"<< Background >>Cultural and creative sectors, being among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, are of great economic importance. They also spur innovation across the economy, as well as contribute to numerous other channels for positive social impact (well-being and health, education, inclusion, urban regeneration, etc.). It is estimated that this sector accounts for about 5.5% of jobs (widely employing youth) within the EU (OECD, 2020) and that especially the venue-based cultural & creative infrastructures will suffer a long-lasting decline due to the pandemic. However, the massive digitalisation coupled with emerging technologies (virtualisation, digital twins, digital engagement, personalized digital cultural activities, etc), can create new forms of cultural experience, dissemination and new (digital) business models with market potential (OECD, 2020). Youth-led entrepreneurship is a key priority of the European Union. As key drivers of the cultural and creative sector, the European youth (18-31) should be the leading source of creativity and innovation in cultural and creative entrepreneurship. However, performing entrepreneurship in a digital/intangible context (i.e. cultural and creative digital entrepreneurship (CCDE)) requires a substantial skill-set shift which currently, the EU youth does not possess. On top of this, cultural heritage sites, are also pierced by substantial degradation and unsustainable practices due to crowding and mass-tourism paving further needs for future innovations in this field.The needs that DIYouth aims to address: YOUTH (18-30 years old) lack the know-how and experience to perform in CCDE (SALTO-YOUTH, 2020). On top of this, youth coming from vulnerable groups do not possess basic entrepreneurial skills that would enable them to scale-up their ideas or to engage in social enterprising that would open up their opportunities in CCDE (OECD, 2019). Additional skillgaps: entrepreneurial opportunity recognition from societal pains, self-motivation, confidence and empowerment, operational aspects of (social) enterprises, understanding community bonds and community networks, technologies for social innovation (CEDEFOP, 2019, UNICEF, 2020); teamwork, decision making, design thinking, business planning, income generation (fundraising), digital skills and technology use for CCDE, national & international networking (EU Cultural Strategy 2014-2024); intercultural skills and accountability in CCDE (Hyz and Karamanis, 2016; Giakoulas, 2016); re-learning how to learn in a digital learning context skills as CCDE will require constant online training (and constant learning); solutions to include environmental sustainability and heritage protection in the CCDE. YOUTH WORKERS: Specific gaps: lack of youth worker qualification frameworks (recognition) for entrepreneurial training & learning; lack of mechanisms to help youth workers inspire youth at being entrepreneurial and creative; lack of skills to handle groups at risk and foster inclusion in CCDE training (EU DG EAC, 2019); lack of skills to support cross-sectoral cooperation in youth work; limited skills in guiding youth to tackle daily challenges via enterprising; limited skills in adopting innovative (and behavioural) training techniques that would inspire youth to develop empowerment & self-motivation competences for engaging in entrepreneurial ventures (CEDEFOP Skill Analysis, 2020; OECD, 2019) and lack of ability of youth workers to produce digital training materials that would be easily apprehended by youth in a non-formal education context.<< Objectives >>DIYouth aims to develop a transnational (non-formal education) youth and youth worker training programme containing: a youth training toolkit on CCDE with YOUTHPASS, DigComp and EntreComp certification options (Result 1); a train the trainers toolkit (based on ETS, with EntreComp and DigCompEdu certification options) enabling youth workers to improve the quality and effectiveness of their digital & entrepreneurial training capability (Result 2); a CCDE Digital Acceleration platform helping youth put their ideas into the market in collaboration with investors, policy makers, customers and other creative & cultural actors; and series of celebratory creative conferences (multipliers), three of them as teasers for Timisoara2023, Novi Sad2023 and Elefsina2023 EU capitals of culture. The end-goal is to boost the digitalization of the cultural & creative sector in an environmentally sustainable and heritage-protective manner while enabling digital job opportunities and employment.<< Implementation >>DIYouth implements the following activities:Result 1 – Cultural and Creative Digital Entrepreneurship (CCDE) Youth Toolkit (non-formal education)• 4 modular competence units that can be integrated in open MOOCs• Virtual simulator• Innovative learning tools (i.e. webquests, story-based approach)• YOUTHPASS, DigComp and EntreComp certifications (for students) for excellence in CCDE• 3 virtual creativity pilots: Creativity Pilot 1 - CCDE in multicultural heritage promotion and CCS ecosystems; Creativity Pilot 2 - CCDE in arts sector; Creativity Pilot 3 - CCDE in the music and festival sector (cross-cutting themes: heritage promotion and environmental sustainability)Result 2 – Youth worker train the trainers toolkit on cultural and creative digital entrepreneurship (CCDE)• Two EntreComp & DigCompEdu competence units• Innovative teaching & learning mechanisms based on: the ""ETS Competence Model for YOUTH Trainers"" (SALTO-YOUTH, 2020)• Pedagogical strategy: Youth worker ability to develop tailored OERs and digital training methods for different youth educational needs (cognitive, social, geographic, cultural, etc) by focusing on UNESCO (2018)'s strategy related to personalised education.