"The project ""Guidance - Networking - Dialogue: Strategies for the transition from day-care to school"" has dealt with current challenges in this crucial developmental step. The partners in the three participating metropolitan regions of Berlin, Vienna and Copenhagen investigated tested and new approaches for networking during this first transition in a child's educational biography.During the project's 16-month duration, the partners (organisations and authorities in the fields of early childhood education, school supervision, language mediation, social pedagogy and youth work) have devoted themselves to the topic on a strategic and conceptual level. The transnational project group and three regional working groups carried out status descriptions and the status-quo of the success factors at the transition from day-care to school.In three transnational project meetings, good practice, success factors and options for action were elaborated in working groups (comparison and discussion of different working approaches) and through practice input (school and day-care centre visits; exchange with relevant actors).Exchange of experience on preconditions for success and obstacles in the way of developing a connected transition phase led to the identification of four topics focused on during the project: the child, cooperation, educational documentation and participation.We have also prepared good practice from Berlin, Vienna and Copenhagen, which can either be integrated into the respective educational system contexts or adapted to existing concepts for early childhood education and the school entry phase."

Where and by whom children are cared for, educated and also educated before or after school or during the holidays can no longer be clearly answered today. There are different models and offers like the all-day school or out-of-school forms of care. Examples are the after-school care or the care by the family. The discussion about how children can be supported in the best possible way and how the transition between kindergarten and school can be arranged is continuing. And this should be done regardless of cultural and social background. Full-day care should always be seen in the context of politics, the economy, the compatibility of family and career and the welfare of the child. The word school is associated with the idea of institutionalised learning. But is there no institutionalised learning in the after-school care? Is there a special space for education that is separated from another space for learning? In Germany, nursery school teachers (often) focus on the pre-school sector and thus on the care of children under 6 years of age. In the training of a teacher, the focus is placed on the area of teaching. What they all have in common are the many challenges they face in their daily work in all-day childcare. These challenges are further increased against the background of inclusion and migration.Overall, childcare is an expanding field in which multi-professional skills from the vocational fields of school and education are necessary. The expansion of all-day educational and care services for children is a top priority for Germany. In other European countries, too, the question of the organisation of all-day care is a fundamental issue. Until the year 2025 such an offer should be guaranteed to parents and children by a legal claim in Germany. Some Eastern European countries already have traditional expertise in this area. The areas of responsibility are just as varied as the competences of the carers: among other things, socio-educational challenges, role and self-image, leisure time care, cooperation with parents. This project aims at a change of perspective between the professions. Through this and by getting to know different European solutions, central change and learning processes can be stimulated. The question arises as to how the heterogeneity of expectations of care is solved in the models of all-day care: pedagogical, educational and socio-political, cultural-scientific, socio-educational, economic and business motives can be identified. Some of these have opposite effects. How can good concepts of supervision be developed under these conditions? Which success factors of good supervision can be identified? The project group consists of up to three project participants each from Austria, Romania, Poland, Greece and Germany. The project group is multi-professional, as institutions from the areas of kindergarten, pre-school, primary school, school supervision, special school, boarding school, adult education and municipal support structure are represented in the project. The participant structure is also multi-professional: teachers, elementary pedagogical specialists (educators, childhood and kindergarten pedagogues), educational managers, psychologists and adult educators learn and work together. The aim is to use these differences for a multi-perspective exchange in order to generate guiding ideas for a successful full day. Strategic planning instruments such as SWOT analysis and methods of moderation and cooperation are used for this purpose. In the learning activities, observations, professional impulses and discussions with parents and the various stakeholders are an important medium. The multi-professional structure enables a systemic view. This enables a long-term implementation of the insights and experiences gained. The knowledge and experience gained should be made available to the public in a guideline for action. The dissemination of the findings will be taken into consideration from the outset through impulses from public relations work and through a guideline for action. The ideas for the further development of the systems on site are shared by the group.

Vienna has set itself ambitious targets in its Smart City Framework Strategy. To achieve those targets, efforts must be increased considerably. With a large share of multi-storey buildings and the highest share of large buildings from before 1919, Vienna’s building stock differs significantly from those of the other Austrian provinces and calls for specifically targeted strategies and actions. RenoBooster – the Smart Renovation Hub Vienna proposes a tailored and timely answer to this challenge. It is the joint effort of renowned institutional, technical and social expertise led by the City of Vienna, to create an attractive offer - One-Stop-Shop - for the Viennese private home owners and their building managers built on existing services. The project is designed as comprehensive participatory process, involving the key stakeholders in Vienna and thus laying the ground for stable local partnerships for renovation. Substantial support has already been achieved in preparation of the proposal. The project combines new consulting services, banking and finance instruments, targeted subsidies, communication formats as well as technical and legal framework conditions into integrated services. Careful market segmentation and target-group specific communication will support the development and thorough testing of a number of new packages – including topics like efficient technologies, renewable energy and energy poverty. Quality assurance to support home owners in achieving the expected energy savings will be the essential element. In the first 5 years of the Smart Renovation Hub Vienna the new integrated services are expected to lead to an increase of the renovation rate and quality, triggering at least 110 mio € investments, 5.5 GWh/a of primary energy savings and a reduction of 1000t of CO2 emissions/a. Moreover, RenoBooster is expected to create a positive dynamic going beyond this project and stimulate further energy-efficient renovation initiatives.

Public procurement of innovative solutions (PPI) shortens the route to market, sets free the potential of early adopters to implement an innovation and enables public procurers to efficiently answer market demands of innovative products. THALEA II is the first follow-up PPI in healthcare for Intensive Care Units (ICU). It will bring an innovative product to the European healthcare market aiming to mitigate negative impacts of one of the greatest European socio-economic challenges of the 21st century in healthcare: Ageing of society and workforce. This development challenges the healthcare sector, due to an imbalance between the increasing number of EU-citizens requiring care and the decreasing number of human resources on the caregiving side. Thus, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions disburdening healthcare professionals. There is evidence suggesting that telemedicine has the ability to mitigate these problematic pan-European challenges. The promising technology of THALEA II will be implemented helping to save more lives and as a result increasing patients’ quality of life. This project will create the potential to increase European competitiveness and exceed research and development in comparison to the US and demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach with respect to innovative management and procurement methods. THALEA PCP is currently creating an appropriate solution fulfilling all demands of a telemedical research framework with a special focus on interoperability and scalability. THALEA addresses the need for a marketable, advanced solution applicable on a broad basis, avoiding vendor lock-in. Using the PPI-funding instrument, procuring entities and ICU experts will be able to buy the advanced THALEA solution developed during PCP. Thereby, this promising technology will be spread all over Europe assisting caregivers in all sectors of care and consequently improving the quality of life and wellbeing of many EU citizens.