It's funny how life works out. Here I am, heading back to Manchester Metropolitan University for IEEC2025 - the same place where I gave my very first professional speaking gig all those years ago. A two-hour talk on entrepreneurship and my story at the Business School.
That talk launched my career as a speaker, and from there I went on to work across the country, helping more than 2,000 young people start their own businesses.
Now I am a keynote speaker for organisations wanting to be inspired more about AI, technology and the future of work... And so I have been asked to return as a guest expert on a panel with the title:
"Disruptions – Is AI a new paradigm or just another industrial revolution?"
The irony isn't lost on me. I don't work in enterprise education anymore, but I do help people when they want to start their own business. And as someone now working with artificial intelligence every day, I suspect they might not like what I'm going to say.
The Full Circle Moment
My journey through enterprise education runs deeper than most people realize. Back when I was pioneering online work with Dr David Bozward and others on Flying Start, we were already solving problems that today's educators are just beginning to understand. We even wrote a book together - "Make Your Passion A Success" - drawing from our work with over 2,000 successful startups.
Then came the My-Biz platform I created with Matt Dooley and the PeoplePlus team. We built one of the first online digital business startup platforms, helping hundreds more young people turn their ideas into reality.
This was gamified learning before gamification was trendy - targeted at 18-24 year-olds not in education or employment, using game mechanics to make business learning engaging and practical. It was highly successful and that was THEN... So a decade or two on I know know the pressures and challenges enterprise educators face today.
The State of Play at IEEC2025
IEEC2025 runs September 10-12 with the theme "Disruptions, Futures and Enterprise Education." The timing couldn't be more perfect - or more challenging.
The statistics tell the story: 92% of UK students now use AI tools, up from 66% just one year ago. That's not gradual adoption - that's a revolution happening in real-time.
The panel I'm on will be chaired by Matthew Draycott, alongside David Pearce and Kelly Smith MBE. These are serious people with serious credentials in enterprise education. Matthew's got over 20 years in entrepreneurship education and has run 10 businesses himself. Kelly's a past Chair and Life Fellow of Enterprise Educators UK with 1,477 citations and co-authored the QAA Guidelines for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education.
But here's what I'm seeing from my position at the intersection of AI and business: while they're debating whether AI represents a new paradigm or just another industrial revolution, the revolution has already happened. Students aren't waiting for institutional permission to use these tools.
What I've Learned About AI and Enterprise Education
Working with AI every day through YourFLOCK and now my keynotespeaking and consulting around AI and digital transformation , I can tell you something the academic literature is only just beginning to understand:
AI doesn't just change how we teach entrepreneurship - it fundamentally changes what entrepreneurship looks like.
When 88% of students are using generative AI for assessed work, and traditional 2000-word business plans can be generated in minutes, we're not facing incremental change. We're facing the same challenge I addressed with My-Biz gamification fifteen years ago: how do you create authentic learning experiences that actually prepare people for real entrepreneurship?
The government's response - £4 million for AI tools development, £3 million for curriculum content databases, positioning AI literacy as a "universal entitlement" - shows they understand the stakes. Universities are launching specialized programs: Liverpool's MSc AI for Digital Business, Queen's Belfast's MSc AI in Business, expanded offerings at Imperial College, London Business School, Oxford Saïd.
But the real transformation isn't in new degree programs - it's in the fundamental question of what authentic entrepreneurial learning looks like when AI can do market research, generate strategies, and create business plans.
The Honest Conversation We Need
Here's what I'll probably say at IEEC2025, and why it might not be popular:
"AI isn't just another tool like PowerPoint or the internet. It's a fundamental shift in how value is created, how problems are solved, and what human skills actually matter."
The Fifth Industrial Revolution framework I work with - and in the book I wrote - integrating Artificial Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Independent Intelligence, and Organizational Intelligence - isn't academic theory. It's practical reality. Especially for anyone starting a business today. The entrepreneurs I work with now aren't just competing with other humans. They're competing with humans using AI.
This changes everything about enterprise education:
Assessment: If AI can generate business plans, what are we actually assessing? The plan or the entrepreneur's ability to execute it?
Skills Development: If AI handles market research and financial modeling, what uniquely human entrepreneurial capabilities do students need to develop?
