OBCD starts from the analysis of a new entrepreneurship paradigm based on the necessity of combining economic growth and social innovation, in order to contribute to creating more inclusive, creative and sustainable societies and economies. The project will investigate how open business approaches applied to social entrepreneurship (SE) can contribute to local development. This concept leads to new challenges for education and training since it highlights emerging occupations as well as new knowledge, competences and skills, for the development of the so-called SEs.The general objective of the project OBCD is to foster innovation in HE, c-VET, enterprises and the broader socioeconomic environment, by investigating the potential of the open business model approach, developing and testing new training modules addressing skill gaps in the SE sector.OBCD will analyze the emerging skills and occupations, identifying the learning outcomes (LOs) which could be used and adapted for the development of 2 new curricula (from EQF 5 to 6) and training modules, that will be tested at HE and VET level. These LOs will be identified according to the specific knowledge of the consortium partners from 5 EU countries, coming from HE, VET and social economy field, and this will ensure that skills to be developed will be consistent with the needs of an evolving labour market. The project will also promote the co-creation of knowledge between HE, VET, research, the public sector and the business sector in order to contribute to innovation in business modelling and in education and training. This will be pursued by fostering the development of “knowledge triangles” (HEI, VET, Business) working together for the development of innovative education contents and tools, and business ecosystems in the field of SE, aiming to develop aware, sustainable and connected communities able to generate business value and sustainable development at local level through Open Business models.

#WISE has two objectives. The 1st objective is to support crafts&arts women in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences in digital literacy, innovation and technological manufacturing solutions for better realization of their creative ideas and production, and the 2nd objective is to extend the supply of high-quality learning and networking opportunities for women in crafts&arts and contemporary creative industries market trends. Innovation is the process of turning a new concept into commercial success or widespread use. There is no creativity without innovative thinking. Due to COVID-19, we begun to face problems that are too difficult to solve in traditional ways. Sustainable energy, recycling, and the very idea of making more, but from as few raw materials as possible, are commonplace these days. Facing problems at this level requires a number of creative solutions. #WISE focuses on C&A women of different ages, mainly living in regions of all partnering countries. Women of older age usually lack innovative and technological approach, are not fluent in business lingua franca, i. e. English. It prevents them from using modern marketing technologies that open global possibilities (such as trading on Etsy, e-shops), networking (e. g. joining international artisanship networks, getting referrals, participation in group exhibitions), reduces their income and quite often leads to poverty. Women of younger age are more familiar with IT solutions, foreign languages and entrepreneurship, but lack skills in craftsmanship as well as deeper philosophical approach. The project will embrace abilities of both age categories, with project intellectual output being piloted with 50 women in all 5 countries. A practical training course in modern entrepreneurship, creative technologies & innovations will help participants to develop their basic skills and key competences needed in the modern creative industries. A high-quality learning in digital literacy, e-commerce, innovative manufacturing technologies (3D printing, laser-cutting, recycling, zero waste, etc.), international communication, marketing, contemporary art market trends, sustainability, etc. will serve as an opportunity to start their own commercial activity based on C&A skills they have already had. Encouragement of adult learners to listen to and explore their internal needs and desires will be translated into viable innovations with the help of couching techniques. Supporting C&A women with basic entrepreneurial and artisanship skills development will boost their self-esteem and contribute to their better social inclusion as well as financial independence. Last but not the least, flexibility and creativity are vital traits everyone needs in a rapidly changing labor market. Creativity helps to adapt to new working conditions and employers' expectations. Quite apart from individual commercial activity, participating women will develop digital & technological skills which strengthen their position in a labor market and therefore reduce their chances for the long-term unemployment and poverty. Activities will be easily accessible and encouraging to come. Non-formal education groups and meetings on social networks will be organized. Practical training will make women familiar with modern artistic techniques, social entrepreneurship, networking. For support and motivation, innovative approaches towards commercial activities, based rather of failure stories than on success ones, will be used. A one-week-long exhibition #Wise Women Week (#WWW) supposed to be a grand finale of the project. Showing the C&A innovations developed up, it will demonstrate the women inclusion and empowerment through creativity and the arts. The grand finale will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania. It will be open to public members.

