"The Facility Management (FM) as defined by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and ratified by 31 European countries is ""integration of processes within an organization to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities"". The main aim of the FM sector is to provide a safe and healthy place for living and work. In 2009 the International FM Association identified 11 core FM competencies - communication; emergency preparedness and business continuity; environmental stewardship and sustainability; finance and business; human factors; leadership and strategy; operations and maintenance; project management; quality; real estate and property management; and technology.Nowadays FM is subject to continuous innovation and development. Additional advantage but also challenge is that FM is both integrated and interdisciplinary. Different competences and skills from diverse professions could be directed to particular FM courses and trainings. At the same time FM has to operate at both levels - strategic-tactical and operational. These give great opportunity for many people to qualify or re-qualify but FM’s interdisciplinary nature sets a constant challenge before the organisations involved in FM education and training - to answer the persistent development of all areas of knowledge constituting the FM discipline.Based on a good Austrian practice, our project aimed at developing and piloting an innovative, multilingual platform for online distance training in FM - WIFI Facility Management Academy (WIFI-FMA). It lead to the creation of a set of comprehensive online training materials in English, Bulgarian, German, Hungarian and Serbian. Our approach is focused on applying a trainee-friendly learning method and delivery, which allows addressing the needs of various target groups.The project impacts many sectors, among which are VET, the adult education and youth. It also gives incitement for enhancement of the facility management-related subjects delivered at higher education level.The project adds value to the Erasmus+ objectives. WIFI-FMA contributes for achieving the five ambitious objectives defined by Europe 2020 on employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate/energy. The project corresponds to the third strategic objective of the strategic framework for EU Cooperation in Education and Training 2020 (ET 2020), namely “enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training – the acquisition of transversal competences by all citizens should be promoted and the functioning of the knowledge triangle (education-research-innovation) should be ensured. Partnerships between enterprises and educational institutions as well as broader learning communities with civil society and other stakeholders should be promoted”. A market survey was commissioned and conducted in March 2014. It showed that the FM professional training in Bulgaria was in early stage, with limited supply and growing demand. There is no online training or education responding the needs of both the individual trainees and private/public sector. There was no training available which was introducing the European standards in FM which was flexible, affordable and holistic.Our project considered good practices of applying transparent and efficient project management, as well as addressed key EU horizontal priorities. Our experts applied a methodology which combines innovative distance training delivery methods, trainees’ evaluation and internal monitoring.The project represented a first attempt to develop an EU-wide open model of continuous professional development in FM. Among the main project results are WIFI-FMA - developed and tested innovative, multilingual platform for online and distance training and self-education in Facility Management; developed training materials in 5 languages - 4 EU and Serbian; successfully tested training platform; 544 registered trainees; successful partnership among 6 partners from 4 countries; launched online forum allowing exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience.Across Europe the impact which already occurs is:1) A more aligned relationship between training provision and the needs of people employed in the FM sector.2) A more standardised European framework for distance, online training of those working in the FM sector.3) Shedding light on of the gaps/challenges for FM workers seeking to update their knowledge and skills both locally and across Europe."

Social economy encompasses a variety of businesses, organizations and different legal entities sharing as their main objective to systematically put people first, aiming to create products and services that have a positive impact in all society’s respect (societal, financial, environmental, etc.). In addition, social entrepreneurship comprises the activities and processes undertaken to discover, define and exploit opportunities to enhance social wealth by creating new ventures or managing existing organizations in an innovative manner (Zehra et al.,2009, p519) – is a widely growing idea all across Europe, giving the opportunity EU citizens to civic engagement through addressing various social issues that may directly or indirectly affect citizens.There are 2.8 million social economy enterprises, representing 10% of all businesses in the EU. Almost 13.6 million people – about 6.2% of the EU’s employees – work for social economy enterprises. On top of the paid workforce, social economy mobilises volunteers, equivalent to 5.5 million full-time workers.Additionally, Vocational Education and Training in Europe depends on high-quality and timely insights on job market dynamics and new skills demands, yet often social characteristics on those educational schemes are left behind. The concept of social entrepreneurship is fully in line with Armenia’s aim to become an “entrepreneurial heaven” aiming to combat unemployment issues that have been plaguing the country for years. Azerbaijan a country rich with activities with a sustainable impact. Lastly, Moldova wrecked by the peril repercussions of COVID-19 has encountered difficulties on rebounding back both at a social and financial level.The project SEVET aims to create socialpreneurs through the development and establishment of training schemes in VET institutions focusing on underlining the social characteristics and features of students into the engineering career sector.

