Design Thinking is visualized as the central strategy to promote entrepreneurial skills in European schools. Europe needs future generations to be more entrepreneurial in their attitudes to achieve a strong position in the international economy. Entrepreneurial thinking needs to be fostered from an early age. With this aim, a review of current entrepreneurial teaching practices is undertaken and the key skills related to entrepreneurship are identified for school aged students. This paper argues that the basic principles of Design Thinking have the potential to promote entrepreneurial competencies in European school curricula.

Design Thinking has the potential to promote entrepreneurial competencies in European schools. This paper presents an Educational Programme based on Design Thinking and its empirical application in the curricula in four European countries. Targeting 10-15 year old students, the programme demonstrates an impact on entrepreneurial attitudes. Over 300 participants in Cyprus, Denmark, France and Spain responded positively to the initiative and reported a better understanding of entrepreneurship. Qualitative and quantitative results also showed that Design Thinking based strategies are effective to foster entrepreneurial skills such as creativity, problem solving and self-confidence. Interestingly however, experimentation results reported a negative impact on collaboration related skills.

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Aesthetics is a powerful means for creating consistency across a product range. During the design process consistency is subject to risk. The existing tools do not integrate static as well as dynamic approaches. This paper explores how to integrate and combine both. The framework considers that, firstly, the users perceive the product thought all their senses (product presentation). Based on the perceptions, users will interact through gestures or movements (user action). These action will create a product reaction (product reaction). Finally, the frame has been applied in an experiment.

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