INTENSSS-PA will support public authorities to integrate the energy theme into spatial planning and regional physical and socioeconomic landscapes. To achieve this objective INTENSS-PA will provide human and institutional capacity building to public authorities and to the wider network of private and public actors related to energy and regional planning by implementing the Living Lab concept, i.e. an innovative environment of co-creation. Specifically, a network of seven Regional Living Labs (RLL) within the seven different Countries/Regions that participate in the consortium (Thessaly-Greece, Calabria-Italy, Castilla y Leon- Spain, Association of Municipalities-Slovenia, Groningen-Netherlands, Triangle-Denmark and Zemgale-Latvia), will be created. Involving public authorities, private and civil society actors, the RLLs are focused on improving and designing a shared and integrated sustainable energy planning concept and on applying it in order to develop seven sustainable energy plans, i.e. one for each Region. The overall approach will involve learning sessions and experiential projects alongside intense networking. Communication and exploitation activities are envisaged including national Roadshows and a survey with policy makers. It is expected that over 200 people participate in the capacity-building activities performed within the RLLs network, while the stakeholders and policy makers informed on the project results and activities will exceed the 1000 individuals. The project objectives are completely inline with topic EE07’s scope, since it considers innovative capacity building activities to public authorities for integrated energy planning through the establishment of a network of RLLs, i.e. of an ecosystem that stakeholders bring their own specific wealth of knowledge and expertise to the collective, helping to achieve boundary spanning knowledge transfer. Special consideration will be provided on planning requirements deriving from 27/2012/EU Directive.

In the era of Europe 2020 Strategy, for overcoming the socio-economic crisis affecting European countries, of boosting growth and jobs and of fostering social equity and inclusion, this project aims to use the potential of Europe’s human and social capital originating from higher education’s institutes and the industry, in order to exchange and transfer knowledge and know-how in food science and technology education, by the creation and development of a network that will provide opportunities for cooperation among stakeholders. This partnership consists of 4 higher education institutes, namely Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly (Greece), Catholic University of Portugal, Cyprus University of Technology, University of Leon (Spain) and Technological Educational Institute of Athens (Greece). All higher education partners have been previously successfully involved in European Education Projects and it is aimed to blend experience and good practices previously acquired in order to make steps forward for enhancing the quality and relevance of the learning offer in food science and technology education. Additionally this partnership includes an IT Specialist Partner originating from the industry (SystServ), a Dissemination Specialist (ANKA) and also has a series of collaborating partners from Food Industries from the participating countries for developing case studies material for training purposes. Universities, national and regional development and education agencies will also act as collaborating partners in order to facilitate the dissemination of the project’s outcome. The general objectives of this project are:1. enhancing the quality and relevance of the learning offer in education by developing new and innovative education approaches and supporting the dissemination of best practices in food science and technology education2. promoting innovative practices in education by supporting personalised learning approaches, collaborative learning and critical thinking, strategic use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), open educational resources (OER), open and flexible learning, virtual mobility and other new pedagogies 3. increasing labour market relevance of learning provision and qualifications and reinforcing links between education with the world of the food industry4. improving the capacities of the participating universities in the areas of strategic development, quality of learning provision and internationalizationThe project is based in the following key activities dealing with Research and Training needs Analysis to evaluate the training needs in Food Science and Technology Study Programmes in European Higher Education Organizations, in order to ensure that EU labor has the skills and knowledge to face the emerging food sector market related to non conventional foods (namely functional, nano, organic/eco) production, food safety and regulatory affairs, marketing and entrepreneurship. Relevant to the needs training material and case studies will be developed and uploaded on an on line learning platform to be constructed by the partnership, introducing innovative education training materials for EU Universities, by enhancing the potential of the agri-food sector for the production and promotion of functional foods in Europe (including all the ethical and safety aspects).In summary the expected results include:1. Intellectual outputs (training material and case studies) based on exchange of good practices (technology and pedagogical)2. Blended mobility for creating the material and pilot test the proposed teaching method 3. Intensive study/training programmes4. Dissemination of teaching methods/materialsThe impact of the project has to do mainly with the development of an innovative and quality training program in the emerging fields of food science and technology, using entrepreneurial and marketing opportunities simultaneously, as a mean for enhancing competitiveness, pro activeness and extroversion in the participating countries. Thus, the project will give the opportunity to develop the existing intellectual property of the stakeholders and create new knowledge in specific fields, leading to a knowledge intensive business. Furthermore, the project wishes to develop an innovative multimedia based training program that will act as a multipurpose tool for academic purposes, research, merging industry with academia, networking and synergies development from the participating countries and internationally, that will remain active beyond the course of this project.

