"Migration and asylum seekers are a major challenge for Europe today. The integration of migrants and refugee flows have become the subject of lively debate throughout Europe. The project ""MIGRANTECH : the digital incubator as a springboard for learning and employment of migrants and refugees"" contributes to combating discrimination against migrants and/or refugees; promoting coexistence between society and migrant and/or refugee communities; and undertaking education and training as a key element in promoting social cohesion and integration processes; providing tailor-made e-learning tools and methods for professionals working with migrants and refugees, in order to facilitate their socio-professional inclusion; understanding and identifying the needs for the most relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills sought by enterprises and employers/companies. In addition, MIGRANTECH will enable educators and professionals to broaden and adapt their knowledge and develop skills such as collaboration, digital literacy in job search, information management, evaluation of these skills, experimentation and innovation, problem solving and decision making, all of which are stepping stones towards bringing their audiences closer to the labour market. The 4 EU entities from France, Belgium, Portugal and Turkey, will achieve the project objectives by carrying out a study on policies and good practices in the field of social and professional integration of migrants and refugees, in order to analyse what has already been implemented and how to learn from past experiences; development of methodological and intervention tools and didactic material to promote the social and professional situation of migrants and refugees ; undertaking in each partner country itineraries with a total of 160 migrants and/or refugees to test intervention tools, a seminar for the exchange of good practices and the training of e-tutors to develop the skills of professionals working with migrants/refugees and to improve best practices in migrant entrepreneurship and professional integration processes. In this context, the project proposes the design and development of an inclusive, interactive and user-friendly platform (digital toolbox, e-learning, etc.) for professionals involved in adult education that will include online training modules for the socio-cultural, political and economic integration of migrants/refugees. More specifically, the training programme will help professionals to receive education about the EU (rights, obligations, values, opportunities, skills, digital...) in a way that will facilitate the smooth integration of the migrants and refugees with whom they work into European societies. The partnership will produce the following 5 intellectual outputs: o O1 Elaboration of the study on the most relevant transversal, key and digital competences required for access to employment and sought by enterpriseso O2 Identification of good educational and integration practices for adult migrants and refugees, both online and offline, based on NICTs and cross-cutting skills sought by companies and employers. and a tool for certifying acquired skills.o O3 Kit in the form of a training path (40 e-modules) developed according to the skills identified or sought by companies, employers and orientation of the seminar for the exchange of good practices during A4o O4 Design of the e-platform and putting the 40 e-modules online in an interactive approach (objectives, content, evaluation questionnaire.)o O5 Creation of an e-learning guide capitalising on the e-learning path and how to use the platform and 2 relevant computer graphics (transversal and digital skills) for people involved in adult education. MIGRANTECH meets the objectives of Erasmus+ :--Providing innovative educational practice based on NICTs that will motivate adults to engage in active learning and education accessible to all.-Designing and developing inclusive training initiatives and new practices in line with the Paris Declaration, to meet the needs of disadvantaged groups, addressing diversity in training, developing key competences and digital skills promoting the inclusion of refugees and migrants."

