The vision of the “STEPs Youth Centers” project lays on the promotion of equality in chances across Europe in terms of education against every cultural, economic, social and geographical obstacle for the young people. Thus, the project aimed to contribute to issues of social inclusion, entrepreneurship, citizenship and employability by pursuing two key objectives. On the one hand, the “STEPs” aimed at creating the appropriate pedagogical methods, based on e-learning modules in order to make the idea of on-line education more attractive to young people in Europe. The key objective of the project was to offer young people with fewer opportunities as well as the rest of the target groups an attractive space which will host them, aiming to utilize and foster knowledge, empower their skills and develop their capabilities to reach the demands of a globalized world, offering equal opportunities and open access to a range of activities. Within the Project, the Consortium formed by youth organizations and Municipalities from 4 EU Member States shared knowledge and expertise and cooperated on forming tools of ICT that offered equal and inclusive opportunities to young people who wish to improve their competences and reach the demands of the labor market.The activities that have been undertaken during the 24-months “STEPs” project included informative meetings at the first phase of the implementation in each partner country which aimed at contributing to the dissemination of the project itself while promoting the project activities to our specific target groups. With the expertise and cooperation of the project partners, intellectual outputs were developed, transnational meetings were carried out among partners for monitoring reasons and multiplier events were also took place for the exploitation of the project outputs. Moreover, a study visit to the Radam 72 Youth Center in Sweden took place aiming to provide the partnering Municipalities with inspiration and motivation for creating their own local Youth Centers. Through the project, specific target groups benefited and developed their skills and the needed network to expand the possibilities of the work future.1. Pupils of High Schools, who learned about the EU, acquire communication skills in a foreign language, develop an intercultural attitude through interactive, innovative and experiential learning methods.2. Teachers trained on new methods of non-formal learning, funding opportunities in the EU for their schools and enhance their personal and professional development3. Unemployed or Employed young people (18-30 years old) trained on social entrepreneurship and employability in the EU and funding opportunities.4. Municipal Employees in the field of youth, trained in order to sustain the Youth Center in the future.The intellectual outputs that were developed within the project included the Educational Guide for the Youth Centers' Interactive Trainings and Workshops, the Educational Material and Methodology of the Online Academy MOOC Courses and the Practical Guide on How to Create Youth Centers. The first IO included the methodological Approach on the subjects of the project. The theoretical methodology and the educational approaches that are analyzed within the Intellectual Output are based on the non-formal education and lifelong learning. The Educational Material and Methodology of the Online Academy MOOC Courses that was developed as the IO2 included the content of the MOOC Courses on the subjects of European Citizens’ Rights and EU opportunities, Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, European programs for the youth, education and entrepreneurship, Creative employability for an intercultural attitude, European educational materials for teachers, Smart Cities and the field of 3D-printing.The third IO of the STEPs project concerned the development of the Practical Guide for the creation of Youth Centers across country including information on the practical and bureaucratic issues as well as sources of funding, available programs and trainings that can be incorporated within a Youth Center and pedagogical approach of all the abovementioned. The aim of the development of the abovementioned Intellectual Outputs was to bring together all the above target groups and address critical challenges, such as digital literacy for young people and stimulate the usage of ICT and change attitudes. With the use of the rapid development of technology, our project aimed to create an “Online Academy” through the e-learning platform, CEREBRUM, which has been developed by IRTEA seeking at providing high-quality education across the narrow borders of a typical classroom. We believe as of crucial importance the application of highly innovative and technologically advanced tools in order to make user friendly and more specifically – youth friendly – instruments of policies.

INNOVATE will overcome market barriers to deep energy-efficient retrofits of private housing stock by developing and rolling out integrated energy efficiency (EE) service packages targeting homeowners in 11 target territories from 10 EU Member States (NL, DK, BE, LV, CZ, CY, SE, IT, ES and UK). An integrated EE service package includes: • Development of products adapted to consumers’ concerns • Marketing & communication • Independent advice and technical assistance. • Tailor-made financial advice • Coordination of a chain of suppliers / contractors • Ensuring high quality standards • Long-term and affordable financing The packages, developed by local and regional authorities and/or private sector stakeholders, in cooperation with financing institutions and investors, will be tested on 117 pilot buildings, aiming at min. 50% energy savings. These pilot projects are expected to mobilise 37.41 MEUR of private investments, trigger primary energy savings of 5.38 GWh/year and 3.14 GWh/year of renewable energy production. INNOVATE will widely disseminate successful business models and innovative financing schemes tested by project partners and those identified thanks to an extensive analysis of enabling conditions and EU best practices. 4,000 stakeholders and potential replicators will be reached via 61 EU and national capacity building events, policy meetings and communication/media tools. Recommendations on how to remove legal, financial, technical and organisational barriers hindering the implementation of the packages in target territories will influence 12 EU, national and regional policies in order to ensure the viability of these packages.