The Basque Government has approved in its Governing Council the call for grants to promote entrepreneurial culture among students in the final year of vocational training. At this stage, students have the necessary technical knowledge of the sector and are able to develop a business idea with the help of teachers. This is how business simulation projects arise that consist of developing business ideas (product or service prototypes).

Promoting entrepreneurial culture is one of the objectives of vocational training. Enhancing professional and personal skills among students to promote entrepreneurial abilities is, in turn, a pillar of their training.

Thanks to the work carried out in vocational training in the Basque Country, it is common for students to create more than 70 companies a year. Students work from their centre, and are monitored and supported by the centre's teachers. The survival rate of companies created thanks to the commitment to Vocational Training reaches 70%.

This push for entrepreneurship in the classroom allows for the development of different specific skills and attitudes; innovation, creativity, autonomy, self-confidence, a sense of responsibility, initiative... are characteristics that students acquire thanks to the implementation of their projects in the company of teachers and their FP centre.

Business ideas aligned with criteria of social cohesion and sustainability

The ideas developed by FP students must comply with criteria in line with innovation, with the Sustainable Development Goals and with the values ​​of social economy. From the centres, the projects are channelled to develop the following aspects:

• Promote the use of advanced technologies. Such as: digitalisation (virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, etc.), connectivity, robotisation and automation, cybersecurity, data analysis.
• Working on sustainability: energy efficiency, sustainable economy, circular economy, health 4.0, Bioscience and Biotechnology, etc.
• Contributing to the industrial and/or advanced services sector.
• Being aligned with the development of the Sustainable Development Goals and/or with the values ​​of the social economy.
• Contributing to the social integration of diversity and groups at risk of exclusion or having a social component to improve people's quality of life.
• Not reproducing gender roles and stereotypes and/or promoting female entrepreneurship.
• Using Basque in the development of the project.