The Creative Spark programme is designed to support the development of creative economies, increasing opportunities for young people and addressing skills gaps which restricts young people’s access to international networks, markets and resources. 

Newcastle University and Azerbaijan’s Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC) received funding from the British Council to establish a Creative Spark project in Azerbaijan.

The objectives of the project are to:

1. Enhancing the quality of entrepreneurial education in Azerbaijan. This includes a programme of train the trainers’ activities, mentoring and teaching resource development.
2. Supporting the development and growth of new enterprises by young entrepreneurs. Through “Createathon” workshops, mentoring and business support, we enhance young people’s ability to create high quality and sustainable new enterprises.
3. Promote the British Council’s Big Idea Challenge, English Learning Programme and digital learning platforms. We are supporting the British Council’s entrepreneurship, digital economy and English language programmes in Azerbaijan.

Taken together, the activities are designed to provide enterprise and entrepreneurship skills training and support the development of the creative economy. Creative Spark also supports higher education reform.

Newcastle University is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Newcastle University Business School (NUBS) holds triple accreditation status (AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB), and hosts KITE (the Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise), a leading centre for enterprise and innovation. The staff involved in the project are drawn from NUBS’ Innovation, Enterprise and Digital Business research community and have longstanding expertise in these fields (both within education and industry).

Azerbaijan’s Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC) was established in 2016 as a public legal entity to modernise the country’s economy. CAERC has implemented several projects to develop the country’s digital economy. These include the establishment of a Digital Trade Hub and the EnterpriseAzerbaijan.com portal. It has also created an online portal Azexport.az – to stimulate exports.

To link with higher education in Azerbaijan, CAERC and NUBS are partnering on the project with: Baku Engineering University (BEU), Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC) and the Azerbaijan State Agricultural University (AzSAU).