AI in Youth Entrepreneurship

Asociația HESSA (Romania, OID E10316374) is building a KA152 youth exchange for the 1 October 2026 deadline: a 10-day venture lab hosted in a village in Iași county, Romania (summer 2027).

Mixed transnational teams take a rural business idea from zero to a recorded pitch, using AI tools at every step: market research, visual identity, financial plan, prototype, presentation. We don't teach "about AI" — participants work WITH it, on a real idea, under time pressure, in a real village.

Signature day: each team pitches twice in one day — once to an AI-built jury, once to people who actually run a small business in the host village. The gap between the two verdicts is the learning material. A dedicated module covers AI ethics and limits: what it invents, what data never goes into a chatbot, what remains human work.

Participants: 40-42 young people (18–27) from rural areas or small towns, with declared entrepreneurial interest (an idea or a clear intention), including young people with fewer opportunities. Competences measured pre/post on the EntreComp framework. Output: an open-source AI-entrepreneurship workflow guide, published freely.

We seek 4-5 partners from EU/associated countries working with rural or small-town youth. What we ask: recruit a national team, support pre-departure idea scouting, join an online preparatory meeting. Coordinator track record: HubLab (KA152, 2024) — 48 young people, 6 countries, 8 business ideas, 120 people at the final pitching, final report 87/100.