European Entrepreneurship is on the Ascent

WOW! Just woke up at home in Cambridge after a phenomenal week in Europe, first at the University of Luxembourg entrepreneurship incubator run by Pranjul Shah and then in Greece for MIT Global Startup Workshop (MIT GSW) led by the amazing student leadership team and MIT Enterprise Forum Greece let by Vassilis Papakonstantinou, Gerassimos Spyridakis, and Antigoni Molodanof.

COVID Has Receded Thankfully and Entrepreneurship Momentum is Back in Europe. For me the week started in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday with a very intense 2-day master class for hundreds of students/faculty/mentors/community. Many great posts on LinkedIn about this and there is a picture below. The environment was electric because of the participants but it was also actively supported by the university Rector Jens Kreisel and US Ambassador Thomas M. Barrett.

Then headed off to Greece for the MIT Global Startup Workshop (MIT GSW) which is celebrating its 25 anniversary, and did they do this great organization proud, they did so much more. I have been to many & this was without a doubt the best ever. The venue was the iconic Megaron Athens Concert Hall with three levels seating thousands (see pictures below), and when you stepped on the stage, you could imagine Maria Callas and others performing. The team filled it up and it was three days of packed programming. It started on Wednesday when Kosta Ligris presented to 550 students (would have been more but it was beyond capacity) in one venue and I presented to over 50 faculty on how entrepreneurship should be taught. This would have been more than enough to justify the trip but then it was followed by an additional 48 hours of absolutely pulsating talks, workshops, serendipitous collisions, and side conversations with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial leaders across Europe. You can see the program if you google MIT GSW (https://gsw.mit.edu/2023/) but it was so much more. Entrepreneurs, students wanting to be entrepreneurs, educators, ministers, investors, corporates, and many other stakeholders mixing it up in the common areas. There is nothing like being in person. Living in a Zoom world just does not compare. Thanks to all that made this possible and participated.

I return from this trip exhausted but also very optimistic that despite the daunting challenges we face as a society, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship educators are rising to the challenge and therefore, we should have great hope for the future. But so much still needs to get done and we need to build off this progress. Onward and upward, together!