Vienna, June 17, 2024: The Changemaker Market Day, which was launched in 2018 and has been held every year in mid-June ever since, brings together primary school children and WU Vienna students and professors on Campus WU. In many respects, this year’s edition was a record-breaking event, hitting all-time highs in the number of visitors and also in the 2000 students who transformed Campus WU into Vienna’s largest marketplace for a day.

“It looks like we’ve hit a nerve with the Changemaker Market Day. Basic entrepreneurial education is practically non-existent in Austria’s compulsory schools. In the Changemaker program, WU students teach children entrepreneurial skills, which the school kids then present to the public during the market day held on Campus WU,” says Monique Schlömmer, who manages the Changemaker program.

Compared to other countries, economic education is still only a low priority in Austria’s compulsory schools. In the lower grades, too little time is spent teaching children skills such as entrepreneurial thinking and basic knowledge about inflation, taxes, scarcity, sustainability, and interest rates. This is precisely where the Changemaker program comes in.

“Early exposure to entrepreneurship is invaluable and empowers young people to put their ideas into practice in their later jobs or in their daily lives. The Changemaker Market Day serves as a hands-on event to awaken interest in the mechanisms of the economy and encourage children to participate in economic and social life with confidence,” explains Rudolf Dömötör, director of the WU Entrepreneurship Center.

The basic idea of the Changemaker Market Day is simple: The WU Entrepreneurship Center trains WU students in entrepreneurship and economic literacy education. As so-called “changemakers,” these students then work with primary school children to help them realize their first business projects and bring their ideas to market maturity.

Elementary school classes interested in participating in this initiative can now sign up for the Changemaker Market Day 2025, which will take place on June 16, 2025. Further information is available at www.changemaker.wien.

The Changemaker program was set up in 2017, and it has been recognized as an outstanding educational project by the MEGA Bildungsstiftung foundation. The Changemaker Market Day is held with support from cooperation partners such as the IFTE, the University College of Teacher Education Vienna, KPH Vienna/Krems, and the Vienna Board of Education.

Impressions from the 2024 Market Day and print-resolution photos can be found in this folder: Photos of the Changemaker Market Day 2024