e-icom project (E-Learning for International Commerce Digital Marketing) is conceived as an initiative to develop pedagogic resources on International Marketing to support initial and continuous VET courses in training cycles connected with Trade, Marketing and Advertising.It started as a cooperation between the lead partner in Spain, a VET provider, and the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid, who got inspired by the products of a previous Erasmus+ funded project on the same topic, M.IN.D (Marketing, Internationalization & Development). The i-com partnership gathers partners in Spain, Italy and Greece with a balanced composition of one VET provider and one relevant chamber of commerce in the three countries. Some of the partners in Italy and Greece come from the M.IN.D partnership.The project has the ultimate goal to facilitate the employment of young people in the Export sector and contribute to the competitiveness of the companies of the three represented countries, especially SMEs, by providing a higher qualification of their staff, having in mind the current diagnosis of the European institutions, which estimates that more than 30 million jobs in the EU depend on exports outside the EU and 90% of future global growth is predicted to happen outside Europe's borders (European Council, 2018).The main challenges of VET according to the recent publications of the European Centre for Development of Vocational Training relate to the cooperation between the education sector and the enterprises and it is in this area where the e-icom project wants to intervene.The partnership represents the interests of several hundreds of thousand companies of which only a fraction export at all. Through the training cycles implemented by the participating organisations, the partnership reaches directly some 2.500 trainees yearly in initial and continuous VET in the topics covered by the project.The main results to be developed in the project are a MOOC on International Marketing and a pedagogic and promotional audiovisual resource containing the lessons learnt in the implementation of the project. They will be produced in all the languages of the partnership with inputs from all partners. They will include specific sectorial examples and testimonials from all the participating countries to bring an international value to the final products.The partners count with the professional and technical resources to develop fully the intended products. A short-term staff mobility has been incorporated to the work plan to contribute to the exchange of practices and opinions in the conception and production of the main results. In order to maximise their quality, the products will be tested and validated in all countries incorporating suggestions of external stakeholders. Multipliers events are foreseen in all countries to promote the results and contribute to their sustainability.The two main results will be open to the public and directly accessible from the webpage of the project and electronic platforms best suiting their promotion, including the platform of results of the Erasmus + program.

"The S.M.I.Le. - Sales Management, Inter-culture, Learning project intends to create, test, validate and disseminate, as a new educational standard, the competence dictionary of the emerging vocational profile of the Cross Cultural Sales Agent, a key figure of b2b sales processes in intercultural contexts, both in -house and on-the-field, for operations of strategic and operational commercial negotiation abroad. The expansion of reference markets in which companies compete, due to increasing globalization, implies the need to integrate intercultural aspects of ethical, juridical, linguistic, managerial, technical, communicative and negotiating nature into sales strategies that are fundamental to create the buyer-seller trust relationship and the success of sales processes in contexts different from purely domestic ones. In this scenario, characterized by the reduction of the physical distance between companies and the parallel increase in the cultural gap between them, there is a significant skills mismatch between the training supply of VET actors and the needs of businesses related to the need to develop and/or consolidate one’s business. In light of what has been shown for the context and the needs identified, the Project intends to establish a stable and multi-actor European network aiming to: • reduce the misalignment between the need for specialist and inter-cultural skills, typical of the target profile and the training supply, through a ""VET provider-business"" co-elaboration process of both the target profile and the related training programme • favour processes to acquire the competences/skills/knowledge related to the target profile by using digital teaching tools and innovative pedagogical methods, as well as practical testing, in real work situations • increase the employability of people with a higher education diploma and/or a degree in economic subjects in partner territories. These objectives will be pursued by implementing the following IO: • Cross-Cultural Sales Agent competence dictionary to promote its introduction within regional/national vocational qualifications systems/frameworks • A training programme with classroom sessions, e-learning, work-based learning and movie education, according to a blended methodological approach to develop the distinctive skills of the target vocational profile, to favour its adoption as a training model at European level • 40 people (10IT, 10EL, 10BG, 10PL) unemployed/first time job seekers with a diploma and/or degree in economic disciplines will be course beneficiaries • OER, i.e. the training pills referring to the following integrated macro-fields of knowledge/skills: - SALES - BEHAVIOURAL AND INTERCULTURAL - MANAGEMENT - LANGUAGE functional to defining proactive sales plans, as well as to negotiate and conclude win-win commercial negotiations in international/intercultural b2b contexts • company check-ups of sales processes carried out by training course beneficiaries on a sample of SMEs from their respective territorial contexts, to highlight the positive impact of the work-based learning approach on learning processes • educational short films to stage typical situations of sales processes in intercultural contexts realized by the learners at the end of the training course, which also represent the result of the implementation of movie education as an innovative methodology