On March 10-11th, the EU-funded research project Micro-Learning Entrepreneurship for Athletes (www.mlea.eu) met in Stockholm. Leading the project is the Zagreb School of Economics and Management and the Center for Sports and Business together with the Center for Sports and Management at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management are two Centers of Excellence connected to the project.

The aim of the MLEA project is to address the glaring gap in the field of entrepreneurial education for athletes in partners’ countries and at the EU level in general. Thus, the MLEA project is developing a tailor-made, modular curriculum on entrepreneurship for athletes and former athletes. All the curriculum’s modules will be delivered by academic experts and recorded. Educational material will follow the micro-learning approach to help athletes make the most of their time and achieve their educational goals. 

Partners from the MLEA project visited the Swedish Sports Confederation in light of entering the second part of this Erasmus+ project. There they met Peter Mattson, Director of Elitsports2030, and had the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the structure of Swedish sports. Later, on the same day, the second transnational MLEA meeting took place at the Stockholm School of Economics, hosted by Martin Carlsson-Wall (Director for the Center for Sports and Business) and Nick Andersson (Director Internationalisation for the Center for Sports and Business). The meeting was organized in a hybrid format so that other partners from Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia could participate virtually as well. The aim of the meeting was to further develop the educational program. The day was concluded by visiting SSE’s audio and visual studio where different approaches to finalizing the MLEA project output were brainstormed and new solutions found.

"It was a very productive project meeting. Even though digital meetings save time, it is also important to meet physically. Except for discussing the content of the modules, we exchanged ideas for how dual careers can be improved in the future and the need for new research projects" said Martin Carlsson-Wall, Director for the Center for Sports and Business.

Nick Andersson, Director for Internationalisation at the Center for Sports and Business, continues:     

"Even though the Center for Sports and Business has a strong national presence in Sweden, it is equally important to develop our international collaborations. The MLEA project is an innovative project combining both research and education. Our ambition is that this is a first cornerstone towards a larger international research and teaching platform focusing on dual careers."

Except for the academic partners, the following organizations are project members:

The Croatian Olympic Committee

The Olympic Committee of Slovenia

The Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Olympic Committee of Serbia

The European University Sport Association

Dinner with MLEA participants