he Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER), together with the other partners of the Erasmus Plus FINANCEn_LAB project, met on March 10 at the multiplier event “Entrepreneurial finance education and ICT-based Tools” organized by the Jan Kochanowski University (UJK) in Kielce, Poland, to test the financial simulator developed during the project.
Read more: Partners of the FINANCEn_LAB project led by FUNIBER test the financial simulator in PolandThe multiplier event showcased the tool to stakeholders, such as entrepreneurs, business trainers, mentors, bank employees, business angels, private investors, financing agents, higher education professors, business policy makers, public authorities, higher research authorities, researchers, and students as potential entrepreneurs.
The main objective of the event was to present an overview of the FINANCEn_LAB project and its achievements, so that attendees could improve their understanding of the business and financial sector in general.
After the event, participants were asked to provide feedback and fill out an evaluation questionnaire to obtain comments on the results in order to improve them for future FINANCEn_LAB project work.
The representatives of the professionals expressed their willingness to use this type of tool for self-learning, emphasized that the progressive development of both technology and new financing methods makes this updating of knowledge necessary and, therefore, expressed their willingness to use the Simulator in the future for their own self-learning.
Teachers from the institutions, trainers, and mentors expressed their interest in the simulator as a support tool in their work with young people as potential future entrepreneurs.
The students who participated in the competition also expressed great interest in the availability of this tool and appreciated its practical dimension. They emphasized that the adventure of planning their own project based on the financial simulation tool was unusual and very useful for the development of their entrepreneurial skills.
Very encouraging for the FINANCEn_LAB team was the interest of the working group of the Ministry of Science and Education, represented by Dr. Krzysztof Ostafinski, in including the simulator as one of the official tools of the Ministry’s educational program.
In addition to showing the simulator to the public, a team competition with the university’s students was held during the event. The students who participated in the competition developed their own project proposals using the Lean Start-up Business Canvas method and the FINANCEN_LAB Digital Simulator for Entrepreneurial Finance e-learning platform. The jury of the competition was composed of businessmen who evaluated the content of the complex works.
Thanks to the contest, students were not only able to feel like real entrepreneurs but also to design their own business initiatives and prepare the financial part of their projects, with the use of the project simulator.
The event had a great impact among the participants, both for the speeches of the keynote speakers and the debate, as well as for the practical projects of the students.
The project, led by FUNIBER, involves the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași (UAIC) of Romania, the Jan Kochanowski University (UJK) of Poland, the TVW GmbH German company, as well as the University of Valladolid (UVa) and the Center for Research and Industrial Technology of Cantabria (CITICAN) of Spain.
The next multiplier event will be held in Santander on April 27, organized by CITICAN.
Those interested in testing their financial knowledge and learning more about the digital simulators that are being implemented can obtain more information on the project’s website. The simulator is available at the following link.
