The overall objective of the SYSTEMIC project (“Say Yes to STEM In the Classroom”) was to increase young Europeans’ interest in maths, science, engineering and technology education and careers and to provide teachers with the appropriate pedagogical tools to enable them to teach STEM topics differently and in a more attractive way. The project contributed to a European Science awareness campaign, STEM Discovery Week, targeting teachers, schools, industry and educational organisations, engaging students and teachers in the contextualisation of STEM teaching). SYSTEMIC was a joint initiative of both Ministries of Education (via EUN Partnership) and industry (through CSR Europe, the leading European business network for corporate social responsibility). SYSTEMIC was coordinated by EUN Partnership, in Belgium. Since 2007, STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Maths) has been one of its major thematic areas. The main SYSTEMIC outputs were:1) The development of two MOOCS, targetting both teachers and career counsellors, which provided information and knowledge on existing STEM jobs and skills needed to access them. These MOOCs were supported by videos and webinars.2) A European STEM awareness campaign including a European STEM Discovery Week in all European schools as a culminating event of a school year campaign. The aim of the campaign is to allow students and teachers to participate in various projects such as the contextualisation of STEM teaching in cooperation with industry with for example professionals from industries going back to schools to take part to events with teachers and pupils. Also, several STEM competitions have been organised with the support of other projects, to award outstanding achievements during the campaign. A guide aiming to help schools and other organisations interested to organise such campaign, was also published.3) The SYSTEMIC project developed four additional guides .Two on how to bring professionals to schools, one for schools and one for industry. Two on teacher placements (one on examples of successful teacher placement initiatives, and the second one on how to develop teacher placement schemes). These guides have been developed with the active support of the STEM Alliance, mainly via European Schoolnet, CSR Europe and a local Technological centre in Obidos, Portugal aiming to educate support industry in cultivating fruitful collaborations with schools.SYSTEMIC outputs have reached over 130,000 students across Europe through the different activities organised and have been made available through Scientix, the community for science education in Europe, to ensure they are used beyond the duration of SYSTEMIC.

- Context and background of the projectMany EU member states are experiencing an increasing ‘skills mismatch’ in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). This mismatch has both a quantitative dimension (shortages of STEM skilled people) and qualitative dimension (mismatch between the skills of recent graduates and the needs of employers).Several EU member states have addressed this problem through developing national STEM strategies and / or dedicated organisations for their implementation and coordination (‘STEM platforms’) and implementation programmes. The strategies and implementation vary widely from country to country but typically rely on the close cooperation between the ‘triple helix’ of government, industry and education providers, increased coordination between education sectors (from primary education to the labour market) and a strongly regionalised, ‘bottom-up’ approach. In recent years, an increasing number of countries and regions are actively developing strategies and approaches aimed at reducing skills mismatch in STEM. Consequently, there is a rapidly increasing demand for insights in how similar problems are tackled in other countries, as well as for direct support in the development of these approaches. The project aimed to upscale an informal partnership between the STEM platforms of the Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia (the EU STEM Coalition) in a functional support mechanism for the development, improvement and upscaling of national and regional STEM strategies, platforms and approaches. The main objectives of the project were:(1) Facilitate best-practice sharing between existing national STEM platforms(2) Support the development of new national and regional STEM strategies, platforms and approaches.The project partners consisted of three STEM platforms (Netherlands, Denmark (2), Estonia), three national partners that aimed to develop a national STEM platform (France, Greece and Hungary) and three European partners representing relevant groups of stakeholders (ThinkYoung, FEANI, CSR Europe). The main activities of the project included: (1) periodic General Assembly (GA) meetings, bringing together the entire network. These meetings were mainly focused on best practice sharing around a specific theme (e.g. impact assessment, link between research and education practices, etc.), and (2) Taskforce Meetings (TM): targeted (series) of support actions aimed at the development of new STEM strategies, platforms and programmes. The meeting format varied greatly, ranging from one-day work visits to longer series of 'taskforces' bringing experts from multiple countries together to support the development of new strategies. (3) Web-portal: This portal aimed to aggregate and structure relevant information on national and regional approaches, primarily to be used during Taskforce MeetingsThe project achieved its main objectives and contributed to the development of new national STEM strategies (e.g. Danish Technology Pact based on the Dutch Technology Pact), STEM platforms (e.g. Hungarian STEM platform) and programmes (e.g. Jet-Net programme in the Basque country). Several additional initiatives supported by the project are still under development (e.g. Norwegian Technology Pact, Bulgarian STEM platform).More generally, the project delivered an active, well-structured network for best practice sharing and direct support, as evidenced by the growing number of support requests which are still ongoing. This is also evidenced by the growing number of members of the EU STEM Coalition (since its launch, STEM platforms and partners from Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine have joined the network, including national ministries, regional governments, innovation agencies, industry-driven initiatives and relevant EU-level networks. Finally this is highlighted by the participation of high level policy makers in General Assembly meetings (including the ministers of education of France and Hungary), several nationally-focused side-events that were organised by host countries aimed at improving coordination on a national level, and the broad and growing use of the dataportal and communication channels.On the EU-level the succeeded in highlighting and promoting its approach and was included in the European Commission’s ‘Communication on a Renewed EU Agenda for her Education’ and was consequently in several high-level forums like the Directors-General meetings of several EU presidencies and fact-finding seminars of BusinessEurope, etc.

R2π examines the shift from the broad concept of a Circular Economy (CE) to one of a Circular Economy Business Models (CEBM), by tackling both market failure (business, consumers) and policy failure (conflicts, assumptions, unintended consequence). Its innovation lies in having a strong business-focus, examining stimuli beyond environmental goals (including ICT and eco-innovation), and in examining the role of policy innovation (including the use of policy nudges and of "Policy Packages"). R2π unfolds in diverse contexts with a strong emphasis on involvement and exchange. The research design employs mixed-methods, with a strong emphasis on case studies but also including desktop research, feasibility assessments (including surveys where applicable), policy formulation & stakeholder involvement. The ultimate goal of the project is to see the widespread implementation of the CE based on successful Business Models to ensure sustained economic development, to minimize environmental impact and to maximize social welfare. The goal of the R²π project is therefore to develop sustainable business models that would facilitate the circular economy and to propose "Policy Package" that will support these business models. The R2Pi Consortium consists of 14 partners from 9 Member states and associated countries. The wide range of expertise, knowledge, tools and connections existing among the consortium members will be leveraged to develop innovative practical tools and procedural guidelines that may be widely and systematically applied across many different business sectors in diverse regions and countries, across the spectrum from large established EU countries to newer and smaller member states.. Through these innovative business models and "Policy Packages", the European economy will move into a more sustainable, resource efficient and resilient economic track. R²π will position Europe as a world leader in advancing the circular economy model.