2 April 2024 – The final conference of the PoMP project’s, co-funded by the Norway Grants, was held in Ljubljana on March 21, 2024. As part of the project outcomes, the free online platform PoMP Academy was presented, tailored for educators and other institutions to support youth in entrepreneurship.
The event highlighted the achievements of young individuals trained in entrepreneurship competences. Distinguished guests at the event included Her Excellency Trine Skymoen, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway, mag. Marko Koprivc, State Secretary of the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, and dr. Jernej Pintar, Director of Technology Park Ljubljana.
The audience was welcomed with an opening speech by dr. Jernej Pintar, Director of Technology Park Ljubljana, delivered the opening speech, discussing the importance of mistakes and courage in the (independent) entrepreneurial journey. He emphasized Slovenia’s challenge that “we value knowledge, but we have one particular problem – we find it very difficult to transfer knowledge into practice.” He also encouraged youth on their entrepreneurial journey, stating that “entrepreneurs are those who connect A to B and make a difference. That is how they really change the world in the end.”
The project leader, dr. Lidija Tušek from the Scientific Research Centre Bistra Ptuj, presented the PoMP project and its outcomes. She highlighted its national-level implementation and its focus aimed at three target groups: schools, teachers, and students.
Dr. Tušek praised the fruitful cooperation with the Kingdom of Norway, especially with the Norwegian partner, through which they have successfully transferred their experience and good practices to Slovenia. She concluded by adding that they are committed to continue the project activities in the future and announced that “we will sign a strategic agreement between the partners to further strengthen and implement these (project) activities”.
Her Excellency Trine Skymoen, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway, thanked the project and stressed the inevitability of mistakes in work and life. She emphasised the importance of bilateral relations between Norway and Slovenia in knowledge transfer, particularly addressing young people gaining competences to build better tomorrow at the PoMP Academy.
Mag. Marko Koprivc, State Secretary of the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, expressed gratitude to the Kingdom of Norway for the financial support it provides to Slovenia through the Norway Grants. It is the financial incentive that makes it possible to support projects such as PoMP and entrepreneurship among youth. He further noted, that “promoting these skills is very important for the future of our society. Often, when we talk about entrepreneurship and development, we forget or do not stress enough that development brings added value.” He concluded, “it is important to develop the spirit of entrepreneurship among youth, because this empowers them to be able to use these skills in nowadays society.”
The opening speeches were followed by short and concise presentations by 10 groups of young people (Pitch Festival), who presented their well-thought-out entrepreneurial ideas on how to improve everyday life.
The event continued with a press conference, where participants presented the achievements of the entrepreneurship competences of the teachers/mentors from the primary schools participating in the project and and their influence on young people’s career potential.
In the final part of the conference, students and teachers, each in their own meeting, came together to get to know each other, exchange views and experiences to promote entrepreneurship among the youth.
The PoMP project’s Project Promoter is the Scientific Research Centre Bistra Ptuj. The project partners are Primorska Technology Park, Development Centre Novo mesto, Technology Park Ljubljana, SAŠA incubator, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NOR).