THE ENTERPRISE OLYMPICS 2002
Improving employability and enterprise skills through international co-operation and competition
Strand Focus
EMPLOYABILITY
Additional Factors: Enterprise, Citizenship
Purpose/objective of the initiative
In Scotland enterprise challenges have proved to be an extremely effective way of introducing large numbers of young people in a short period of time to the skills required in today’s global and increasingly knowledge-based economy.
The Enterprise Olympics also provided a fitting finale to the first phase of the national enterprise campaign, Enterprise Insight, launched by the Prime Minister Tony Blair, in May 2000, and made a significant contribution to the campaign’s strategic objectives:
· encouraging more positive attitudes towards enterprise
· developing more enterprising behaviours, skills and capabilities
· increasing awareness, knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship
· promoting self-employment as a positive career option
The first strategic objective of Careers Scotland is ‘to improve the employability and enterprise skills of the people of Scotland’ and the Scottish Executive has set a target for Careers Scotland that in three years ‘85% of young people in Scotland will have an understanding of the world of work’
Main partners
The event was hosted by Scotland and organised by Careers Scotland and Enterprise Insight Scotland. The former was established in April 2002 from four conjoining organisations, Careers Service Companies, Adult Guidance Networks, Lifelong Learning Partnerships and Education Business Partnerships. The latter is led by the three leading business organisations, the Confederation of British Industry, the Institute of Directors and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.
In other countries similar partnership arrangements applied, business and education working together with the help of intermediary not-for-profit bodies.
Main beneficiaries
16-18 year old high school students in diverse countries across the world; teachers; business mentors; business support and enterprise agencies
For the students it is a valuable and relevant learning experience, with raised awareness and increased knowledge and understanding of the world of work and enterprise. Improving existing skills and developing new skills also feature regularly in feedback from these events. A positive can-do attitude underpins all of this and is a worthy objective on its own.
Teachers benefit from more highly motivated students with a more positive attitude towards the world of work, and to learning itself.
Business benefits from working closely with young people in a non-threatening environment, and can greatly influence attitudes to business and wealth creation. Access to potential recruits and increased and positive PR for their business and sector is frequently listed by business mentors as a reason for them taking part.
Business support agencies have an opportunity to make young people aware of the broad range of high quality information and advice services that are available locally, should they require such support in future.
Main contributors
In Scotland, for both the national and global aspects of the event: Careers Scotland, Glasgow Science Centre, Cameron Communications, and Rocket Visuals.
NASA made a significant contribution to the success of the event by arranging the Space Station link and providing five senior officials for the international judging panel.
WIPO and the Royal Bank of Scotland for their contributions to the global awards, adding prestige to the winners of the international competition.
National organisers in each country who project managed their event; public and private sector supporters and sponsors who contributed towards: venues, catering and accommodation, technology support, promotional materials, equipment, facilities and staff.
Essential elements
This first Enterprise Olympics pitched high school teams against each other as they attempted to find a solution in response to the following challenge:
By this time tomorrow your team is challenged to:
'Produce a working model of an educational toy or game on a global environmental theme using only local recyclable materials.’
The event was launched from the International Space Station in a web broadcast. Teams from some nine countries, a total of over 500 students, competed in real time in their own national competitions, with each national winner presenting their solutions to an international panel of judges from NASA one-hour later.
The winners, from New Zealand, received the Royal Bank of Scotland Trophy and £5000 towards the costs of attending the Global Partnership Summit in Washington DC, 20-23 November 2002. In addition, the winning team will receive a gold medal and individual certificates from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation), a UN agency based in Geneva. In addition each winning national team will receive certificates of merit from NASA with a flag of their nation that has been in space.
Main factors of its success
The Enterprise Olympics was a multi-partnership activity, and its success was due entirely to the building of an effective coalition of partners at local, national an international level. Throughout 2001, declarations of interest were received from bona fide youth enterprise organisations known to Careers Scotland/Scottish Enterprise, and although at one time it looked like there would be 16 participating countries, in the final total of nine, six had been represented at EBP 2000.
In each country the event was supported by the host organisation and its partners, drawn from business, education and government; each team had a dedicated facilitator/motivator, mostly local business supporters. In Scotland both the First Minister and Enterprise Minister attended the event and met the students and other contributors.
Competition and fun are two key elements in any challenge, and by introducing an international dimension the motivation of the participants was further increased. Also, there were few restrictions or ‘rules’ for the challenge, which allowed for greater creativity.
The students were keenly aware that they were taking part in a truly innovative and groundbreaking event, ‘history in the making’ in the words of one participant. The real time aspect also contributed to the event’s success, and the technology used was sufficiently flexible to provide a level playing field for locations as diverse as Sydney, Australia, and Siberia in Russia. The outline programme and further details can be found at: www.enterpriseolympics.com
Assessment/evaluation process and evidence of its strength
To date it has not been possible to conduct an independent evaluation, but anecdotal evidence and feedback from national organisers has been overwhelmingly positive. All of the countries taking part in this year’s pilot want to participate again and increase the number of teams in their own national competition, and several other countries have already indicated that they will take part next time round. The impact of the pilot on participating students and support organisations alike has exceeded our expectations by some distance, and there is no doubt that it succeeded in capturing the imagination of everyone involved. An unexpected outcome was how the challenge theme succeeded in raising citizenship issues that students tackled in an extremely responsible way.
The Chair of the NASA judging panel has agreed to be part of the presentation party led by Careers Scotland at the Summit in a Best Practice Forum 10.45-12.15 Thursday 21 November. Three other national organisers from New Zealand, South Africa, and USA, will also be present and delegates will hear the views of the students from winning New Zealand team, as well as representatives from the winning national teams from Scotland and USA.
Impact
Although, to continue with the Olympic analogy, it is the taking part that matters, it is also true to say that to the victor the spoils are considerable in terms of kudos, both for the students and their schools. Everyone who took part, however, can benefit from the experience. For many young people events like this can be life changing, and many parents report changes in attitude that in some instances are remarkable. Employers nowadays are seeking employees with good core skills, particularly the soft skills, and enterprise challenges help to hone these skills in a way that is welcomed and recognised by seekers of human capital.
Potential replication and scale of the initiative
This year’s pilot project provided valuable practical experience that will be incorporated within a prospectus setting out how the Enterprise Olympics can become a major global event open to all who wish to participate in it. The Summit will provide an excellent opportunity to test the market for 2003 when we would like to double the number of countries and treble the number of students.
To achieve this objective we are establishing a Secretariat in Scotland as part of the Scottish Space School Foundation, and would welcome offers from other countries to act as ‘host’ next year. Details of the Enterprise Olympics 2003 and how to get involved will be available at the Summit.
We are working with the London-based production company Fifth World to develop a broadcast documentary of the event, and WIPO is keen that many more countries will take part in years to come. We have started to walk, and hope to walk faster next time round, before learning to run in the not too distant future.
Underwriter
Bette Hickman, Executive Director, Global Achievers
7 Solar Circle, Newnan, Georgia 30265
T: +1 770-254-7345 F: +1 770-254-7279
E: bhickman@globalchievers.org
Author and prime contact:
Gordon McVie, Enterprise Education Manager, Careers Scotland
150 Broomielaw, Atlantic Quay, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 8LU
T: +44 (0) 141 228 2862 F: +44 (0) 141 228 2851
E: gordon.mcvie@scotent.co.uk