able to favour experience-based learning thanks to the ability to combine emotional and cognitive aspects and to activate problem-based learning processes • the ""S.AGE."" open, flexible Learning environment based on the logic of informal, social and collaborative learning that will allow access to the OER, other in-depth learning materials, tools to conduct company check-ups of sales processes and short films. The project also foresees the implementation of a short-term joint staff training event for a group of partnership trainers for Movie Education methodological alignment and technical alignment on cross-cultural selling to conduct cross-cultural Sales & Storytelling Labs The realization of these outputs, aiming to develop elevated cross-cultural skills of crucial importance for the effectiveness of sales processes and the socio-economic development of the European productive fabric, requires the activation of transnational cooperation mechanisms capable of standardizing, at European level, the adoption of didactic and methodological approaches inspired by the logic of cultural pluralism, from the definition phase of the competence set of the target vocational profile to the testing of the training model and of the resources/methodologies to support learning processes"

<< Background >>The project responds to the strongly felt need by EU SMEs to enter, develop and remain in international business circuits. In fact, recent surveys on the fabric of European SMEs (Global Competitiveness Report 2020) reveal the need for highly qualified human capital capable of supporting processes of:•COMPETITIVENESS to adapt to the challenges of the global market, with particular reference to typical crafts, whose competitive position has recently been questioned, despite representing a highly significant sector for the European context.•DIGITAL INTERNATIONALIZATION, i.e. entry, development and permanence in international business circuits which represents one of the most significant challenges for European SMEs. Their export quota is below 30% according to the Annual Report on EU SMEs 2018/2019 (EC, 2019). The small businesses active at international level show an occupational increase of +7% with respect to only +1% of others without international activity.The project addresses a topic of transnational relevance with a multi-actor partnership, cooperation strategy of co-elaboration of a continuous training model, of joint experimentation and adoption in European countries and of two transnational mobilities (LTTA) for trainers that cannot be realized in national or local projects making I.D.E.A. an action of European relevance able to favour the evolution of the VET training supply generating significant impacts in terms of fostering innovation in VET, and nurturing innovation capacity and competitiveness of EU and MS<< Objectives >>The I.D.E.A project, in line with the current and future developments of the labour market at transnational level and with EU policies, intends to create a transnational Strategic Partnership between VET Providers, Chambers of Commerce/Businesses Organisations to: 1.to increase the digital, international business management skills of 80 workers of small companies in Slovenia, Poland, Italy, Spain and Greece functional to define a correct and sustainable planning of digital, international company projection2.align a group of partnership trainers and consultants (16), involved in two international mobilities to acquire the logic of the crossroads-based story to represent behaviours, situations and relational dynamics typical of digital business internationalization and to implement the functional guidelines to guide, thanks to the transformational team coaching methodology, the target SMEs in the digital transformation of the commercial and marketing processes and guide the learners in their application on the field in the organizational contexts of the target companies during the company check-ups.3.co-elaborate a European, blended training supply which is innovative and in line with the needs of workers and companies to improve their development opportunities in the globalized economy4.Pilot the training course with at least 80 workers from European SMEs involved in the partnership, through:-the use of the Educational TV Programme and OERs and participation in face-to-face sessions during the e-learning course,-the holding of check-ups by learners, suitably assisted by the consultants who have participated in the mobility who, by applying the Digital Internationalization Guidelines, will collect the information and data to be analysed to guide their companies in the implementation of strategic planning efficiency paths, direction and control of the commercial development processes of the business through new digital media.In the long-term, I.D.E.A aims at fostering innovation in VET, and nurturing innovation capacity and competitiveness of EU and Member States. Major achievements will deal with the development of a sustainable, multidisciplinary and participated approach that makes knowledge transfer and links between training and business easier reducing the misalignment between the skills generated by the training systems and those required by production systems by defining training courses calibrated on the analysis of company operating needs and the development of integrated training approaches, to generate positive effects in terms of competitive development of small businesses and professional success of workers.In the medium-term, the project is addressed to strengthen the basis of a well-organized and integrated network involving diverse partners from training and business, to influence policy-making, then capable of maximising the formative efficacy of training courses in the European partnership reference contexts.