StartInnShop intends to reshape, through the Twinning Advanced methodology, a set of services to support early stage innovative startups in developing the right products to enter and (most important) remain in the market. When accessing a support service dedicated to explore market opportunities, beneficiaries most often receive a complete theoretical support, but the majority of programs that are available now lack of practical experiences to allow entrepreneurs to really test their idea. By matching the Lean methodological approach with a concrete market gateway - the “NeoShop”, an innovation boutique providing soft commercial launch for innovative products - StartInnShop aims to design a modular kit of tools and services for accompanying innovative, knowledge-based and creative startups in testing, improving and selling their products. The consortium is composed by three Innovation Agencies: Aster (Italy)- the project coordinator, Laval Mayenne Technopole (France) and The Rubicon Centre (Ireland), which have already worked fruitfully together. This twinning action has a multiple goal: allow partners to carry on a peer review and assessment on their respective services; reshape and combine those linked to market development and set up permanent relations within the partnership, who already exchanged information on their best practices, with the aim of improving each partners’ services and internationalization perspectives. The final aim of the project is the drafting of a complete Design Option Paper, dedicated to analyse and describe all different scenarios in terms of background, soft and hard infrastructures, sector and stage of development in which the service could be implemented in order to facilitate its transfer and mainstreaming in the different EU contexts.

"The ""MOBILE APPS FOR VET"" project is an innovative initiative that combines powerful training activities with best practices in technology in the different EU countries in the consortium, to develop and enhance a successful experiment carried out in sector of the Andalusian Social Economy. Through training and education of Employment prescribers (those who advise, assist, inform, accompany VET students who are being planted to create their own company or Young entrepreneurs) is aimed to facilitate the use of mobile apps among citizenship and new SMEs, contributing to the “Europe2020” goals and its “Digital Agenda for Europe” (DAE) Initiative. Context/background of project The project idea is based on an ICT initiative developed and piloted in Malaga and Seville (Spain), which demonstrated how small business services in the tourism sector could benefit through the use of an “App” specifically designed by Fundacion Innoves for businesses in the tourism sector to promote their services to visitors (tourists). Innoves identified that business advisers/mentors were in the best position to train small businesses/owner managers in the use of mobile apps and persuade them to embrace this type of technologies. The project address the VII Pillar of the DAE: “ICT-enabled benefits for EU society” belonging to the “Europe 2020 Strategy”, that aims to reboot Europe's economy and help Europe's citizens and businesses to get the most out of digital technologies. At the same time, contribute to the Strategic framework “Education & Training 2020” (ET2020) aligned to its objective of “Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training”, training business mentors and VET teachers with a variety of digital skills. Objectives of the project The project main aim is to develop an educational program for business advisers/mentors to qualify them to pilot future trainings, which focuses on maximising the economic benefits that mobile applications on smartphones bring to young entrepreneurs, self employed and SMEs/small/micro businesses, in terms of speed, access to volumes of information and the commercialization of products and services, as more and more people and businesses are purchasing products and services via mobile devices (41% of 108 milllion users in Europe, according to ITU, 2013). Number and profile of participants The Partnership brings together 7 organizations with a wealth of expertise on ICT skills mobile technologies, learning and VET, enterprise development and business support. Fundacion Innoves, the lead partner and originators of the Toolkit, working together with Rinova (UK), EAES (ES), Editc (CY), Laval Mayenne Technopole (FR), MateraHub (IT) and RDA (SK) Description of activities The project will carry out the following activities: 1. Research & comparative analysis of mobile technologies & the app- training in the partner countries 2. Define the competences standards and training required by the VET ICT Trainer/Business Mentors, leading to the development of an occupational profile. 3. Curriculum development of a training programme for VET ICT trainers. 4. Delivery (Pilot/Testing) of Training the Trainers Programme. 5. Exploring the accreditation of the competency framework. Adjustment to the curriculum programme and competency framework and align it to NQFs and EQF. 6. Delivery of Dissemination Plan, including key events, project website + dissemination tools (leaflet/e-zine) Methodology to be used in carrying out the project It is scheduled to celebrate 6 transnational meetings, so it is expected to organize a transnational meeting at least every 6 months. They will have an operational sense, and will try to boost the project and perform any tasks that require the presence of all partners in face to face. Similarly, they will play a strategic role, by reviewing the project objectives, goals, achievements and potential deviations, etc., so they will count with the presence both Managers and technicians of the participating organizations. A short description of the results and impact envisaged The materials will accompany a new competency framework, which will draw from national VET systems and align to the EQF. The organizations that are part of the consortium will improve their training offer with the new technologies, creating an innovative branch in a new genre that still have a long way forward. Finally, at least 15 business support advisers/coaches will participate in a pilot phase. Therefore, there will be a group of business mentors trained in new technologies, which aims to keep running once the project is completed. (The potential longer term benefits) The “MOBILE APPS FOR VET” partnership will continue after the Erasmus Plus funding ends. All partners will be working on this project and similar initiatives to support business mentors in different regions and sectors"