One Page Summary

SustaInvent is a practical educational program in social entrepreneurship for pupils. The project is based on a simulation of an in-school start-up incubator in which pupils are organized into teams and expected to come up with innovative ideas, develop them with the help of mentors, and ultimately launch them into the market. Addressing climate change-related issues through multiple creative pupil projects, whereby pupils themselves are protagonists, shall have a higher reach and impact than traditional approaches to education and awareness-raising.

The beauty of SustaInvent as a program lies in its potential to solve multiple problems at once, while remaining lean, specialized, and strategic. While developing their own ideas to help fight climate change, the students are bound to research the matter and develop better understanding of environmental issues. They will simultaneously develop entrepreneurial, communication, presentation, organization, business acumen, and teamwork skills. Pupils' creativity and their willingness to step into the unknown at no risk is the primary "fuel" which would run the program.
SustaInvent exposes pupils to entrepreneurial opportunities and provides them with the tools to pursue their projects, simulating a real-world start-up ecosystem. Each pupil start-up team would agree on its own structure, assign professional roles (CEO, Marketing Manager, Financial Manager, etc), split equities, and come up with their own idea which they would work on throughout the school year. The goal is to ultimately create and be able to sell their environment/climate change-related product or service. Throughout the process, the pupil entrepreneurs are mentored and assisted with business development. The process is subject to a carefully planned and executed curriculum, starting with workshops and exercises on basic entrepreneurial and business concepts, and ending with showcasing their work.

While creating businesses, the teams will be extracting the entire body of knowledge on climate change which they themselves, as well as the rest of the interested youth, will consume. The role of mentors is not to micromanage, but to set the framework, advise teams and individuals, teach them theory, and help their ideas materialize in practice.

When one takes part in such form of entrepreneurial education, it does not necessarily mean that they wish or should become entrepreneurs. The benefits of entrepreneurial education transcend business itself, because the skill-set which it helps develop is useful in virtually all kinds of human activity. Practicing Entrepreneurship helps one develop the sense of responsibility, as well as critical thinking, presentation, sales, communication, innovation, creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Likewise, an entrepreneurial education program offers a great opportunity for students to synthesize and combine concepts which they learned in other disciplines and subjects, as well as to apply them in practical (entrepreneurial) projects - in this case in the field of climate change and understanding its implications.

The ultimate expected outcome of the SustaInvent project is to organize a start-up conference at the end of the academic year, where all pupils involved in the project would present their work. The conference would be attended by families, friends, and teachers of the involved pupils, as well as by politicians, businessmen, potential investors, headmasters from other schools, etc. Besides a great deal of learning of those involved in the project, showcasing innovations and products will further popularize both entrepreneurship and the science of climate change. It will in itself contribute to the rise in critical thinking, and it is very likely to motivate new generations to take part in the project - hence taking program to the next level.

The SustaInvent project's basic idea is based on a proven track record of the project UP - Učenici poduzetnici, also authored by A-Link (the solution provider). UP is currently closing its pilot phase at one of the primary schools in Zagreb, and the results are rather promising (see promo video). We have managed to turn the school into a start-up incubator where the participating pupils have founded six companies, and are currently making prototypes of their products and services. Just like in the case of SustaInvent, UP will also organize a pitching conference in June 2018.

As a solution provider, A-Link uses its experience in the world of education and start-up entrepreneurship, and combines it with its great interest in preserving the environment and coming up with new ways to fight climate change.