The primary goal of IEUME is to enhance the integration process of people with a migrant background (refugees, asylum seekers and economic immigrants) in European societies through education on EU-related topics. This goal serves horizontal priorities of Key Action 2, such as the promotion of social inclusion and social and educational value of European cultural heritage with focus on actions addressing diversity and the promotion, inter alia, of ownership of shared values, non-discrimination and social inclusion through education. The overall goal is also in line with the 2016 Action plan on the integration of third country nationals, which highlights the role of education as a key tool for integration across the EU. Specifically, it states that ‘[g]aining an understanding of the laws, culture and values of the receiving society is crucial for third country nationals to understand the responsibilities linked with their new life in the receiving society and actively participate in it’. In this context, the current project proposes the design and development of an inclusive, interactive and user-friendly digital toolkit for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers which will include gamified online training modules for European socio-cultural, political and economic environment, which will also be available through mobile platforms/ applications. Specifically the IEUME gamified training program, through its game scenario will help the young adults of migrant background to receive education on the EU (rights, obligations, values, opportunities, culture, and civic participation) in a way that would facilitate their smooth integration in their hosts (European) societies. The IEUME Online Curriculum and Game Scenario will be composed of at least 5 chapters covering themes such as: • EU Institutions • Political Culture of Democracy and Participation • Civic Engagement • Form the local society to the European fulfillment • European Cultures and Heritage Additionally, IEUME will support migrants (including refugees) to develop skills such as collaboration, engagement, information management, evaluation and interpretation, experimentation, problem solving and decision making which constitute basic attributes of civic engagement. Objectives 1. Provide tailored made tools and training to marginalized people and particularly migrants and refugees, with the aim of facilitating their social inclusion in the EU civic domain 2. Understand and map the needs in relation to civic knowledge, attitudes, skills and engagement of people from disadvantaged backgrounds 3. Improve awareness in EU culture and heritage in a socio-cultural, political and economic context among its citizens IEUME also satisfies a number of Erasmus Plus objectives: •Design and develop Inclusive training initiatives in line with the Paris Declaration, addressing diversity in training, developing social, civic, intercultural competences and media literacy, combating discrimination and segregation, involving refugees, asylum seekers and migrants •Develop new practices to cater for the needs of disadvantaged groups and to deal with social and financial marginalization •Provide an innovative ICT–based educational practice that will motivate the adults to commit in active learning •Combine higher levels of excellence and attractiveness of training and education with increased opportunities for all, including those at disadvantage The work of the consortium will be broken down into a series of overlapping phases incorporating research and analysis, design and development, testing and implementation, validation, localization, communication and exploitation of project outputs. Underpinning the work through all phases will be competent management and effective monitoring of the scheduled activities, on-going assessment and evaluation of project outcomes, rigorous quality management and appropriate dissemination activities to generate awareness of the aims and objectives of IEUME innovative tools and resources. The consortium consists of 6 partners from 5 European countries, and they have a Pan-European outreach in their activities. Members of the consortium are 1 HEI (UOM), 1 R&D Center on educational technology (CARDET), 3 adult training associations/networks with focus on social integration (FS, ENTER, AMSED) and 1 research centre specialized in civic education, EU politics and culture (DA). Benefits for EU and its Citizens: •Increased awareness of the opportunities and enhanced skills of marginalized groups in EU, such as migrants, refugees and asylum seekers on how to use ICT for civic participation and social inclusion •Positive impact at the personal level (knowledge, self-confidence) and empowerment for of marginalized groups and contribute to the social cohesion of EU •Strengthened evidence base training and education for marginalized groups on life long skills and knowledge such as the EU’s civic environment, and opportunity for participation

CONTEXT: The idea of the ProBM 2 project comes from the fact that every year, more and more enterprises are established, but less than 40% of them survive the first 5 years. The main problem is that many entrepreneurs-to-be do not value the power of business models and seem not to pay enough attention to this stage of company creation. The ProBM 2 project is a continuation of the ProBM project “Understanding and Developing Business Models” (ERASMUS+), in which the partners developed a simple and helpful compendium of business models for the present or future entrepreneurs. This compendium is then a great base for preparing an educational offer in the form of a training programme (on-line and offline) for adult educators and training providers, which could be used in order to educate entrepreneurs and other adult people interested in gaining or extending knowledge and skills in the area of business models.OBJECTIVES: The main objective of the ProBM 2 project is to increase skills and knowledge of adult educators and training providers in teaching business models. Acquired knowledge and skills will directly contribute to the design and use a good business model by the beneficiaries (the adults wishing to undertake business activity or already having a business) in practice in their present or future enterprises.PARTICIPANTS: The target group includes adult educators and training providers willing to teach business models as one of the elements of the entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs-to-be, and other adults (as beneficiaries), who wish to extend their knowledge and skills on business models.ACTIVITIES: The project foresees to undertake the following activities: four transnational meetings, case study analysis on business models successfully used in enterprises in partner countries (O1); competency profile for adult educators in the area of business models (O2); business models training programme for adult educators (O3); methodological guide for adult educators (O4); e-learning platform with the content of the training programme (O5). Moreover, the partnership