Development of an early on-set innovation culture in Australia

Abstract

Entrepreneurship and innovation are increasingly important to our economic and social well-being. It is under this context that the recent PolicyHack event in Australia included the mission to ‘improve education systems to foster innovative thinking, creativity, entrepreneurship and digital skills’. However, despite developments such as this, and the global growth of entrepreneurship programs, there remains little evidence on the effect and impact of entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary schools. This article aims to establish a framework for further studies of entrepreneurship education in schools by reviewing the available literature. Initial findings reveal that early age experiences can influence whether an individual will later demonstrate entrepreneurship traits. In particular, fostering non-cognitive skills before adolescence (such as creativity and self-efficacy) has been found to be effective. Based on these research conclusions, this article suggests that the government implements guideline changes to cultivate an entrepreneurial culture in schools.