#OI2Dublin – Encourage entrepreneurship for economy’s sake, Kumardev Chatterjee says (video)

22 May 2013

Kumardev Chatterjee, founder of the European Young Innovators Forum

The only way Europe can emerge from the economic doldrums is for society to encourage young people to be more entrepreneurial, Kumardev Chatterjee, founder of the European Young Innovators Forum told Siliconrepublic.com at this week’s Open Innovation 2.0 Forum at Dublin Castle.

The European Young Innovators Forum (EYIF) is an independent, non-profit, pan-European, bottom-up association dedicated to promoting youth innovation.

EYIF has rapidly become the leading foundation for youth innovation in Europe, reaching in excess of 350,000 participants across all EU member states, giving voice to a community of young innovators and experts who believe in taking risks, changing mindsets for innovation and the value of shared ideas and professional mentorship.

The EYIF’s Unconvention will take place in Brussels on 6 and 7 June and will feature major speakers, including Rovio’s chief operations officer Harri Koponen and Jack Lang, co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

A shift in our thinking

“The forum has one single vision and that is to change the mindset for innovation in Europe for young people, to get them to be more risk taking and to get society, businesses and government to support risk taking,” Chatterjee said.

“We believe that is the only way to achieve growth in Europe; to get young people to be entrepreneurial, start their own products and companies.”

Chatterjee said this requires a shift in the way we view young people and support their endeavours.

Particularly at a time of economic crisis and rising unemployment, this is paramount if Europe wishes to see a recovery.

“The only way to do that is to get young people to be more entrepreneurial.”