"<< Background >>Climate change and environmental degradation present an existential threat to Europe and the world. Smart use of clean digital technologies can serve as a key enabler for climate action and environmental sustainability. The digital transition and a smarter and greener use of technologies will help make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, a key goal of the European Green Deal. Technology can improve energy and resource efficiency, facilitate the circular economy, lead to a better allocation of resources; reduce emissions, pollution, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. At the same time, the ICT sector must ensure the environmentally sound design and deployment of digital technologies. On December 2020, 26 Member States and Norway and Iceland have signed a declaration to accelerate the use of green digital technologies for the benefit of the environment. They will deploy and invest more green digital technologies to achieve climate neutrality and accelerate the green and digital transitions in priority sectors in Europe, for example by using the NextGenerationEU and Invest EU funds. The joint goal is to accelerate and take the global lead on the green digital transformation, building on the Council Conclusions of 17 December 2020 on “Digitalisation for the Benefit of the Environment”, as well as on the Digital Strategy [COM/2020/67 final]. The higher education system has to work together with the Politicians and to establish the European Green Digital Coalition that will accelerate the ICT sector’s transition towards a sustainable, climate neutral, circular and zero pollution economy while at the same time contributing to innovative, sustainable, inclusive and resilient society and economy. This project is a big step forward this initiative. There are many courses and programmes in higher education that are oriented on the digital transformation, but it is impossible to find a curriculum that directly covers green aspects of the digital transformation. One fact that is worth to mention is also that SMEs not often invest in green digital technologies. They usually perceive green investments as a cost that never is given back. The project concentrates on the Course oriented on managing green digital transformation in SMEs. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), including micro-enterprises, are important engines of innovation, growth, job creation and social cohesion in high-income/emerging economies, as well as low-income developing countries. In the former, SMEs undertake the majority of private economic activity, and account for more than 60 percent of employment and 50 percent of GDP. In the latter, SMEs contribute on average to more than 50 percent of employment and 40 percent of GDP; furthermore, they contribute significantly to broadening employment opportunities, social inclusion, and poverty reduction (G20/OECD 2014). To put this in perspective, in the EU27 the overwhelming majority (some 20.9 million, or 99.8 percent) of enterprises active within non-financial business economy in 2008 were SMEs. These accounted for two out of every three jobs (66.7 percent) and for 58.6 percent of value added within the non-financial business economy (EUROSTAT 2011). SMEs, therefore, are core economic engines for all members of the G20 (2021, G20 insights). Higher educational system must follow the changes that are being pursuit in the real economy. We need to educate Students aware of the importance of green and digital revolution, aware of the importance of every small eco-innovation in every sector. We need to adjust academic curricula to the requirements of processes that are running around. As our Students are future entrepreneurs and employees, the knowledge that we will transfer them now will benefit in next years. We are all responsible for our planate.<< Objectives >>According to the document ""Towards a green, competitive and resilient EU economy: How can digitalisation help?"" (Hedberg and Šipka, 2020), The European Commission’s Green Deal proposal already recognises that the two transitions (digital and green) are closely linked. For too long, the green transition and digital transformation have been promoted separately, even though their alignment would bring many benefits. Better management of data and the deployment of digitally-enabled solutions can provide the means to make our economy – including our food, mobility and energy systems – more competitive while also contributing to climate action and environmental protection. Connecting governments, people, companies and things will enable the sharing of valuable information and co-creation of needed solutions. Digital solutions are already behind many novel business models, and they could be utilised even more for greening our economy. They can help improve the design of products and support people’s ‘right to repair’. They can help us consume fewer materials and less energy, reduce emissions, minimise waste and even support dematerialisation. Moreover, they can enhance governance, including the implementation and enforcement of relevant rules needed to protect our natural capital like biodiversity; enhance the circular economy; and achieve climate neutrality. As the world around us becomes more and more digital, tools and methods must consider the technological aspect. The global processes especially affect SMEs, which are not so properly prepared to finance all required changes. We need to consider first the following processes:1)The shift of trade to the web - the rapid growth of e-commerce - the coronavirus epidemic accelerated the global trend that was taking place anyway as part of the technological revolution known as Industry 4.0 - companies that have not yet moved their activities online are losing their competitiveness faster and faster and they will soon be unable to cope with the competition. 