Organised by members of the TRANSEO Academic Committee

Mirela Alpeza and Petra Mezulić Juric (J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek); Julien de Freyman (South Champagne Business School); Marc Duhamel (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières); Susanne Durst (Bangkok University / Reykjavik University); Carl Pitchford (Université Catholique de Lille); Juha Tall, Elina Varamäki and Anmari Viljamaa (Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences); Lex van Teeffelen and Edwin Weesie (Utrecht University of Applied Sciences); Marie Depelssemaker (TRANSEO)

The challenge

Entrepreneurship education mainly focuses on teaching students how to create new ventures. Yet Europe also needs people prepared to take over, develop, and renew viable firms. This gap between what is taught and what entrepreneurial ecosystems require represents the "business transfer paradox".

Addressing this gap is important because it broadens students' understanding of entrepreneurial careers beyond start-up creation, develops competencies in organisational diagnosis, stakeholder negotiation, and business renewal, and helps build a larger pool of successors capable of sustaining SMEs, jobs, and locally embedded knowledge.

This interactive Professional Development Workshop invites participants to rethink entrepreneurship education by adopting a full entrepreneurial life-cycle perspective that encompasses venture creation, business acquisition, growth, succession, transfer, and exit.

What we will do

Together, we will explore how business acquisition, family succession, acquisition-led growth and entrepreneurial exit can become more prominent in entrepreneurship curricula that currently remain strongly start-up-oriented.

The PDW is structured around four interactive phases:

• Reframe (15 min): Understanding the start-up bias in entrepreneurship education.
• Learn (30 min): Insights and cases from Finland, Croatia, and the Netherlands.
• Co-design (45 min): Developing adaptable teaching activities and curriculum ideas.
• Commit (30 min): Identifying next steps and opportunities for collaboration.

Co-design challenge: How can entrepreneurship education better reflect the full entrepreneurial lifecycle, from venture creation and business acquisition to growth, succession, transfer, and exit?

What participants will gain

• a clearer entrepreneurial life-cycle lens linking entry, continuity, growth and exit
• practical teaching examples and curriculum-design ideas
• new research questions and international connections for future collaboration; and
• one concrete next step for your own course, programme or research agenda.

Who should attend

Entrepreneurship educators and researchers, doctoral students, family business and business transfer scholars, programme leaders, and business support professionals. No prior knowledge of business transfer is required.

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