Preliminary Agenda for EU-OECD Youth Entrepreneurship Policy Summit

The Youth Entrepreneurship Policy Academy (YEPA) has been in action now for three years and is coming to its end. Youth entrepreneurship remains a priority for both the European Union and the OECD.

The Policy Summit aims to share and discuss the policy learnings from the YEPA activities and point the way forward for youth entrepreneurship policy. It will bring together many of the participants in those activities to discuss the barriers faced by young people in entrepreneurship and “what works” in youth entrepreneurship policy and to consider what all policy actors can do in future to strengthen youth entrepreneurship in Europe.

The YEPA has been an opportunity for policy makers to better understand the barriers faced by young people in entrepreneurship and how to adapt policy to the needs of youth through a series of regular exchanges with young entrepreneurs, youth entrepreneurship networks, experts, youth entrepreneur support organisations and social entrepreneurship networks. It has held quarterly workshops and related events in addition to producing a series of thematic notes on different youth entrepreneurship policy issues and best practices. More information: www.yepa-hub.org.

The YEPA contributes to and builds on a range of other important work by the OECD and the European Commission on inclusive entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, including the award-winning report series The Missing Entrepreneurs. It was also announced as a key action in the EU Action Plan for Social Economy.