Today the Norwegian Government is launching a national strategy for entrepreneurship education. It gives me great pleasure to share this message with the international networks Junior Achievement - Young Enterprise Europe and Junior Achievement Worldwide. These networks play an important role in entrepreneurship education worldwide, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your efforts so far. Your networks are important partners for Norway, since you are putting into action many of the priorities that have been outlined in our strategy.

Our strategy is being launched in close co-operation with Young Enterprise Norway, which this past week has organised the first national “entrepreneurship week”. This initiative aims at bridging the gap between the education system and the business community. The launching of our strategy marks the end of the entrepreneurship week, but by no means the end of a fruitful co-operation.

The strategy is the result of a co-operation between the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Education and Research, and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. We are presenting several new and concrete initiatives designed to promote education, and training, for entrepreneurship. The strategy addresses the entire educational system from primary school to college and university, including teacher training.

We are seeking to improve the individual’s ability to exploit opportunities in the business world and in society in general.

My government’s ambition is that in terms of entrepreneurship the Norwegian educational system should be among the world’s best. This is an ambitious goal, but with our new strategy we hope to reach it.

Entrepreneurship is about being innovative, about creating something new. New firms are major providers of new jobs, innovation and wealth creation. Entrepreneurship is therefore a key to ensuring a high level of welfare.

One of our major goals is to promote a culture of innovation that inspires people to explore new frontiers. Attitudes that encourage entrepreneurial initiatives must be encouraged. Entrepreneurship often involves considerable risk and uncertainty. It is therefore important not only to reward people’s willingness to try out new things, but also to appreciate what failure can teach us. And I am convinced that government has a role in fostering such entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviour.

The importance of entrepreneurship education has been widely recognised. National governments and international bodies, such as the EU, the OECD and the World Economic Forum, increasingly recognise the role of education in this field, and numerous initiatives and programmes have been launched in many countries.

Entrepreneurship is about people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and ambitions that result in innovation. Our strategy seeks to foster the mindset, the awareness of career opportunities, and the skills necessary to become an entrepreneur.

Networks such as Junior Achievement and Young Enterprise are crucial for achieving real progress in this area. We have already seen the fruits of your work and we look forward to further co-operation with you in the future.

With these words I would like to wish you all good luck in your work with entrepreneurship and innovation.