter of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft. Prof. Dr. Sven Ripsas co-authored the document. An interview.
About the Person
Prof. Dr. Sven Ripsas is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin). He advocates for the promotion of Entrepreneurial Education in education from school through university. His central research focus is on the development of innovative business models.
What are Entrepreneurial Skills?
Entrepreneurship Education encompasses a wide range of future-relevant competencies along the so-called 21st Century Skills and the UN Sustainability Goals (SDGs). These skills include communication and problem-solving in interdisciplinary teams. The social-ecological transformation requires all fields of knowledge: digitalization, ecology, and economics. Above all, however, it is about restructuring teaching in schools and universities away from the mere transmission of knowledge toward agile interdisciplinary problem-solving through “discovery learning.” The university leadership of HWR Berlin supports this charter — that is wonderful.
Where are these skills important in everyday life and work?
Everyday life is increasingly less predictable. This will apply to a great many professions in the future and already applies today to managers, politicians, and teachers. Decisions must be made in ever-new contexts. Old strategies are not always appropriate. The focus is shifting away from planning and monitoring execution toward situational assessment of needs and opportunities and making decisions agreed upon within a team.
Why does a society need the broadest possible Entrepreneurial Mindset across all areas?
Quite clearly: the social-ecological transformation is a mammoth task. Furthermore, in Germany, people have not yet recognized the power of Entrepreneurship Education, even though it has been a central educational goal in the European Union for years.
How do you get people to think and act entrepreneurially?
We need to start at school. Entrepreneurs are not capitalists, but changemakers. The decision-makers of tomorrow are in school today. Many then go on to vocational training or university studies. This is what we have been working toward at HWR Berlin for years with the German Entrepreneurship Education Campus, which will take place again in October.
What role do universities play, and what can they do concretely?
We need a cultural shift at universities. HWR Berlin is a pioneer in this regard. We not only have special degree programs for entrepreneurs, the StartupClass of the Entrepreneurship Summer School Berlin in August, and a Startup Incubator Berlin, but we are also actively involved in conveying entrepreneurship skills to employees within companies — the keyword being “entrepreneurs within companies.”
What would you see as the next necessary step?
Entrepreneurship Skills must be structurally embedded in the curriculum of all degree programs. We are working on that. The recently adopted Entrepreneurial Skills Charter will help us to involve other departments beyond the economic sciences. The goal is ultimately a strategy paper for the entire university.
You were involved in developing the Entrepreneurial Skills Charter. What is it meant to achieve, and for whom?
The Entrepreneurial Skills Charter is a milestone. It makes clear that entrepreneurship is not only about founding companies, but is a mindset. It is about creative, interdisciplinary problem-solving at the intersection of sustainability, digitalization, and economics.
What expertise and experience were you able to contribute?
My focus is entrepreneurship as an economic process. My doctoral dissertation already dealt with incentive structures for entrepreneurial action. In my view, today’s Entrepreneurship Education frequently lacks the competency to properly assess market incentives and their resulting consequences in the context of political initiatives. This is where I want to make a contribution.
On what recent occasion did you consciously apply your Entrepreneurial Skills?
Essentially every day, because the work of a professor is project-oriented, and it always involves creating something new.
Prof. Ripsas, thank you for the conversation.
The interview was conducted by Sylke Schumann, Press Officer of the Berlin School of Economics and Law (HWR Berlin).
