Attention should also be paid to potential, new, young and female entrepreneurs, as well as to other specific target groups, such as older people, migrants and entrepreneurs belonging to socially disadvantaged or vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities and to the promotion of business transfers, spin-offs, spin-outs and second chances for entrepreneurs.

Attention should also be paid to potential, new, young and female entrepreneurs, as well as to other specific target groups, such as older people, migrants and entrepreneurs belonging to socially disadvantaged or vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities and to the promotion of business transfers, spin-offs, spin-outs and second chances for entrepreneurs.

27. Emphasises the active role of social cooperatives in the restructuring of SMEs, in particular through ‘social spin-offs’, which promote the integration of workers who can be defined as disadvantaged and who are in a critical employment situation, by strengthening – through solidarity – a growing capacity to meet social demand;

46. Recalls that commercial entrepreneurship in its various forms should be envisaged as one of the possible professions for young graduates and that it is essential for higher education institutions to provide students with detailed knowledge of all forms of entrepreneurship, including the social and charitable economy, encouraging them, for instance, to establish their own spin-off firms;

59. Attaches great importance to knowledge transfer in an open environment; acknowledges that there are different instruments for achieving this, such as publications and seminars, technology transfer offices, regional cooperation, support for start-ups and spin-offs, collaborative research and researcher mobility; believes, however, that the social and human dimension of interaction is extremely important; strongly supports, therefore, initiatives to foster face-to-face interaction between universities and business, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises;

Yet policy should take account of the differing needs of entrepreneurs, who run businesses ranging from university spin-outs to family-owned SMEs to social enterprises.