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About Young Equine Innovators

About

Opportunities don't happen. You create them.

Chris Grosser

Context

“Not since the invention of the saddle and stirrup have horse people had so many opportunities to reimagine the future. These technological changes are only the beginning. More improvements are ahead as equine digital technologies are further adapted and refined. What will the industry look like in five years? While that is hard to predict, we can know for certain that it won’t look like it has these past 5,000 years" - ALLTECH

Need

The equestrian industry is among the fastest-growing industries, with an estimated holistic economic imprint of over 100 billion euros annually, according to the European Horse Network (EHN). Despite this, the industry is lagging behind in adopting technology to improve various aspects of day-to-day life, care, competition, and community. The absence of EU open-access equine entrepreneurship programmes presents both a challenge and an opportunity. There is a significant gap in youth education and innovative training initiatives aimed specifically at young entrepreneurs in the equine industry.

Mission

The YEI partners project shares a collective vision and motivation to act as catalysts for change in the dynamic equestrian industry. Recognising the essential role that youth will play in its future, the partners are deeply motivated to provide opportunities for young people to transform their passion into thriving professions. The equine sector, which includes disciplines and services ranging from agriculture to leisure, tourism, rehabilitation, and equine science and technology, offers immense opportunities for careers and microenterprise start-ups. By leveraging youth's inherent digital fluency, YEI aims to revolutionise the sector through the application of AI, IoT, and E-commerce solutions, addressing the current technology adoption gap and fostering sustainable innovation, such as bioenergy from horse manure.

Target Group

Our target group for this project includes three main types of people and organisations:

  • TG1: Youth, especially those disconnected from formal employment structures (NEETs) or on the fringes of the formal job market, who can amplify their entrepreneurial, socio-digital, and interpersonal skills via YEI, gaining a new skill set and the support and help they need to shape and formulate their career and business aspirations.
  • TG2: Equestrian Educators, Mentors and Instructors will be introduced to state-of-the-art training methodologies acting as gateways for youth newer opportunities and holistic growth within the equine sphere. They are currently poorly equipped to engage young people in entrepreneurship and innovation that is tailored to the unique equine sector dynamic.
  • TG3: Equestrian-Centric Social Innovators, Regions & Communities –Poised to experience socio-economic rejuvenation and a more innovation-empowered workforce, enterprise and social innovation base into the future.
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