<< Implementation >>The project responds to the strongly felt need by EU SMEs to enter, develop and remain in international business circuits addressing a topic of transnational relevance with a multi-actor partnership, cooperation strategy of co-elaboration of a continuous training model, of joint experimentation and adoption in EU countries and of 2 LTTA for trainers that cannot be realized in national or local projects making IDEA an action of European relevance able to favour the evolution of the VET training supply generating significant impacts in terms of fostering innovation in VET, and nurturing innovation capacity and competitiveness of EU and MS.The project includes 5 WPs (2 Traversal and 3 Technical) each WP will be led by a different project partner identified considering its experience in the specific domain. Other partners will collaborate in the implementation of WP activities.Here follows a description of the methods used to ensure a proper workflow during the entire project.WP1 Project management - Leader GZS CPU (M1-M24)The first work package will take care of all tasks needed to coordinate activities and a smooth flow of the project as well as a proper monitoring of results, information flow between partners, conflict management and quality of the produced project results.WP2 Communication and dissemination - Leader Camara de Comercio Italiana - Barcelona (M1-M24)that covers all the activities concerning the project visibility (i.e. Graphical identity, media coverage, etc.) and the diffusion of project results.WP3 Elaboration and Development PR1 (WP and PR Responsible: HAU; M1 – M6)A3.1 Desk Research (M1-M3)A3.2 Field Research (M3-M4)A3.1 will be integrated by a field analysis through the organisation of Focus Groups with workers, SME and partner training agency representativesA3.3 Learning Programme Design (M4-M6)On the basis of the findings of A3.1-3.2, the partnership experts will design the new learning program, defining the teaching methods, the criteria to select learners, the assessment methods, evaluation of the learning outcomes achieved.WP4 Design and Development IO2, IO3 (WP and IO Responsible: CONFORM; RCGE; M7 – M18)A4.1 Short-term joint staff training event (LTTA) – M6to be carried out at Conform, that will last for 5 days and will involve a group of 5 partnership trainers/experts involved in an upskilling and methodological alignment process, focusing on challenge based learning that uses the logic of crossroad storiesA4.2 Elaboration of contents and technical development of OERs (M7-M14)A4.3 Design and development of the Educational TV Programme learning environment (M10-M17)A4.4 Design of the Digital Internationalization Guidelines (M17-18)A4.5 Short-term joint staff training event (2nd LTTA) - M17to be carried out at RCGE: 5 days for 5 partnership experts/consultants involved in an upskilling and methodological alignment process, focusing on transformational coaching and digital internationalisation guidelinesWP5 PILOTING (PR1, 2, 3; WP Responsible HAU; M16-M23)These activities will be transversal to classroom trainingA5.1 Testing of the Educational TV Programme, OERs and the additional materials (M16-20)A5.2 Company check-up implementation (M19-20)by workers suitably assisted by the consultants who have participated in the 2nd LTTA who, that will apply the Digital Internationalization Guidelines (PR3).5.3 Evaluation (M16-23)with the identification of the methods to verify and evaluate all the learning process; the development of evaluation materials; the collection of results for reporting. Partners will prepare a compendium of the pilot phase carried out.<< Results >>Expected results are:1.the establishment of a stable, multi-actor network, of international excellence, of 3 EU Training body, 3 chamber system/business organisations, 3 HEIs/Research Center expression of 5 EU countries, to foster interaction and integration of company, methodological, technological and didactic expertise, functional to the strategic design of developing and maintaining among small business workers, enduring digital and international business management skills, based on a systemic vision of a technological, organizational/managerial, commercial, relational and marketing nature, functional to define a correct and sustainable strategic planning of the international digital projection of companies businesses.2.the undertaking, in response to the strongly felt need to enter, develop and remain in international business circuits by small of a cognitive analysis centered on listening to a group of key business people in small enterprise systems of Partnership reference territories, in order to assess the need for digital and international business management skills.3.the validation and diffusion of the training standard and of the teaching framework developed by the Project to favour its implementation in the framework of the partnership regional/national training supply systems (PR1 - DIGITAL AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LEARNING PROGRAMME)4.digital integration in learning, favouring access to a plurality of OER (gamified interactive training videos with narrative crossroads), which can be freely used online for at least 2 years after project end, to allow a wide range of students to acquire and maintain enduring skills and valuable knowledge of international, digital and cross-cultural business management, based on a systemic vision of an organizational/managerial, commercial, relational and marketing nature, functional to defining the correct and sustainable strategic planning of the international projection of companies (PR2 - EDUCATIONAL TV PROGRAMME AND INTERACTIVE GAMIFIED VIDEO TRAINING PILLS DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT )5.the achievement by a group of partnership trainers, as a result of mobility, of a methodological alignment (i) on the logic of the crossroads-based story, to represent behaviours, situations and relational dynamics typical of digital business internationalization and digital Conversational Marketing processes, allowing learners to verify the consequences of the behaviour adopted/chosen in cross-cultural contexts in a cause/effect logic - LTTA (ii) on the transformational team coaching to implement the functional guidelines to guide the target SMEs in the digital transformation of the commercial and marketing processes and guide the learners in their application on the field in the organizational contexts of the target companies during the company check-ups (PR3 - DIGITAL INTERNATIONALIZATION GUIDELINES)6.the development and implementation of Educational TV Programme with episodes as a Learning environment to guide the beneficiaries on the new ways to promote and valorise digital internationalisation that will consist of the OER, the additional training materials as well as the interviews with stakeholders/business operators (PR2)7.the involvement of a group of at least 80 male and female workers (20SI, 20IT, 10EL, 20ES, 10PL) in the piloting phase (PR1)8.identification of the opportunities foreseen in regional, national and EU calls for the implementation and transfer of results to new contexts