“Keep 50+” ir zināšanu pārneses un pieredzes apmaiņas projekts uzņēmējdarbības veicināšanai personām vecumā pēc 50 gadiem.Eiropā sabiedrības novecošana ir viens no lielākajiem 21. gadsimta sociālajiem un ekonomiskajiem izaicinājumiem, kā rezultātā nākotnē kļūs arvien aktuālāk darba tirgū aktīvi iesaistīt pēc iespējas lielāku skaitu arī šīs vecuma grupas pārstāvju. Tāpat nozīmīgs projekta aspekts ir tas, ka tieši šī gadagājuma cilvēkiem nereti ir biznesa idejas, taču pietrūkst atbalsta, izglītības un prasmju, lai pārvērstu tās biznesā. Tā kā projekts balstās zināšanu apmaiņā, par vispiemērotāko formātu tā īstenošanai tika izvēlēta “BarCamp” neformālās konferences metode. Šī metode sastāv no pašu dalībnieku organizētas uzstāšanās, tādējādi stimulējot domu apmaiņu, atklātas diskusijas, aktīvu dalību un iesaistīšanos pasākuma organizēšanā un norisē.Projektā iesaistījās organizācijas no desmit valstīm – Latvijas, Lietuvas, Somijas, Francijas, Austrijas, Čehijas, Spānijas, Itālijas, Bulgārijas un Grieķijas. Šīs valstis projektā pārstāv organizācijas, kuru darbības lauks lielākoties ietver pieaugušo izglītības nodrošināšanu, uzņēmējdarbības konsultāciju un atbalsta sniegšanu, jaunu izglītības metožu ieviešanu u.c. aktivitātes.Projekta mērķis bija izveidot un stiprināt sadarbības tīklu, apmainoties un salīdzinot labo pieredzi uzņēmējdarbības kā nodarbinātības alternatīvas veicināšanai cilvēkiem pēc 50 gadiem. Lai sasniegtu projektā izvirzīto mērķi, tika definētas 7 galvenās aktivitātes, kas norisinājās visa projekta dzīves cikla laikā:1) Saziņa ar cilvēkiem vecumā pēc 50 gadiem vietējā līmenī, kā arī komunikācija arekspertiem.2) Nacionālo darbsemināru organizēšana.3) BarCamp formāta neformālo konferenču organizēšana.4) BarCamp neformālo konferenču rezultātu un atradumu publicēšana projekta mājaslapā.5) Uzņēmējdarbības apmācību programmas metodoloģijas priekšlikuma izstrāde.6) Metodoloģijas priekšlikuma izplatīšana ieinteresētajām pusēm.7) Projekta vadība un kvalitātes nodrošināšana.Divu gadu laikā iesaistītās organizācijas ir organizējušas vairāk kā 20 nacionālo darbsemināru, pulcējot 439 interesentu; aizvadījušas 4 nacionāla līmeņa BarCamp formāta neformālās konferences; apkopojuši un publicējuši ap 60 labās prakses piemērus un atradumus pieaugušo izglītības un uzņēmējdarbības kā nodarbinātības alternatīvas projekta mērķa grupas vidū, jomā. Turklāt ir izstrādāts metodoloģisks priekšlikums mērķa grupas apmācībai uzņēmējdarbībā, kas apkopo projektā iegūtās zināšanas un ir paredzēts, kā arī pieejams dažādām mācību organizācijām tādām kā darba centri, nodarbinātības aģentūras, biznesa attīstības centri un citām, kas izstrādā un pasniedz uzņēmējdarbības kursus vai apmācības. Jāmin, ka organizētie semināri kalpojuši kā pagrieziena punkts projekta veiksmes ceļā, jo snieguši produktīvas diskusijas, dažādu viedokļu pārstāvētas debates, radošu ideju ģenerēšanu un patiesu dalīšanos ar pieredzēto un noderīgiem padomiem. Tas ne vien aktualizējis jautājumu par cilvēku vecumā pēc 50 gadiem nodarbinātību, bet arī radījis stabilu pamatu un ierosinājumus turpmākām debatēm par šo tēmu. Turklāt ne vien uzrunāts un sasniegts projektā iesaistīto organizāciju plašais kontaktu un sadarbības tīkls, bet arī pašas dalīborganizācijas paplašinājušas savu darbības lauku un jau pielieto iegūtās zināšanas ikdienas praksē.