introduction
The purpose of this final chapter is to explore the future of entrepreneurship, developing conceptual ideas and practical approaches from academic, practical and personal perspectives, and to stimulate thinking about the opportunities and implications these raise.
The learning goals of the chapter will enable you to:
- reflect on your learning from the book through reading and applying the opportunity- centred approach
- assess the emerging issues in entrepreneurship and the implications for you, in personal,
career and academic dimensions
- review your career goals and develop an entrepreneurial career plan.
The outcome from the chapter is to help you in planning your entrepreneurial career by reviewing and using the key learning points from the book. It closes with a challenge to the reader: what are you going to do to create your own entrepreneurial future?
The chapter includes a reflection on the Opportunity-Centred Entrepreneurship approach and its contribution to theory and learning, and its implications for entrepre¬neurial practice. A number of emerging themes are proposed as being significant for the future development of entrepreneurship in terms of practice, policy and research. These include the role of science and technology entrepreneurship and innovation; the impor¬tance of an inclusive, international and multicultural approach to entrepreneurship as a means of democratic, economic and social empowerment; the future of social enterprise as this becomes part of the mainstream; the need for environmentally sustainable forms of entrepreneurship; the challenge of entrepreneurial thinking to corporate and public sector organisations; the vital importance of female entrepreneurship; the crucial role of learning and education in entrepreneurial development; and the necessity of a lifelong approach to entrepreneurial development. These themes will shape the future environment for your entrepreneurial career.