LEAD Academic Network explores entrepreneurial leadership and learning in the AI era

What does entrepreneurial leadership mean when artificial intelligence is reshaping how people learn, make decisions and create value? The 2nd International Conference on Entrepreneurial Education offered a space to examine this question through exchanges among educators, researchers and practitioners. For LEAD Academic Network, the discussions resonate with a central concern: how international dialogue and mutual learning can strengthen the human capabilities needed to lead through uncertainty.

Held at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Ghent on 27 October 2026, the conference was co-organised by the EU-China Higher Education Research Center (ECHE), LEAD Academic Network, HOGENT E-Lab, VLAIO, TU/e Innovation Space and the Xerius-HOGENT Chair on Entrepreneurial Learning at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Its keynote, parallel sessions and collective reflections connected entrepreneurial education with broader questions about human agency, leadership responsibility and educational change.

Human agency and the responsibility to lead

Prof. Xiaozhou XU of Zhejiang University, UNESCO Chairholder in Entrepreneurship Education, delivered the keynote, Challenges and Strategies: Entrepreneurship Education Innovation in the AI Era. Drawing on historical perspectives on technological change and developments in AI education in China, he invited participants to consider whose interests technological progress serves and how education can preserve independent thinking and moral responsibility.

His call to reconsider the mission of entrepreneurial education also raised questions for academic leadership. Preparing learners for technological change requires decisions about which human capabilities education should cultivate, how technological benefits are shared and what responsibilities institutions retain as AI becomes more capable.

Prof. XU proposed a direction combining research leadership, mindset transformation, collaboration among stakeholders and systemic reform. His emphasis on international cooperation opened a discussion about how educators working in different contexts can learn from one another while responding to their own institutional needs.

Learning across educational and institutional contexts

The parallel practice and research tracks brought different approaches into conversation. Presentations addressed experiential course design, critical thinking, generative AI in marketing education, storytelling and sustainable entrepreneurship, alongside research on inclusion and university–industry relationships.

For a network concerned with academic leadership, these exchanges illustrate the value of mutual learning. Teaching experiences can generate questions for research, while research can help educators reconsider familiar practices and assumptions. Comparing approaches across institutions also invites participants to examine the conditions that make a practice useful and how it might need to change in another setting.

Developing leadership capabilities alongside AI

Dr. Zhao CHENG from the LEAD Academic Network contributed a presentation on AI and entrepreneurial leadership. His work examined how AI is reported to shape opportunity exploration, decision-making, experimentation and entrepreneurial learning, considering both human–AI cognitive complementarity and the risks of dependence and capability erosion.

A central implication concerned what educational programmes assess. Alongside the outputs students produce with AI, educators need to examine the capabilities learners develop through that process. For entrepreneurial leadership, these include interpreting unfamiliar situations, exercising judgement and working with others, which connects leadership development with the collective dimensions of entrepreneurial activity.

Building the capacity to engage with uncertain futures

The closing reflections considered entrepreneurship as a willingness to engage with uncertain futures, extending beyond business creation. Participants discussed critical judgement, reflection and resilience, as well as the educational spaces that allow learners to experiment and develop these capabilities.

They also questioned whether conventional performance indicators adequately capture entrepreneurial learning. Its significance may emerge over time, as learners draw on earlier experiences in new circumstances. This invites academic leaders to consider how institutional expectations and assessment practices recognise longer-term development.

For LEAD Academic Network, these discussions offer shared questions around which to connect educators, researchers and academic leaders across institutional contexts. LEAD welcomes dialogue and collaboration to explore how entrepreneurial education and leadership can strengthen human agency, responsible judgement and the capacity to navigate uncertainty together.