La educación es un derecho humano fundamental y esencial para el desarrollo sostenible de las sociedades. La enseñanza del emprendimiento educativo busca crear un sistema educativo que promueva la sostenibilidad ambiental, social y económica. En este contexto, los modelos de negocios circulares sostenibles pueden desempeñar un papel clave para garantizar nuevas oportunidades de expansión del conocimiento, la empleabilidad y el desarrollo sostenible basados en técnicas de innovación educativa y de competitividad comercial. Este artículo presenta una reflexión sobre la enseñanza del emprendimiento y la gestión de la innovación educativa y su aporte en la generación de modelos de negocios circulares sostenibles enfocados en la educación. En primer lugar, se exploran los conceptos de innovación educativa, modelo de negocio, economía circular, sostenibilidad y emprendimiento en el contexto de la educación en Ecuador. Luego se presenta un ejercicio didáctico mediante la metodología Design Thinking, para la creación de modelos de negocio sostenibles a nivel de estudiantes universitarios y su impacto en el fortalecimiento de habilidades blandas y competencias para fomentar el espíritu emprendedor. Finalmente, se reflexionan los horizontes de aprendizaje y las implicaciones de los modelos de negocios sostenibles enfocados en la educación.

The integration of emerging technologies is reshaping the teaching skills required in the 21st century, yet little evidence exists on how contextualized training supports rural teachers in adopting active methodologies and critically incorporating AI into entrepreneurship education. This study evaluated the impact of a 40-h professional development program implemented in Educational District 15D01 in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Thirty-nine secondary school teachers participated (mean age = 43.1 years); 36% lacked prior entrepreneurship training, and 44% had not recently mentored student projects. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed. The quantitative phase employed a 22-item questionnaire that addressed four dimensions: entrepreneurial knowledge, competencies, methodological strategies, and AI integration. Significant pre–post improvements were found (p < 0.001), with large effects for knowledge (d = 1.43), methodologies (d = 1.39), and AI integration (d = 1.30), and a moderate effect for competences (d = 0.66). The qualitative phase analyzed 312 open-ended responses, highlighting greater openness to innovation, enhanced teacher agency, and favorable perceptions of AI as a resource for ideation, prototyping, and evaluation. Overall, the findings suggest that situated, contextually aligned training can strengthen digital equity policies, foster pedagogical innovation, and empower educators in underserved rural communities, contributing to sustainable pathways for teacher professional development.

The knowledge economy and green innovation are fundamental pillars for the transition towards sustainable production models. The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of intellectual capital, green knowledge management and environmental practices on green innovation in SMEs in Tena. A quantitative cross-sectional approach was developed, applying a structured questionnaire to a sample of 64 green enterprises. Data analysis was performed using a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM), after evaluating the psychometric properties of the measurement model. The results show that the model explains 40% of the variance in green innovation. It was confirmed that Environmental and Technological Practices (ETPs) have the strongest and most significant effect on innovation, followed to a lesser extent by Intellectual Capital, whose influence was positive but marginal. Green Knowledge Management did not show a statistically significant impact. It is concluded that green innovation in Amazonian enterprises depends primarily on the adoption of technological infrastructure and tangible practices, while the systematization of knowledge remains a pending challenge.