2)Automating customer service by introducing chatbots. With resource constraints, the smart way to get things done is through automation.3)Generation Z has become the greatest market force, understanding the market completely differently and displaying consumer behaviour in a completely different way than previous generations. This creates a demand for new marketing strategies, new tools and new skills, as well as for new content that must be more visual and saturated with deeper content than before - refer not only to the substantive content of the message, but also for an attractive and visual message.4)Moving business processes to the cloud - companies implementing the cloud have many benefits from improving processes, and at the same time cloud solutions are advanced, inexpensive, and easy to use.5)Green shift – considering aspects of protection of the environment in every aspect of business operation.The main concern of this project is how to increase of Students awareness on importance of green impact from usage of digital technologies.General objective is to develop and transfer innovative and good practices to improve quality of higher business education, enabling preparation Students to use green digital technologies.Specific objectives are:•Increase knowledge, skills, and competencies of Students.•Transforming future entrepreneurs' thinking to act in the era of green digital transformation.•Transforming Students minds towards thinking about green economy as a source for gains, not costs.•Promote the skills and operational tools necessary to manage green innovation and the implementation of new digital technologies in SMEs.•Improving and fostering a deep understanding of green and digital transformation at HE and its impact on business reality, as well as business and social relationships.•Prepare Students to act as a ""green and digital transformation agents"".•Increase competencies of Academics.<< Implementation >>To achieve all projects objectives, Partnership needs to perform the following activities:• Structuring an innovative blended academic Curriculum on green aspects of Digital Transformation in SMEs, which should increase skills and competencies of Students, increase their awareness about consequences of digitalisation and processes like Industry 4.0, increase skills of Academics and educators,• Elaborating and producing gamified Open Educational Resources, in the form of gamified interactive training videos with ""narrative crossroads"", then further investigation materials as supporting materials for developed OERs. • Elaborating the methodology for practical validation of the developed content and run check-ups in the SMEs,• Educate Students how to use movie education and supervise the process of recording short educational videos,• develop video case studies, as an example of green usage of the digitalisation processes,• Designing the quality assurance system for inclusive education delivered with the given course,• Validating the developed contents through during the multiplier events,• Managing all projects activities,• Sharing and promoting of delivered outcomes.<< Results >>We intend to engage directly at least 80 Students into process, at least 10 companies, 10-15 academics. Expected results, are:1) 1 max 15 ECTS Curriculum on Green aspects of digital transformation in SMEs consisting of ca 10 topics for Students in HE systems,2) innovative Open Educational Resources, in the form of gamified interactive training videos with ""narrative crossroads"" following the curriculum with further investigation materials and self-evaluation test,3) 1 methodology for practical validation of the developed material and the at least 8 check-ups,4) at least 8 short educational films recorded by Students participating in the project,5) at least 4 video case studies recorded by academics involved in the project. The project follows a logical sequence: it starts by changing the attitudes of faculty (awareness around consequences of the digital transformation for the environment). This in turn triggers concrete changes in the digital pedagogy, thanks to the provision of proper content, guidance, tools, and instruments. Then from the process benefit Students and at the end companies, that hire educated and skilled workers.Since EFMD is a Partner of the project, the quality standards are expected to be ensured. Also, business orientation of the developed content is expected since Partnership includes entities with vast business experience. 4 multiplier events are organised (in each of the partners countries, except Belgium) to promote green aspects of digital transformation and education. They disseminate all project results to a larger audience and stimulate their adoption outside of the partnership. EFMD, as the Partner with largest network and worldwide recognition, will also promote aspects ensuring large impact on the stakeholders.In short term, Partnership expects increase of the skills and competencies of the target group (Students, Academics, Educators) as far as green digital transformation is concerned, in the long-term Consortium expects sustainable change in the attitude and approach towards digital transformation, recognition of the processes that can benefit SMEs from implementation of green technologies and as the result positive impact on the environment and climate."

