We believe that everyone involved in enterprise and entrepreneurship education should have first-hand practical experience of entrepreneurship that they can use to improve the design and delivery of their provision. Entrepreneurial Training for Enterprise Educators (ETEE) is a response to this, informed by research undertaken on behalf of the European Commission as well as consultation with our target audience and the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem.The overall objective of ETEE was to improve and enhance enterprise and entrepreneurship provision of HEIs and other organisations so that it delivers more powerful impact for the end-users, through the design and development of a training programme for enterprise educators: those people who have the greatest influence and responsibility in the design and delivery of enterprise provision, the academic staff who embed enterprise in their teaching, and professional service staff who deliver extra-curricular activities.To achieve this, partners designed, built and tested the ETEE Training Programme, with the close engagement of stakeholders and potential beneficiaries, to achieve a need-driven solution. ETEE:-Is aligned with the EC Entrepreneurship Competency framework (EntreComp) to ensure ETEE incorporates the essential competencies identified within EntreComp;-Gives participants first-hand practical entrepreneurial experience by including ‘real world’ elements such as selling, pitching, and idea development;-Promotes and supports the capacity for creativity and innovation;-Enables participants to incorporate EE within validated, assessed modules and courses;-Provides the content and resources to genuinely influence the quality of enterprise provision;-Includes the ETEE Canvas to give structure to the programme and clear outputs for all participants-Develops the entrepreneurial confidence of participants through a challenge-based approach;-Supports the development of a sustainable ETEE alumni network for long term sharing of good practice.-Supports the development of a network of educators within and beyond organisationsThe below list project target groups were identified at the early stage of the project implementation as groups who will integrate the project activities and benefit from the project products: •Higher Education Institutions - Enterprise Educators developing and delivering EE in the curriculum. Academic staff;•Higher Education Institutions - Staff working outside or alongside the curriculum in enterprise/careers departments;•Staff at Enterprise support organisations (such as incubators)•Staff developing and delivering Enterprise Educators in VET Institutions;•Entrepreneurs and start-up experts;•Students;Throughout the project lifetime, we have directly and indirectly engaged with approximately 6,000 beneficiaries across the ecosystem. We achieved this through consultation and feedback activities, training activities, a combined Communication and Dissemination Plan, a significant Exploitation Plan, 4 Multiplier Events and activation of our joint networks together with the momentum generated around the ETEE project itself. There are 4 Intellectual Outputs in the ETEE project, which cover the development work required such as research, consultation, best practice gathering across the EU and initial scoping work for the ETEE Training Programme, then the ETEE Programme Outline created the skeleton and user journey and provided an early opportunity to request feedback from the community to enhance our outputs. The design, construction and testing of the full ETEE Training Programme fully populated the ETEE Programme, and finally, there is a Trainers Pack to enable independent use of ETEE. These outputs were carried out by our partnership, together with a high level of involvement from all stakeholders including our target groups, the business community, experienced entrepreneurs, senior leaders within HEIs and staff representatives from all groups.The impact is expected to be more engaged, positive, experienced and innovative staff working to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem so it may thrive and flourish. For HEIs there will be an increase in capacity for innovation, improved cooperation with business, increasing numbers of entrepreneurs and successful businesses started, and better cooperation internally. The potential long-term benefits from ETEE are a better-skilled young workforce, with high-quality, relevant employability and enterprise skills, an increase in entrepreneurs and successful start-ups, greater cooperation between academics and businesses (including start-ups), the best quality enterprise and entrepreneurship provision globally – across all of Europe.