• Pedagogical strategy: Neuroscience (behavioural) approach for ensuring effective online youth education in CCDE. Youth workers will have access to innovative behavioural trainingapproaches that will spur youth creativity, innovation and ability to succeed in CCDE.• EntreComp and DigCompEdu certification(s) for youth workers after passing a non-formal evaluation.• Virtual pilots: Three pilots the developed content on youth workers (via virtual pilots each of at least 50 participants).Result 3 - Cultural and Creative Digital Entrepreneurship (CCDE) Digital Accelerator Platform• Cultural and creative ""pains"" announcement• Database with public sector tenders and bidding competitions for cultural and creative events as well as direct feeds from targeted funded projects/grants• Database of a pool of CCDE experts, mentors and investors that can better guide CCDE young entrepreneurs in their enterprising process• Online CCDE acceleration component• 5 Pilot-tests of the developed platform on youth interested in CCDE (at least 50 participants per pilot).* Quality assurance methodology* Project image and dissemination material* DIYouth Alumni Network* Exploitation strategyE1 – Cultural and Creative Digital Entrepreneurship Open Day - Romania (pre-Timisoara 20223 Capital of Culture Events)E2 – Cultural and Creative Digital Entrepreneurship Open Day - Greece (pre-Elefsina 2023 Capital of Culture Events)E3 – Cultural and Creative Digital Entrepreneurship Open Day - Serbia (Novi Sad 2022 Capital of Culture Events)<< Results >>PROJECT RESULTS: Result 1 – Cultural and Creative Digital Entrepreneurship (CCDE) Youth Toolkit (non-formal education)Result 2 – Youth worker train the trainers toolkit on cultural and creative digital entrepreneurship (CCDE)Result 3 - Cultural and Creative Digital Entrepreneurship (CCDE) Digital Accelerator Platform* DIYouth Alumni NetworkOTHER OUTCOMES: * At least 30 DigCompEdu and EntreComp and 50 YOUTHPASS certifications offered during the project lifecycle* Digital readiness improvement of the participating organizations (at least 1 level up in the DigCompEdu grid)* Overall number of targets reached during the project lifecycle: at least 100 000 (via paid ads)* Number of visits on the website (at least 5000)* Number of participants to the multiplier events (at least 450 in total)* Number of cultural and creative ecosystem stakeholders engaged the Result 3 virtual pilots and recruited on the digital acceleration platforms (500)* Number of youth coming from groups at risks involved in the project (at least 30% or at least 285) and 50-50 gender balance* Number of youth outside of the consortium (or people already working in the cultural and creative sector) that decided to engage in CCDE (at least 100)* Number of youth interested in starting a social enterprise related to CCDE (at least 50)* Expected outcomes for youth participants:• Developing competences in cultural and creative digital entrepreneurship (CCDE), including social entrepreneurship, via the Result 1 curriculum boosting their ability to engage with the cultural and creative ecosystem and launch startups, create employment and help this sector achieve resilience in the digital transformation creatively, counteracting COVID-19 barriers• Boost their digital skills via the Result 3 platform and learn how to capitalise innovative technological solutions to effectively engage in CCDE• Developing awareness of civic engagement, multiculturalism, social innovation and community development by being engaged in thematic virtual pilots from Result 1 and therefore foster better inclusion through creative and cultural expressions (i.e. CCDE)• Access certification options of their skills and competences that will upgrade their professional profile and employability (i.e. YOUTHPASS, DigComp, EntreComp)• ""Relearning"" how to learn and adoption of innovative/creative approaches to make their non-formal learning pathway more effective in an online education - based on the OERs from Results 1,2.• Boost their psychological wellbeing, safety and responsibility in online education and training, helping them to be more focused on their CCDE journey* Expected outcomes for youth workers:• Development of qualified youth workers that can train youth in an entrepreneurial manner by building upon the EntreComp framework (Result 2). • Development of innovative and digital skills abilities for youth workers by relying on the DigCompEdu framework and innovative methods from Result 2 as well as on the Result 3 platform.• Enable capacity building of youth workers and youth work practices via Results 1,2,3 virtual pilots making thus youth workers more qualified and effective at their job, inspiring youth to perform in CCDE.• Assist youth workers in developing and sharing effective methods in reaching out to marginalized groups and achieve inclusion through providing access to CCDE training via the strategies from Result 2.• Facilitate the development of learner-centric high quality OERs and tailored learning pathways (via behavioural approaches) producing a better learning impact on youth trainees (and making them more effective at CCDE) while paving the way for a better recognition of youth work via DigCompEdu and EntreComp certifications (for digital and entrepreneurial training competences) for youth workers (Result 2)."