This project aims to strengthen networks and collaboration between Nordic and Baltic higher education institutions (HEI) (students and faculty alike) and sport organizations (SO) within the field of sport management. It focuses on developing new perspectives, networks, exchange and competence with focus on social entrepreneurship in and through sport.
The project is carried out between eight partners (four HEIs and four SOs) in Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Each HEI has sport management programmes.
Keywords
- equal opportunities
- social sustainability
- sound competition
The project activities will strengthen Nordic/Baltic cooperation within HEIs in general
and sport management in particular; the project promotes innovative processes in education, exchange of experiences and good practices, and further develop the cooperation between HEIs and SOs across the region.
Background
Sport is often perceived as a suitable platform for social integration and inclusion, sustainable solutions and competitiveness in the form of athletic as well as economic performance. However, those outcomes do not come automatically in and from sport. In fact, sport could also have negative impacts in terms of social exclusion, on the environment and harmful competition.
To develop the positive effects of sport (e.g., activities and clubs), awareness, critical thinking, knowledge, strategic thinking, and innovative thinking/competencies are necessary.
This project builds on experiences derived from a previous, successful Nordplus Horizontal project: Sportpreneurship: sustainable & smart sport business.
Methodology
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The project builds on and further develops a student-practice-centred workshop methodology. The workshops have a competitive edge and are organised as social entrepreneurship hackathons (SEH). By providing students with realistic everyday challenges of SOs, and teaching them tools to look for sustainable solutions in teams, the students develop new skills, connect and learn from professionals within the practice field. We believe that this will better equip them to be positive change agents in the future.
SOs and HEIs are responsible for organising SEH's at their respective locations. Four students from each HEI will participate and team up with the other students. Students will expand their professional networks and gain international experience and valuable insight about sports management in practice.
Previous Nordplus activities
Nordplus Horizontal: Sportpreneurship: sustainable & smart sport business (NPHZ-2020/10068)
From 27th to 28th of November 2025 we hosted the first social entrepreneurship hackathon (SEH) at Molde University College. A hackathon is a collaborative event where individuals with diverse skills come together to innovate and solve pressing challenges within a limited time frame. Social hackathons focus on generating solutions to social issues, to drive positive change.
In collaboration with the regional skiing federation, we designed a case/problem:
How might the regional skiing federation, the regional confederation of sport and their partners (clubs, national federation etc) work to increase memberships in skiing?
Thanks to all students who participated in the SEH and to all partners who joined us in Molde! A special thanks to Stig Aambø at the regional skiing federation and Kjetil Håve, at MRIK, for your expert contributions.
We’re looking forward to SEH2 in Malmö!
