Print version Recommend this page Press release
42/ 2003
Bonn, 11.11.2003
Trainees and apprentices getting fit for a networked society - in junior enterprises and e-simulations!
Important foundations - for entrepreneurial thinking and practice, for founding one's own business, and for e-business - can be laid during vocational training! The paths that can be taken and the methods that can be used to achieve this were tested during two three-year pilot projects which recently came to a successful end. These two pilot projects - Junior Enter-prise Network (JeeNet) - Developing Skills in Networked Junior Enterprises on the Basis of E-Commerce and Entrepreneurial Practice and E-Simulation - Simulating Commercial Decision-Making Situations Revolving Around E-Business - were conducted under the technical supervision of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training (BIBB) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The findings of these two pilot projects will be presented to the public at a joint final meeting scheduled as part of the eBusiness in der Ausbildung (E-Business in Vocational Training) conference being held on November 17 and 18, 2003 in Hamburg (for more information in German, please see www.e-planspiel.de/e-planspiel/tagung.htm).
Trainees and apprentices participating in the Junior Enterprise Network (JeeNet) - Develop-ing Skills in Networked Junior Enterprises on the Basis of E-Commerce and Entrepreneu-rial Practice pilot project learned what self-employment requires: Participants set up and ran virtual junior enterprises under realistic conditions to prepare them for economic thinking while practising how entrepreneurs work and learn. While doing so, they used the methods and means of electronic business in their virtual firm - not only for their own business under-takings but also for developing and refining the junior enterprise concept which has become increasingly widespread in companies, schools and other institutions in Germany since the 1980s. Now all junior enterprises can be linked with one another through JeeNet (Junior En-terprise Network) and the Internet-based learning and working platform jomp (junior online marketplace) that was developed as part of JeeNet. They can also establish business relationships with other companies via JeeNet, a feature that makes the concept even more attractive and puts it in step with the times.
What do trainees and apprentices learn through JeeNet and jomp?
With JeeNet, "junior entrepreneurs" can take a look beyond the boundaries of their own com-pany, become acquainted with the special features of virtual communication and cooperation, and learn what opportunities working in networks offers for their own entrepreneurial think-ing and practice. They also gain insight into the special features of virtual commerce and learn that e-business is more than just online-shopping.
jomp gives participants an opportunity to collaborate on projects, exchange information about their own experience and know-how in an Internet forum, download e-learning products for concrete junior enterprise work from a learning library, and offer one another products and services in a virtual marketplace. All that interested individuals have to do is access www.jeenet.de and join in!
Innovative developments in vocational training need strong partners in practice. The Otto GmbH & Co KG company, vocational training schools in Hamburg and the University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg were substantially involved in the JeeNet pilot project. JeeNet will continue operating even after its pilot phase is over. The network will continue to be developed with assistance from the Otto GmbH & Co KG company, the Arbeitsgemein-schaft der Juniorenfirmen in Deutschland (an association of junior enterprises in Germany) and the Nordakademie private college.
Further German-language information on JeeNet and junior enterprises is available at www.jeenet.de and www.juniorenfirmen.de.
The pilot project E-Simulation - Simulating Commercial Decision-Making Situations Re-volving Around E-Business focused on the acquisition of additional qualification during for-mal commercial training or in the course of continuing training undertaken parallel to em-ployment (amount: ca. 120 hours). The objective of this pilot project was to sensitize students to strategic business management and operational issues that arise in connection with the use of the Internet for business. Rather than revolving around running a virtual junior enterprise, E-Simulation is used to set up an online shop in a simulation that subjects it to the dynamics of the marketplace and to product adjustments over several periods. The E-Simulation pilot project was developed and tested by the Nuremberg-based bfz - Training and Development Centers of the Bavarian Employers' Associations.
Further information on E-Simulation is available in German at www.e-planspiel.de
Point of contact at BIBB for both pilot projects and the junior enterprises concept: Konrad Kutt, Section 3.3 Pilot Projects, Innovation and Transfer, Tel.: +49 228 / 107-1513, E-mail: kutt@bibb.de