foresees a wide range of dissemination activities (among others multiplier events in partner countries).METHODOLOGY: The methodology in the ProBM 2 project assumes that the main responsibility belongs to the coordinating institution (ITeE-PIB), that supervises in the final stage the level of the performance of all tasks. In regards to the individual tasks, they are adequately divided between partners. The research methods used for the execution and completion of tasks include among others literature review, document analysis, case studies, discussion panels, interviews, and surveys. In the meantime of the execution of the project, the transnational meetings are organised.RESULTS: The main result obtained in the ProBM 2 project are strongly linked to the outputs: case study analysis on business models in the enterprises in partner countries (O1); competency profile for adult educators in the area of business models (O2); business models training programme for adult educators (O3); methodological guide for adult educators (O4); e-learning platform with the content of the programme (O5). The main expected result of the ProBM 2 project will be the improvement of knowledge and skills of the target group and beneficiaries.IMPACT: The ProBM 2 project has an impact on the target groups: (1) adult educators and training providers (possessing the necessary competences in the area of business models, improved awareness of the importance of teaching about business models as one of the elements of the entrepreneurship); beneficiaries - (2) adults, who wish to extend their knowledge on business models, and other adults planning to establish own enterprise (broadening of horizons to see the bigger picture of the benefits from having and improving business models; having the necessary competences in well-planned establishing of an enterprise; increasing knowledge about the principles of the business market).BENEFITS: The use of the developed educational materials and knowledge on the issues linked with business models will enable to avoid the present or potential enterprise’s failure, and as a consequence, increase in the chances of its survival and success.

The term NEET is well-established on EU level and beyond as gives challenging youth issues a common term which increases the visibility and strengthens the position of youth related issues in European policy discussion. Reducing the NEET rate is a common goal of economic leaders, but as mentioned in various references, while the term has many benefits, it has also limitations. The group of young people defined as NEETs is extremely heterogeneous - some leave the status relatively soon, but some have no other short-term or long-term perspectives; for example the two most vulnerable subgroups are either unavailable or disengaged young persons. However, there are young people who are even more at risk of marginalisation as they are not statistically considered as NEETs. These persons are not visible in the theoretical and political agenda as they are so extremely difficult to grasp and are often covered by social systems e.g. systems of child and youth welfare and not by labour market systems. Professionals working directly with these marginalised persons are aware about their situation, but they are still left out in the political debate. These “forgotten” NEETs have been invisible to traditional approaches for years and have only recently been addressed officially. In the 2018 publication “Effective outreach to NEETs” by the EU, the need for identifying and providing special support to these “hard to reach young people [...] often not registered with the PES” is expressed as well as the need for integrated, flexible and transversable services.The partnership of the Erasmus+ project “Beyond NEET(D)s - Integrated guidance and support for vocational education pathways for highly disadvantaged youth beyond the status of NEET” tackles this challenges as the project focuses on supporting the most vulnerable subgroups of unavailable or disengaged persons who are not in employment, education, or training or even below this status as they are statistically not registered as NEETs.The main objective is to provide open, empowering and low-threshold opportunities that are centered on the individual person, their needs and socioeconomic situation in order to gain not only access to VET offers and the labour market, but even more to gain the necessary confidence and motivation as well as to define and implement basic and steps for entering the workforce or a VET path. A motivating and rewarding gamification approach further enhances the engagement of target group members. In order to reach these objectives, the partnership of the Beyond NEET(D)s project will develop the following results:(1) The Beyond NEET(D)s Report (O1) - a transnational survey of target group needs and specifications, which will provide the necessary basic information and specifications for the development of the following intellectual outputs. A full report will be available in English and video summaries of the key findings will be available in all partner languages. (2) The Beyond NEET(D)s Integrated Guidance Model (O2) will feature a comprehensive description of a engaging and empowering guidance approach with lowest possible entrance level requirements, including validation of non-formal and informal learning, utilisation of WBL elements in cooperation with local businesses. (3) The Beyond NEET(D)s Personal Integration Map (O3) - a gamified online platform for individual support, motivation and monitoring between mentor and mentee will be an innovative and low-threshold OER utilising open source software under full consideration of EU Data Protection rules.(4) The Beyond NEET(D)s Green Paper will accelerate the political and policy debate. It will elaborate the basis and environment for the project and its outputs, research and describe the political frame conditions in the partner countries (regions), develop synergies to existing initiatives and projects and provide the policy maker level on regional, national and European level with recommendations and needs.The partnership of the Beyond NEET(D)s project is multiprofessional and involves seven partner organisations from AT, CY, CZ, IE, IT, and PT. All partner organisations have vast experience in working with disadvantaged youth and vulnerable NEETs and share the demand for an integrated guidance approach and target group relevant and low-threshold integration plan. The involved staff of the are characterised by unique competences and experiences, which will ensure a multidimensional perspective.The products of the Beyond NEET(D)s project will be open, transferable and applicable in existing practices. The achievement of these product quality criteria in combination with the implementation of comprehensive dissemination and sustainability strategies will guarantee the long-term exploitation of project results beyond the partner countries and beyond the lifetime of the project, benefitting thousands of vulnerable and “forgotten” NEETs.