The CYANOTYPES project brings together a wide variety of organisations, stakeholders, and European networks to address the needs and skills gaps in the Cultural & Creative Industries. Based on innovative multidisciplinary approaches, CYANOTYPES tackles the sector’s potential for innovation and competitiveness, which deals as well with challenges presented by, among others, COVID-19, the digital transition, and the green shift. The project title references the iron-based photographic process that lead to the term “blueprint” we know today.[1] Inspired by this key moment of innovation, CYANOTYPES sees in this very practice an exemplary episode from the pre-digital archive of arts-and-technology experimentation that inspires creators to this day. Invoking a pre-digital technology, CYANOTYPE cautions that “the digital” is itself in a moment of transition, offering us new possibilities and perspectives. While we anticipate growing roles for AI, Big Data, and synthetic content generated by data-driven systems in the immediate future, we also see the need to imagine multiple futures on which innovation in CCI education depends. Earlier projects indicated that advancing vocational education programs should follow the guiding principle that the “Community is the Curriculum”, moving on from the idea of a wholly centralised, institutional approach to learning. CYANOTYPES builds anticipation into its methodological framework to empower creators to imagine multiple futures and to make their processes more environmental-friendly, sustainable, resilient, and dynamic. Organised by a triple loop learning framework focused on how we “learn how to learn”, CYANOTYPES’ integrates specific and transversal skill sets organized by key thematic areas to serve as context-specific points for different stakeholder groups. CYANOTYPES provides short- and longer-term strategic interventions and concrete skills development solutions that can be adopted across the European CCI ecosystem.

Urban Shift is creating a Living Ecosystem where Higher Education Institutions (IAAC, HdM and WU), a Vocational Education Institution (WIFI) and business partners (CF, GIG, MCA, TERRA) implement two batches of Living Labs for in total 80 learners of different backgrounds (urban design, environmental engineering, media and business). With the support of the trainers (staff from HEI, VET and business partners of the consortium, representing five European cities: Barcelona, Bolzano, Copenhagen, Stuttgart and Vienna ), the learners of two batch create solutions for pressing urban challenges by forming in total 10 transdisciplinary startup teams (consisting of 2 learners of each HEI and VET) and closely working with a network of Urban Experts. The tackled Urban Challenges are: Batch 1: Urban Heat Islands and Cooling & Food Waste/CircularityBatch 2: Climate/Extreme Weather Predictability & Mobility/CircularityThe LIVING ECOSYSTEM of Urban Shift will deliver the following components:equip learners (from HEI and VET) with relevant GREEN LABOUR MARKET SKILLS (digital, green, business and transdisciplinary/resilient skills) that support them in becoming green entrepreneurs and/or future employees of green jobs an easily adaptable LIVING CURRICULUM template to inspire future transdisciplinary collaboration among HEIs and VETs during and beyond project lifetime2 sets of LIVING EXHIBITIONS to promote the established solutions, the ambitions of the EU Green Deal and the Living Curriculum via EU GREEN DEAL AMBASSADORSthe SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS developed by the transdisciplinary startup teams an URBAN SHIFT ALUMNI NETWORK of learners and trainers to foster collaboration and co-creation during and after the official project endan OPEN ONLINE TRAINING for external trainers on how to implement the Living Curriculum in other European and also international contexts2 Cities Network Engagement Roundtable will be carried out throughout the project duration