HES Summer 2023 Reflections

In the words of the 1963 Cliff Richard “Summer Holiday” song “We’re all goin’ on a Summer holiday, No more work in’ for a week or two”. That being the case, we want to reflect on our achievements at the end of the academic year and consider our plans for the future.

Reflecting on the year to date, we have been busy on a number of fronts. Apart from fine-tuning our online competition following its successful beta test 2022 HES Graduate Enterprise Competition Reveal – HES 2020-2023 (harmonious-entrepreneurship.org) since August 2022 we have delivered:

Publications:

• Some 39 further Harmonious Enterprise cases on our website [mapped to the SDGs] and through LinkedIn, bringing our total to 120+ examples of Harmonious Entrepreneurship in practise. We recently showcased a selection of these as ‘Welsh Harmonious Treasures’ at the Lampeter Food Festival 2023, demonstrating how it is possible to regenerate economies and communities sustainably through food.
• Another book chapter, ‘The Leopard’s Spots are Changing; an evolutionary approach to ecological sustainability’ in  “Bleeding-Edge Entrepreneurship: Digitalization, Blockchains, Space, the Ocean, and Artificial Intelligence’ edited by João J. Ferreira and Patrick J. Murphy. The publication can be accessed at https://harmonious-entrepreneurship.org/2023/01/23/hes-contributes-to-new-emerald-entrepreneurship-publication/.
• An additional chapter has been accepted for publication in an edited text on Extracurricular Entrepreneurship Education, focusing on the results of the beta test of our online extracurricular Harmonious Entrepreneurship student competition. Another chapter on Harmonious Entrepreneurship and the Circular Economy is currently under review.
• First drafts of three papers on Harmonious Entrepreneurship in relation to community development, peace, and inequality.

Additionally, we have been invited to edit a special issue of the journal “Sustainability” on the corporate and academic response to the sustainability challenge. More details can be found at https://harmonious-entrepreneurship.org/2023/01/03/call-for-contribution-to-sustainability-an-international-open-access-journal/.

Presentations:

• Led a seminar at Charterhouse Independent School in Surrey during their Sustainability Conference on March 14th
• Led an online seminar at IEEC2022, the Enterprise Educators UK’s Annual Conference, with Associate Professor Nural Nisa Omar of the University of Malaya-Wales. The seminar focused on the international Harmonious Enterprise competition beta-tested at the UWTSD and the University of Malaya-Wales.
• Facilitated a “Food Pirates” transformation event based on our Welsh food  cases at the Lampeter Food Festival in conjunction with UNESCO BRIDGES Hub and UWTSD.
• Presented a poster at the Learned Society of Wales Inaugural Colloquium 2023 event for early-stage researchers.

Recognition:

• Honoured with an ICSB Mini Globe Award.
• Awarded third prize for the poster presentation on the contribution of Harmonious Entrepreneurship to the prosperity of Wales at the prestigious Learned Society of Wales event August 23 ECR Blog – The Learned Society of Wales.
• Notified of an Entrepreneurial Champion award.

David also

• Contributed to a history of Entrepreneurship Education in the UK with colleagues Luke Pittaway, Collette Henry, and John Thompson.
• Participated in a University of Surrey Entrepreneurship Hackathon
• Will be participating in a plenary session on the History of EE in the UK at IEEC23.

 and Felicity

• Completed her phenomenological doctorate investigating the ‘Lived Experiences of Educators Facilitating Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Higher Education’
• Alongside her IICED research outputs, continued her pioneering work with Dafen Primary School in Llanelli, extending the adoption of EntreComp beyond the school’s perimeter.
• Is scheduled to deliver five research papers/presentations related to her doctoral studies and entrepreneurial work at several entrepreneurial and educational national and European conferences between late August and November.

As for our future plans, we aim to:

• Continue publishing both case examples of the concept and the results of our research.
• Deliver guest lectures and presentations at conferences.
• Organise an international conference.
• Expand the online student competition across Wales and globally.
• Adapt the online competition to be suitable for secondary education.
• Collaborate with both academic and practitioner partners to achieve our shared objectives.

Continuing with the theme of the ‘Summer Holiday’ song, we note that it  recommends “Fun and laughter on our summer holiday, no more worries for me or you”. We certainly hope this will be your experience – and not just on your summer holiday. At HES, we believe fun and laughter should permeate all we do. Come and join us.

Meanwhile, we wish you a peaceful and enjoyable time wherever you are in the world. As Mahatma Ghandi observed “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony”.

Thank you to all our followers, networks, and collaborators.

Cofion, David and Felicity, August 2023

© Harmonious-Entrepreneurship.org / Harmonious Entrepreneurship Ltd. (2020-2023).