"The situation of NEETs (not in employment or education and training) in Europe is in deed alarming. Currently about 12% of Europe's population between 18 and 34 years of age can be counted as NEETs in average which is an incredibly high number of persons who have lost any contact to the labour maket or the education and training system in their country, we are speaking about 7 million young people in absolute numbers. The NEET situation in Europe, according to Eurostat statistics, show a great country diversion (Italy 29,5%, Spain 20,8%, Greece 28,8%) and also a gender diversion in fact much more women are counted as NEETs than men all over Europe (Eurostat 2018). In all European countries several programmes and approaches have been introduced to tackle the problem and integration of NEETs (young people not in employment or education). However, unfortunately there is quite a large share within this 7 million target group in Europe which could simply not at all be reached by means of guidance, personal discussions, advertising, presenting role models, introducing obligatory training schemes for young people etc. They have already moved too far away from the mainstream education and VET system and have split from mainstream communication channels. With this 7 million young people we can clearly see that the education and training systems have an access problem and the reason for this is, that those people have moved too far away from the regular system. These 7 million young people would largely not attend information workshops about new training programmes, take folders with them, show up at interviews at labour market authorities, attend guidance and counselling programmes etc. The situation shows clearly that innovative solutions for providing easiest access to education and training for this target group are highly needed, over the last years it has been tried to meet target group requirements e.g. through introduction of gamification if VET content to get closer and attract more interest, however experiences and reseaech shows that as soon as an offer only has a vague taste of learning, education, obligation etc. it will not be accepted within this target group. Within the PLAY YOUR SKILLS project the approach followed is not a gamification of VET content, it is the ""VET-ification"" of gaming. The solution this project suggests is the development of a pure mobile gaming app with all attracting features of classical successful mobile games which, however, in the background is utilising crucial core key competences of young people with fewer opportunities such as literacy, numeracy, spatial thinking, stress resistance, problem solving skills etc. and is able to develop a key competence portfolio for a player who is simply playing a mobile gaming app. At certain stages the mobile gaming app will then be able to approach the player and try to open a communication window with the VET system, with guidance and counselling experts and develop first loose ties to a system which they have totally lost before. The main aim and result of the project is the development, testing and mainstreaming of a mobile gaming app which has the following core tasks:•Motivate persons with fewer opportunities to take part in vocational education (at least get in contact with guidance and counselling services from VET providers)•Raise their self-esteem and self-awareness in an immediate and chunky way•Raise their confidence in their competences they already have, even if dropped out from educations and VET systems (competence portfolio) •Inform them about their vocational opportunities and bridging to VET counselling services in the local area of the target group membersIn front of this background the project partners are therefore going to develop 3 core intellectual outputs: 1: a research study to understand better the motivation factors of the target group as well as crucial key competences required on the labour market and in VET which could be implemented, developed and tested through a mobile gaming app2: a mobile gaming app which is highly attractive for NEET users providing the identified motivation factors like rewards, social prestige and competition and at the same time development and validation of key competnces and building of a key competence portfolio for the player3: a guideline for VET staff, counselling and guidance experts to apply the mobile gaming app as first communication and interaction tool with a target group that has lost all communication connection to the VET system These outputs will be supported by one multiplier event as well as one transnational Learning/Teaching and Training. The partnership is composed by expert organisations from 6 European countries which have all long lasting experiences with training of people with fewer opportunities, guidance and counselling as well as mobile gaming app development."