Fostering Rural Resilience through Creativity and Arts-driven Entrepreneurship (RURAL CANVAS) is a project that aims to bring the two worlds of arts and creative industries on one hand, and rural areas in Europe on the other, to boost employability and entrepreneurial skillset of artists and creative workers, foster interdisciplinarity and facilitate rural resilience as a result. The onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the future of artists, creators and cultural workers in an unprecedented manner. Social distancing and other precautionary measures have hampered the job prospects of this group, creating postponements and cancellations of performances, exhibitions, events and other modes of securing livelihood and having a sense of purpose that one gains through their work. Arts, culture and creative industry is the third largest employer in the EU, following behind construction and food sectors (European Commission, 2016). Therefore, the closure of various venues, institutions and companies and pushing professionals from this industry out of jobs has sent a major shockwave to the economy and has threatened significantly EU’s further growth. As another area has been hit massively by COVID-19, namely rural areas, the project will aim to have artists and creative workers conceive of creative solutions for these areas.However, for that to happen, it is essential that artists and creative workers first upskill themselves in entrepreneurial skills and 21CS. It is widely known that a large proportion of artists lack entrepreneurial skills and mindset (Artenprise, 2018). Collision between artistic skills and creativity on one hand, and entrepreneurial, hands-on knowledge together with the right attitude has a great potential for generative innovative solutions and business models. Given that rural areas suffer in particular from the lack of innovation and have been hit immensely by COVID-19, artists and creative workers will be equipped with entrepreneurial hard skills as well as entrepreneurship-focused 21st century soft skills and use this knowledge to conceive of solutions to the challenges faced by the rural areas.In this manner, artists and creative workers will be ignited with new skills to complement their primary profession, which in turn would foster their employability skills; they would make valuable contribution to the rural development and rural community coping mechanisms; they would garner more garner a bigger sense of meaning and purpose. The project will heavily rely on project-based and problem-based learning to upskill the artists and creative workers and will be highly collaborative, as one of the key outcomes of the project would involve teams of artists and creative workers to create implementable projects in the rural areas. The processes of upskilling artists and equipping them to create projects will be driven actively by Rurart Alliances, a group of relevant and competent stakeholders set up at the beginning of the project. In addition, each team will be assigned a mentor either from Rurart Alliances or consortium partner network, who will guide the team in their project creation. The overarching objective of RURAL CANVAS are following:-Equipping artists and creative workers with entrepreneurial and 21st century skills to complement their primary profession-Contributing to resilience and innovative solutions to rural challenges through co-creation, mentorship and project-based initiatives driven by artistic and creative approaches of artists and creative workers-Forging synergies between arts and creative sector representatives, rural stakeholders, entrepreneurship actors and local authorities-Enhancing employability and mental toughness of artists and creative workers-Inspiring novel approaches in using art and creativity as a vehicle to tackling societal challengesThe project will attain the objectives above via 4 IOs:(IO1) Rurart Alliance Blueprint and Skills Prioritisation Map(IO2) RURAL CANVAS Toolkit IO3) RURAL eCANVAS and Mentorship Compass(IO4) RURAL CANVAS AcademyDue to interdisciplinarity and complexity of the project, different institutions are brought together: research-intensive university, university of applied sciences, vocational training centre, international innovation organisation and international quality assurance body focusing on engagement and entrepreneurship. Coming from different regions of Europe they will bring different expertise, perspectives and realities to make this a truly European undertaking.

According to the European Commission, around six million young people drop out of school each year – about 14% of all pupils. On the other hand, improving the attractiveness of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to young people is crucial to generate a more skilled workforce in the EU. Nowadays, youngsters are particularly open to the “CSI” thematic and iconography. This was the leitmotiv for an innovative strategy of education aimed at mitigating early school dropout and promoting inter-disciplinarity and cultural exchanges while favoring social inclusion.The project “Euro4Science: Exploring CSI-Effect and Forensic Sciences to boost the appeal of science to young people and reinforce inter-disciplinarity in European high schools” (EU4SCI) intended the developing and implementing of innovative educational practices, tools and methodologies, enhancing the quality and relevance of the learning offer in education, more specifically regarding the attractiveness of science-related subjects and careers. The project developed, tested and implemented a Forensic Science Education Toolbox in 4 languages (English, Portuguese, Bulgarian and Polish) ready to be used in European Schools from a website detailed contents after in situ trials of a physical toolbox. The Forensic Educational Toolbox was designed and produced to be used by students under teachers’ supervision. It consists of a main box with lab materials and several support documents: Students Guide; Teachers’ Guide; CSI Cases.EU4SCI organised 3 “CSI weeks” with a range of exciting activities for pupils and engaging the whole learning community. The CSI weeks (Portugal, the UK and Bulgaria) hosted a program with different activities including: sharing experiences of Educational Forensic Science Projects; presentation of “CSI cases” and development of activities around them; bioethical debates; conferences and debates with teachers, students, and other stakeholders/organisations; Science fair, etc.Besides the CSI weeks, several other events and initiatives were implemented in the participating countries, including: workshops for teachers; short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and “CSI@school” international conferences.The project was carried out by partnership coordinated by a University of Aveiro (Portugal) and involving two schools (in Portugal, and the UK), one NGO (Bulgaria) and 2 SMEs (Portugal and Poland). Through the proposed activities, partners addressed needs that have been identified in the current EU school context, namely:- To promote inter-disciplinary pedagogical approaches, through the collaborative development and implementation of a Forensic Science Educative Tool Box.- To promote teacher’s involvement in experimental education by testing and using the Toolbox and engaging in several activities of the project.- To improve the motivation of European students to scientific culture and professions, as result of the participation in exciting activities with a strong scientific and pedagogical component and contacting professionals that use this knowledge in their day-to-day work.- To contribute to minimize early school dropout, as result of the increased motivation for classes and a wider perspective of possible career options, including those connected to scientific fields. Within this objective, particular attention was paid to messages transmitted to girls, to foster gender mainstreaming and pass the message that scientific subjects and careers in science-related fields should be considered as career options for youngsters of both genders.By fostering the attractiveness of science-related subjects through exciting activities connected to the “CSI Theme” and by engaging teachers and pupils of different ages in a project held at international level, Euro4Science contributed to:a) build a dynamic network of schools in Europe b) decrease early school dropout and c) integrate pupils and teachers in a more motivating school environment.

