Excellency in Entrepreneurship: Expanding European entrepreneurship by boosting youth (self) employability and promoting a sharing resources culture

Project Information

ExcellEnt

Grant agreement ID: 101100515

DOI

10.3030/101100515

Project closed

EC signature date 16 December 2022

Start date 15 January 2023

End date 14 July 2025

Funded under

• European innovation ecosystems

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 999 838,00

Coordinated by

INSTITOUTO ANAPTIXIS EPICHEIRIMATIKOTITAS ASTIKI ETAIREIA
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ExcellEnt (Excellency in Entrepreneurship: Expanding European entrepreneurship by boosting youth (self) employability and promoting a sharing resources culture)

Reporting period: 2024-07-15 to 2025-07-14

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Entrepreneurship is a cornerstone of Europe’s competitiveness, innovation capacity, and social cohesion. Yet, despite strong policy momentum, many European regions — particularly widening and candidate countries — face persistent barriers to entrepreneurship. These include fragmented support ecosystems, limited access to networks and resources, and uneven entrepreneurial education. Young people and women often encounter additional obstacles in accessing opportunities, funding, and mentorship. Such disparities prevent Europe from fully harnessing its entrepreneurial potential and from ensuring inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

ExcellEnt was launched to address these challenges by strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems, enhancing entrepreneurial competences, and building sustainable mechanisms for cross-border collaboration. The project’s objectives were to:
- Generate robust evidence on entrepreneurial competences and ecosystem conditions.
- Build the European Entrepreneurship Academy, an open-access digital platform with training and resources.
- Strengthen cross-border collaboration between widening and established regions.
- Enhance the capacity of ecosystem actors and deliver policy recommendations for sustainability.

The project sought to achieve scientific impact through new data and analysis, economic impact by supporting startup growth and resilience, and societal impact by promoting inclusiveness, gender equality, and youth engagement. Its results create a scalable foundation for future initiatives, ensuring that Europe’s entrepreneurial potential is better connected, more resilient, and more capable of driving innovation and sustainable growth.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

ExcellEnt implemented a structured programme of research, capacity-building, and ecosystem support across six countries: Greece, Bulgaria, Türkiye, Ukraine, France, and Ireland.

The project began by collecting empirical evidence through 97 structured interviews with entrepreneurs, incubators, educational institutions, and policymakers. This resulted in a unique dataset on entrepreneurial competences and ecosystem conditions, aligned with the EntreComp framework.

Based on these insights, ExcellEnt launched the European Entrepreneurship Academy, which now hosts over 60 open-access resources, training modules, and diagnostic tools. Complementing this, the Entrepreneurial Resources Hub consolidates case studies and best practices for ecosystem actors.

To boost cross-border collaboration, ExcellEnt organised discovery and soft-landing missions involving 157 participants, resulting in 447 formal and over 2,700 informal networking connections. These activities improved market access and built long-term partnerships between widening and established ecosystems.

Capacity-building was another core focus. Seventy-nine organisations and 226 individuals participated in training workshops that enhanced the ability of ecosystem actors to support entrepreneurs. Finally, the project produced policy recommendations and a sustainability framework to ensure long-term improvements in entrepreneurial support.

By its conclusion, ExcellEnt had delivered all 33 planned deliverables, fully meeting its objectives and leaving behind a robust package of tools, insights, and networks.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

ExcellEnt moved beyond existing initiatives by integrating research, practice, and policy into a unified framework. Its main results include:

- The first comparative cross-country evidence base on entrepreneurial competences and ecosystem conditions, aligned with EntreComp.
- The European Entrepreneurship Academy, an open-access platform that makes entrepreneurial education widely available.
- A Resources Hub containing practical case studies and tools to strengthen ecosystem services.
- A tested model of cross-border missions that link widening and candidate regions with established hubs.
- Policy recommendations and sustainability frameworks to embed results into long-term strategies.

Together, these outcomes provide a scalable and transferable model for building stronger, more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. They are expected to influence research, education, and policy, while supporting EU priorities such as the European Innovation Agenda, EU Startup Nations Standard, and EU Youth Strategy.

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