There is an increasing demand for ICT professionals who have the both “deep” technology skills for programming or application development, technical support, security and networking as well as the business skills necessary to use digital technologies to increase innovation and levels of productivity within the organization. While infrastructure and technology are clearly important considerations, digital transformation is as much about the people and changing the way they approach business problems and where they look to find solutions. According to the Human Capital Digital Inclusion and Skills 2018 Report, 17 % of the EU population had no digital skills in 2017, the main reason being that they did not use the internet or did so only seldom. Advanced digital skills are becoming a prerequisite for entry into many jobs and have a wide range of applications, even beyond domains where they are needed for core tasks. Across competence dimensions, the largest skills deficit, both among the active labour force and the population at large, relates to the use of software for content manipulation. Almost one in three internet users in the EU has no skills in this area (i.e. they declared to not to have carried out any of the activities considered under this dimension, which range from relatively basic text treatment and spreadsheet-based work to video editing and coding). Digital talents are the backbone of the digital transformation of companies. The digital transformation of a territory is only possible if local businesses have the right talents to acquire and harness the required digital technologies. Digital talent is not only important for local companies. Local administrations, universities and research centres also need to attract key talents with the ability to radically shape the city’s digital ecosystem. Hiring and retaining the right talent with the appropriate skillset has become one of the most critical challenges faced by European businesses. In today’s globalised and hypercompetitive world, talent acquisition strategies constitute a top priority for businesses to innovate and grow. The project responds to the challenges of the temporary world.OBJECTIVESThe objectives of the projects are as follows:1.To transform mindsets of entrepreneurs to perform as global innovators and entrepreneurial leaders in the era of digital transformation.2.To enhance process of setting up new companies due to consuming of digital technologies.3.To promote the skills and the operation tools indispensable to manage global innovation and implementation of new digital technologies.4.To enhance and foster a deep understanding of digital transformation and the way it affects the business reality, as well as business -society relations.5.To build soft and hard skills to structure, organize and control innovation and digital transformation processes.6.To improve efficiency and boost business agility.7.To increase the understanding and managing capabilities the changes and the challenges for companies within the smart industry and the digital economy.8.To foster a cultural diversity as a motive for entrepreneurship.9. To introduce new teaching method like edutainment, digital case studies, simulations and games.10. To encourage Students to critically thinking on the globalising world, searching for sustainable solutions and holistic approach.PRODUCTS1.Designed New training Curriculum Digital Innovator and entrepreneurial leader.2.Designed and Elaborated OER for digital innovation and entrepreneurial leadership.3.Web-based self-assessment tool for digital innovator and entrepreneurial leader.4.Digital Work-place – e-platform supporting digital transformation of entrepreneurial mindsets.5.Company check-ups.Consortium consists of 7 partners from 5 countries, representing higher education institutions (Universities - Salerno, Krems, Nice and Poznań), as well as companies dealing with training and developing digital open educational resources (Conform) finally NGOs dealing with training for management (EFMD) and for local governments (PfLG). The consortium partners address topics of digital skills, compeititveness, transition, innovation and sustainability from their various disciplinary backgrounds. The partners’ integrated approach shows in the training modules content which integrates the different disciplinary backgrounds under the umbrella system understanding and based on rigorous holistic system analysis. The consortium partners share common values and principles with respect to teaching and learning e.g. on how to encourage students to actively create the learning process. This common approach reflects in focusing on student centered learning, teaching and assessment as well as field research training.

<< Background >>Digitalisation is taking place at a fast pace in all European countries and across almost the whole world. The Covid-19 pandemic is also accelerating digitalisation at many levels. Digitalisation is transforming the economies, societies, forms of communication, jobs and the necessary skills for the workplace and everyday life. Digitalisation as a systemic enabling process that has enormous potential to boost the circular economy and contribute to the sustainable transition. On the other hand, as one of the drivers of growth of production and consumption globally, digitalisation is also a challenge for environmental and social sustainability. The scope and speed of the digital transformation varies across European countries, sectors, organisations, and places. For example, less than a fifth of companies in the EU are highly digitised, leaning toward much greater levels of uptake in large enterprises as opposed to SMEs (2020, EIO Biennial report). Despite progress in waste management and recycling across the EU, circularity rates remain relatively low. Digitalisation can help to minimise waste, enable more efficient processes in companies, promote longer product life cycles and reduce transaction costs through significantly improved information. There is an enormous spectrum of possible applications to scale-up and mainstream eco-innovations toward a sustainable circular economy. The commercial benefits of greening stem from the potential to increase market share and capture new markets from eco-innovation, eco-entrepreneurship, and eco-adoption among SMEs. The rationale here is that “green” products, niches, and practices represent previously untapped business opportunities that SMEs are uniquely suited to tackle, especially because of their small size and flexibility. Broadly, sustainable SMEs contribute to the protection of the climate, environment, and biodiversity through their products, services, and business practices. But they do so in different way; some SMEs focus on reducing the environmental footprint of their production process (e.g. resource-efficient processes) while others focus on green outputs and offer green products and services (e.g. renewable energy products). Although there are many SMEs that really care for the environment, that largest portion of them perceives eco-innovations as a burden and pursuit eco innovations only when pushed by the legislator. There is a need to prepare the training scheme for SMEs representatives (employees dealing with digital technologies, managers running business operation, business educators dealing with business education) to enlarge the awareness about possibilities of using digital technologies for green purposes, as well as to show how much SMEs can benefit from implementing sustainable digital technologies. The cost reductions for SMEs generally arise from efficiency gains since less inputs are required to produce the same output. These cost reductions are realized through the following channels. These channels are applicable to SMEs in both developing and developed contexts (OECD, 2018).• Process efficiency: By optimizing current processes or introducing new more efficient ones, SMEs minimize the required inputs and waste production.• Product design: SMEs can re-design their products to reduce the required inputs without sacrificing the product’s utility.• Waste disposal: In addition to reducing waste by improving process efficiency, SMEs can reuse already-generate waste or pass it along to other companies. This reduces cost of waste disposal.• Source of raw material: SMEs can reduce cost of raw materials by switching to recycled materials.• Infrastructure efficiency: SMEs can generate savings associated with energy efficiency lighting, building insulation, and heating systems efficiency.• Packaging and transport: By reducing the volume of packaging and switching to local suppliers to decreasing shipping distances, SMEs can further reduce costs.<< Objectives >>Digital technologies can play an important part in tackling the climate emergency, provided they are designed and deployed with the kind of positive societal impact that the Sustainable Development Goals outline at their heart. Digital technologies bring revolution in the business reality, but there is a challenge on how to target those changes, to be beneficial for the climate, the environment and the society. And how to make those who introduce these changes the most to direct them towards sustainable effects - beneficial for the economy, the society and the environment.General idea of the project is to prepare employees of the SMEs for the sustainable digital transformation. General objective: Improve the skills and competences of employees in small and medium-sized businesses to accelerate the digital transformation for sustainable development.Specific objectives:·Define a profile of expert in sustainable digital transformation with associated knowledge, skills, and competencies.·Transforming entrepreneurs' thinking to act in the era of sustainable digital transformation.·Promote the skills and operational tools necessary to manage the implementation of new digital technologies that are sustainable .·Improving and fostering a deep understanding of sustainable digital transformation and its impact on business reality, as well as business and social relationships.·Building soft and hard skills to structure, organize and control innovation and digital transformation processes.·Increasing business efficiency through use of sustainable digital technologies.·Improving the understanding and ability to manage change and challenges for digital economy companies.·Introducing new teaching methods such as edutainment, digital case studies, simulations, and games.·Encouraging learners to think critically about the globalising world, looking for lasting solutions and a holistic approach. Hopefully with this project, we make a progress toward greater awareness of the employees of the climate change, but also, we make a great step towards sustainable development of SMEs.<< Implementation >>To achieve all projects objectives, Partnership needs to perform the following activities:·Structuring an innovative blended training scheme on Sustainable Digital Transformation in SMEs, which should prepare companies to adjust to the virtual business environment and take advantage of the participation in the processes of sustainable digital transformation (referring to the indicated professions),·Elaborating and producing Open Educational Resources, build on the following components:a)interactive video pills, which can be freely accessed online for at least two years after the project end, to allow a vast audience of trainees to acquire and maintain technical/managerial/commercial/relational skills, functional to develop the process to increase competitiveness of SMEs, through effective management of processes of sustainable digital transformation.b)Further investigation materials as supporting materials for developed OERs.·Self-assessment tool for checking own skills and assess the required range of the training.·Elaborating the manual on sustainable digital transformation – how to prepare a company to reshape an existing business model, how to use digital technologies to contribute positively to the climate change, environment protection and positive social transformation, how to earn money on the global sustainable digital transformation.·Designing the quality assurance system for inclusive education delivered with the given training scheme.·Validating the developed contents through during the multiplier events.·Managing all projects activities.·Sharing and promotion of delivered outcomes.<< Results >>The project shall produce the following Results:R1 - The methodology and curriculum for the sustainable Digital Transformation Training Scheme for SMEsR2 - Open Educational ResourcesR3 - Self-Assessment toolR4 - Check-upsR5 - Manual and Good Practices Guidebook.