"In the Europe2020 perspective, entrepreneurship is a pillar and fostering entrepreneurial spirit is considered a priority to deliver smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. In the recent crisis, with significant unemployment rates and even higher youth unemployment, European countries need to focus even more on promoting entrepreneurship among young generation as an alternative solution to the lack of jobs. However, young entrepreneurs need: a conducive environment for their ideas and businesses; support from policy makers and local communities; a network of contacts and opportunities to share their ideas; and advice and inspiration from experienced entrepreneurs. The EC, through Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) programme, funds ""wanna-be"" or young entrepreneurs (<3 years of experience, which is also the definition of ""young entrepreneur"" adopted by MENTEE) to stay abroad with experienced entrepreneurs to validate their business ideas and gain insight into the real life of European SMEs. However, what happens when the benefit of the EYE relationship is over? Initial analysis of 3.600 entrepreneurs taking part in EYE, showed that just 30% were able to realize a business idea at the end of the project, and 80% of these succeed because the host keep on shadowing them as mentor and supporter. So although EYE is very effective in terms of participants, a 6 month placement is not enough to ensure that a young entrepreneur is able to develop a healthy business and overcome the first difficult years of a start-up. The initiative has no follow-up phase, with participants left in need of further training, inspiration and a community to share ideas and opportunities for growth. Of course there are numerous local support initiatives, but MENTEE aimed to fill this gap and provide young entrepreneurs with a strong international network of support (as often EYE participants have business ideas involving international dimension), including mentors that can share practical knowledge, skills and advice; other peers to connect with, and e-learning tools and information to build their business. Originally the outcomes were meant to be mostly valuable to the entrepreneurs who had previous international experience with EYE, however in practice the project gained interest of entrepreneurs in general.MENTEE objectives included:- transfer a successful mentoring model to the target group of young entrepreneurs- train and prepare experienced entrepreneurs to use mentoring (Mentoring Circles)- provide face-to-face mentoring to young entrepreneurs in 4 partner countries- adapt an online platform for further learning and networking opportunities. All the above objectives were met, and the quality assurance tools reported good levels of quality, both in terms of working processes as well as in terms of achieved results and impact of implemented activities.The Intellectual Outputs developed by Mentee:- Competence frameworks for key entrepreneurship competences (O1) and key mentoring competences (O2) - Young Entrepreneurs Skills and Competencies Manual (O3)- Mentoring Circles Programme and Facilitators Manual (O4)- Social Collaborative & Learning Platform for Young Entrepreneurs (O5)- e-Modules for Young Entrepreneurs Learning Online (O6)In addition to the outcomes above, the partnership has organised 9 multiplier events in all partners' countries, which had critical relevance for disseminating the project results to its target groups, and even more important, in total 8 pilots of Mentoring Circles were conducted, and not only they validated the manuals and materials developed by MENTEE, but also the participants reported great satisfaction with the approach and mentoring methodology proposed by this project.Overall, there is evidence that the MENTEE impact has been strong and very positive mostly on the young entrepreneurs who were more directly involved in the project (e.g. participation in the pilots, events or platform), but also on entrepreneurship support actors that were familiarized with the Mentoring Circles approach and tools and will be able to benefit from them in future. Close relations with EYE organisations also impacted their perception of the longer-term needs of entrepreneurs, not to mention the positive impact on the project partners, who have enriched their competences to mentor and support entrepreneurs. Therefore in long-term MENTEE has definitely contributed to creation/growth of an entrepreneurial generation with a new mindset able to generate new strong business opportunities, jobs and global development of society.The MENTEE partnership (7 partners from 5 countries: PL,UK,PT,IT,GR) has gathered well qualified organisations, whose profiles were not only suitable to successfully implement the project (incl. organisations with experience in EYE, training and business support SMEs, a technical partner for IT developments...) but will also allow future exploitation of results produced."