The Project as the Way to Implement Entrepreneurial Activity in the 21st Century

Aim. The aim of this paper is to study and develop theoretical and methodological basis for understanding the phenomenon of the “project” and its role in the implementation of entrepreneurial activity in the 21st century.Tasks. The main objective of this paper is to conceptualize the category of the “project” in the modern entrepreneurial paradigm. The widespread dissemination of this concept indicates that in the 21st century, the content side of entrepreneurial activity is gradually changing towards its humanization, showing a shift from exclusively economic goals towards ethical and aesthetic motives.Methods. The methodological basis of the paper is a transdisciplinary attitude that combines the philosophical and ethical provisions of the theory of synergy, metaethics, semantic theories that underpin the scientific research in the field of entrepreneurship theory. It also provides a synthesis of the methodology of individualism and holism, which allows expanding the development of the entrepreneurship theory according to the intersubjective nature of economic reality and the endogenous growth theory.Results. Today’s interpretation of the concept of the “project” is gradually acquiring a different meaning. Increasingly, there is a tendency to use this word in connection to socially significant problems from an educational project to a charitable project. The category of the “project” implies the connection between the public good and the private need.Such a shift in emphasis indicates that there is a universal need for understanding entrepreneurship as a useful activity of great social significance. The task of the theory of entrepreneurship is to create a symbolic system of the modern entrepreneurial paradigm, based on the humanism principles, responsibility, biophilia, and education, implying the awareness of market participants about the potential impact of their actions on the entire eco-system.Conclusions. We consider the restrictions in response to anthropogenic human activities as a source of new entrepreneurial opportunities and as an integral positive element of the modern economy. In this basis, the restrictions provide freedom to innovative actions that will help to maintain the environment while eliminating environmental threats. However, the change cannot happen without adequate information flows, appropriate regulations, and viable market institutions. The modern world can be characterized as a world of uncertainties; therefore there is a constant transition from one environmental crisis to another. Each environmental crisis is an unintended consequence of previous economic innovations and can be resolved with new ones. While governments will develop regulatory frameworks that stimulate environmental protection and regeneration, they cannot act as quickly as entrepreneurs who can implement innovations and stimulate corresponding creative destruction. Governments’ capacity is limited and their speed of response is slow due to their need to meet the interests of different groups; entrepreneurs destroy such interests. Modern technological possibilities multiply the choice and, consequently, the freedom. As practice shows, no legislative restrictions can hold back a “civilizational” development for a long time, and this necessitates an awareness of responsibility.Therefore, we consider the development of the ethical foundations of entrepreneurial activity as the most promising investment. In the light of this, one should abandon the established use of the entrepreneurship concept, put a new essence into it, and develop new categories that would correspond to the content side of entrepreneurial activity.