Experiential Learning: How do we create authentic experiences when AI can simulate customer feedback, competitive analysis, and market conditions?
Ethics and Responsibility: When students use AI for assignments, are we teaching them to be entrepreneurs or teaching them to be AI prompters?
The LinkedIn Question
I posted on LinkedIn: "Should I tell them what I really think or simply applaud all their hard work?" The theme is 'Disruptions, Futures and Enterprise Education' but do they really mean it? Do Enterprise Educators UK actually want disruption, or do they want managed change that doesn't threaten existing structures?
From my research into IEEC2025, I think they do want honest disruption. Enterprise Educators UK's position is "embrace rather than ban" AI tools. Manchester Metropolitan's £6 million AI Foundry working with 170+ SMEs shows commitment to practical application. The conference structure emphasizes interactive, participant-focused sessions rather than traditional academic presentations.
But there's still a gap between embracing AI as a tool and recognizing AI as a fundamental shift in what entrepreneurship education needs to accomplish.
What I'll Actually Say
Here's my message for the panel: AI isn't just another industrial revolution - it's the acceleration of every previous industrial revolution happening simultaneously.
The steam engine took decades to transform manufacturing.
The internet took years to change commerce.
AI is transforming everything in months.
For enterprise education, this means we can't just integrate AI tools into existing curricula. We need to rebuild curricula around the assumption that AI exists. That means:
- Focus on uniquely human entrepreneurial capabilities: Emotional intelligence, relationship building, ethical decision-making, creative problem-solving under uncertainty
- Authentic assessment methods: Real customer interactions, actual problem-solving for real businesses, measurable value creation rather than theoretical planning
- AI-augmented learning: Teaching students to be better entrepreneurs by using AI effectively, not teaching them to avoid it
- Rapid iteration cycles: If AI can compress research and planning phases from weeks to hours, education needs to match that pace
The entrepreneurs I work with today aren't afraid of AI taking their jobs. They're afraid of other entrepreneurs using AI better than they do. That's what we should be preparing students for.
The Bigger Picture
My return to enterprise education isn't really about nostalgia. It's about applying fifteen years of practical experience helping people start businesses to the biggest disruption the field has ever faced.
The gamification principles I pioneered with My-Biz - engaging learners through authentic challenges, immediate feedback, progressive skill development - are exactly what enterprise education needs for the AI era.
The question isn't whether AI will disrupt enterprise education. It already has. The question is whether enterprise educators will lead that disruption or be led by it.
At IEEC2025, I suspect I'll see many old faces from my early days in the field. Some might not like what I'm going to say about AI acceleration and the need for fundamental rather than incremental change. But if "Disruptions, Futures and Enterprise Education" means anything, it means having honest conversations about what's actually happening, not what we wish were happening.
The choice, as always, is simple: lead or be led.
I know which I choose. The question is whether the enterprise education community is ready to choose the same.
"AI won't take your job, but someone using AI just might. And that someone should be your students."
FIND OUT MORE
About Dan Sodergren:
- Website: www.dansodergren.com
- LinkedIn: Dan Sodergren - Future of Work
- YourFLOCK (Employee Engagement Platform): www.yourflock.co.uk
- Speaking Bureau: Great British Speakers
- The Fifth Industrial Revolution: www.thefifthindustrialrevolution.co.uk
IEEC2025 Conference:
- Event Details: www.enterprise.ac.uk/ieec/
- Enterprise Educators UK: www.enterprise.ac.uk
- Conference Registration: IEEC2025 Registration
Dan's Enterprise Education Background:
- Book: "Make Your Passion A Success" (co-authored with Dr. David Bozward) - available on Amazon
- Historical work with Flying Start, PeoplePlus, and UTC@MediaCityUK
- Great Marketing Works training programs
AI and Future of Work Resources:
- Government AI in Education: GOV.UK AI Opportunities Action Plan
- Manchester Met AI Foundry: MMU AI Business Support
- Enterprise Education AI Research: Advance HE AI and Enterprise Education
Ready to explore how the Fifth Industrial Revolution can transform your approach to business and education? Connect with Dan to discuss speaking opportunities, AI implementation, or entrepreneurship support.