The Regional Directorate for Youth spoke at the opening of the Summer Camp IdeiAçores in Ponta Delgada, stressing that the programme "Entrepreneurial Education: the Path to Success" is a coherent strategy that is in line with other measures implemented by the Government of the Azores."
 
Pilar Damião stressed that the first editions of IdeiAçores competition, held under that programme, aimed "to promote competition among teams and the sharing of experiences, adding that, currently, the initiative intends "to provide participating teams with the opportunity to contact with businesspeople and entrepreneurs as well as to discover the business incubation system in the real world."
 
In her speech, Pilar Damião stressed that, over the six editions of the programme "Entrepreneurial Education: the Path to Success," several students have already begun to implement their business ideas. This is the case of Alfazeta, who "created flavoured vodkas, ran to the "Shark Tank" TV show and was supported by it; currently, he is building his own company."
 
The government official also pointed out the case of students from Santa Maria School who "have created an application for mobile phones and tablets adapted to Azorean reality; it was launched during Maré de Agosto Festival."
 
In turn, the Regional Director for Education stressed that this programme "embodies some of the most important goals" of education and training of young people, especially the "development of so-called p21st century skills."
 
Among these skills, Fabíola Cardoso stressed the importance of knowing how to "convey an opinion, an idea, and a solution” as well as “how to work as a team to achieve common goals and develop critical thinking."
 
The Summer Camp runs until April 28 with a programme that includes educational activities, field trips, lectures, games, socialisation among participants and the sixth edition of IdeiAçores competition, which is held on the last day of the event.
 
This competition will involve 33 schools of the archipelago and a total of 93 participants, who will present 33 business ideas to a panel of experts.
 
The Summer Camp will also promote moments of learning, namely through workshops and pitch training, providing participants with the opportunity to improve the presentation of the projects in competition.
 
The Regional Competition "IdeiAçores" is the culmination of "Entrepreneurial Education: The Path to Success," a programme that is being developed in regional schools throughout the year.
 
The programme is designed by the Government of the Azores, through the Regional Directorates for Youth and Education, in partnership with the University of the Azores and the collaboration of the Society for Business Development for the Azores (SDEA) and GesLearning; the latter is a company specialising in entrepreneurial education that is responsible for the creation of the entire training package for the entire project.