Entrepreneurship Education: The international pedagogical project COTADAS – Co-Creation to analyses and development of strategic scenarios

Abstract

The “new normality” and the growing uncertainty that the world faces determine the development of different business and innovative ways of work. To this end, a new mindset and new competences are required to the actors that will participate in these new social and business contexts. Higher Education will certainly have its role in shaping this mindset and competences of the future managers who should be able to participate in the co-creation of value propositions for companies.
 The project COTADAS (CO-creation To Analyses and Development of Strategic Scenarios) aims to contribute to the training of these future managers. The project aims to analyse and develop strategic scenarios that facilitate intelligent and sustainable value propositions, through digital and intelligent tools. Supported in a multidisciplinary approach and using innovative methodologies, it is intended to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge in less attractive areas for students, namely the areas of finance, revealing how this knowledge can leverage emerging and important areas of knowledge such as innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability.
 The objective of this article is to describe and evaluate the COTADAS project, developed in two Higher Education Institutes (Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal and Federal Institute of Santa Catarina) with Portuguese and Brazilian students.
 This study is structured in two main parts. In the first part we present a theoretical approach and in the second part we describe the project and the results of the assessment. A questionnaire was applied to participants to evaluate the degree of satisfaction with the project and its impact on entrepreneurial skills. The results revealed a high degree of student’s satisfaction, as well as a valuable impact on the acquisition and development of entrepreneurial skills. Several advantages in participating in COTADAS were pointed out as well as some possible improvements that can enrich the next project edition. Finally, the results allowed us to understand that both successes and failures were important aspects in the students' learning and personal growth.