12th Teaching Innovation & Entrepreneurship Excellence Awards 2026

Today, more than ever, innovation and entrepreneurship skills are needed both by individuals embarking on new business ventures and by employers seeking to develop and recruit people with the ability to think creatively, identify opportunities and turn ideas into action. Yet there has always been a challenge surrounding how best to teach and learn these skills. Some universities offer dedicated degrees and courses in innovation and entrepreneurship, while others incorporate these subjects into a range of different degree programmes. Whatever approach is adopted, these are challenging subjects to teach and, indeed, to research.

Courses and modules in innovation and entrepreneurship can often be highly theoretical. As a result, they do not always provide students with the practical knowledge and experience they need, nor do they necessarily inspire them to become innovators or entrepreneurs. Fortunately, excellent work is being undertaken in this field in universities and institutions around the world, and this annual competition provides an opportunity to recognise and showcase some of these initiatives.

The response to this year’s 12th Teaching Innovation and Entrepreneurship Excellence Awards reflects the breadth and creativity of initiatives currently being developed across the world. Following 21 initial submissions, 15 competitors were invited to submit a full case history describing their initiative in greater detail. The range of subjects and approaches represented in these case histories has been extensive, presenting the panel of reviewers with the challenging task of identifying the most interesting, creative and innovative examples and selecting those to be included as finalists in this anthology.

Nine authors, or groups of authors, have been invited to present their work at the European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, supported by SCTE-IUL University Institute of Lisbon in Portugal. The topics addressed by the finalists are listed in the Contents of this book and demonstrate the breadth of approaches being taken to the teaching and development of innovation and entrepreneurship.

I would like to thank all the contributors to this book for the excellent work they have undertaken to develop new, creative and engaging approaches to teaching innovation and entrepreneurship. Their contributions demonstrate the importance of moving beyond purely theoretical approaches and finding ways to equip students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to apply entrepreneurial and innovative thinking in practice.

Finally, I would like to thank the members of our panel of reviewers and expert judges for the time, expertise and commitment they have given to the awards. Their contribution has been invaluable in identifying and celebrating the excellent work represented in this anthology.