Reports show there is much to be done to save the natural environment and stop the climate change. Europeans understand the need for changes and are willing to act; they actually take actions but for the real change to appear, these one-time actions must be turned into habits and lifestyles. Education could speed up the process of behavioural change with a solution taking into account the preferences of modern learners, who like to learn using dynamic, self-directed, continuous, online learning opportunities. Such a solution needs to be accompanied by educators' digital skills development to be effective.Taking into account the above mentioned, Partners want to implement a project that has the following objectives:- Change of behaviours of adult learners & educators regarding ecology through the change of individual preferences, consumption habits & lifestyles- Development of educators digital competencies in education so they are able to inspire learners to create behavioural changes in ecological habits & to educate them on the best possible ways to do so- Providing educators with methodology to enable them to develop digital-resources-based curricula on the basis of using gamification for green skills & pro-eco attitudes.3 groups of participants will take part in the development of intellectual outputs: educators of adults (partners’ and external), adult learners and Partners’ staff. At least 175 adult learners and educators will participate in IOs development activities and 13 educators from Partner’s organisations will participate in the LTTA activity.Partners will use PLAN - DO - CHECK - ACT methodology to carry out the project and reach expected results and objectives. Such approach will help partners to continually improve outputs, resolve potential problems and manage IOs development processes. Project IOs will be developed and tested by partners, educators and learners coming from 3 countries, 3 different economies and different backgrounds – this will guarantee flexibility that will allow every educator or learner from any country to use it. Partners planned several needs analysis, IOs development, testing and piloting activities while involving various target groups. To provide high quality results, partners will also participate in 5 transnational meetings and “Ecoeducation and Gamification” workshop.Tangible Project results consist of two intellectual outputs and an LTTA activity:1. GoBeEco Gamification in 4 languages: EN, PL,DE,PT to develop pro-eco habits of adult learners. Using GoBeEco Gamification adult learners interested in having a positive influence on climate changes will have the opportunity to do so. In particular they will: - gain practical knowledge as to what pro-climate actions can be done at specific places they visit (home, neighbourhood, shops, office etc) and be encouraged to take such actions- know which habits they can change and will have concrete directions as to what they can do differently2. Digital Edu Skills Handbook - educators will develop their skills in designing digital tools based trainings or other educational events, especially those promoting and teaching pro-eco habits development. Additionally, educators of all types of organizations can include GoBeEco Gamification in their training programmes promoting ecofriendly behaviours at all social surroundings while adult learners can use the gamification directly for learning & habits development3. “Ecoeducation and Gamification” workshop for partners’ educators - joint learning and exchange of knowledge, experience and best practices between partners educators regarding methods for pro-ecological habits development that can be adapted by educators for life-long learning.Partners plan that min. 50 adult learners & min. 50 educators will change behaviours to pro-eco ones; 175 educators & learners participating in outputs development activities will not only become aware of the need to change behaviours to more eco friendly ones but will become change agents promoting eco friendly lifestyles. Min. 50 educators will learn to design digital tools based educational events, especially those promoting & teaching pro-eco habits development.13 educators from Partner’s organisations participating in the LTTA will develop gamification, facilitation & digital skills and understand the idea of pro-eco behaviours.The potential target groups who could benefit from the project results in partner countries: 4 800 000 adult learners and 380 000 educators.We expect that educators using project outputs will influence relevant stakeholders to include digital solutions in educational curricula, especially when the change of mentality is required as it is with pro-eco habits. Educators from other sectors like VET or formal education will also benefit from implementing the Gamification in their educational programs & using the Handbook to design digital solutions based curricula.

<< Background >>A look at the status quo of the Circular Economy in Europe shows that its contribution to climate and resource protection has been limited so far. The development & rapid implementation of innovative circular business models can significantly strengthen the already promising trends of CE in Europe, open up new value creation potential and contribute to securing the supply of raw materials. Several studies in SMEs have indicated the lack of internal technical skills as an obstacle.[3] According to a study implemented in several EU countries, the CE courses in universities are mostly seen as containing general knowledge, not strictly related to the main scope of study programs, & university graduates’ and employees’ knowledge & skills need to be supplemented.[4] All partners want to get ready for CE transition since they will have to go through the change process that seems inevitable for all SMEs: transformation of their organisations to CE. Partners need to prepare their organisations to implement CE to be ready to help their customers (SME leaders, managers and staff). To do so, partners will need good examples to follow, tools they could implement and sources of knowledge they can use to train & engage their staff in implementing CE and developing CE policies and action plans. Several surveys prove that the same needs have SMEs partners work with. Being asked what CE means to their businesses, 49% of SME owners/senior managers/directors replied they had not heard of it, 25% were not sure what it meant, 17% had some understanding & only 9% understood the term and thought about it in the context of their businesses. Only 28% companies’ representatives would describe the concept as understandable, while for 16% it was meaningful, 15% - inspirational, & for 25% it was confusing. 14% identified applying the principles to their businesses as preventing the businesses from maximising the benefits of a circular economy business model.[5] This is caused by the perception of business modeling as a set of extremely complex processes.[6] The situation is aggravated by the fact that SMEs usually do not have large (sustainability) departments which can actively introduce and implement the change processes within the company. Staff members & managers are not well informed & equipped with skills & knowledge necessary to systematically implement CE concepts. Needs & challenges SMEs are confronted with are obvious & can be summed up as follows: -missing knowledge & understanding of the CE processes in general & introduction and implementation within the company in particular,-lack of awareness for CE benefits & advantages among the SME managers & leaders, -lack of positive & inspiring good practice examples illustrating the transition process & providing recommendations & guidance to SMEs -missing competence frame for CE on the managerial level -lack of materials, information & trainings customized to the requirements of SMEs.L2C Project addresses the problems mentioned above by: -encouraging Partners and SME leaders and managers, who are in a position to initiate & drive change processes, to develop CE Policies and Implementation Action Plans for their organisations & to set examples all SMEs can follow in their sustainability transition, -developing SME leaders’ competencies necessary for successful transition to CE, -encouraging their development as sustainability change agents, & by equipping VET providers with ready made learning structures & tools to support adaptation of their training offer to changing SME leaders & staff skills needs in the area of sustainable development. Target group will be provided with evaluated learning and training elements, processes and tools, customized to the SME managerial level in the area of CE.<< Objectives >>All efforts made by EU countries for sustainability during the last decade have not reached expected goals in waste reduction, furthermore the amount of waste increased. The solution considered more effective nowadays is to encourage organisations and consumers to implement Circular Economy (CE). In March 2020, the European Commission presented an Action Plan for the CE, which focuses on waste prevention and management and aims to boost the EU's economic growth and competitiveness. The EU Parliament agreed on the comprehensive policy recommendations in February 2021.[1] EU framework for sustainable product policy aims to take action to make environmentally friendly products the norm. The new Commission's Action Plan has 3main building blocks: product design measures, consumer empowerment measures and measures for more sustainable production processes. It identifies seven key sectors essential for achieving a circular economy: Plastics, Textiles, Electronics, Food, Water and Nutrients, Packaging, Batteries and Vehicles, Construction and Buildings. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 99% of all enterprises in the EU. Two thirds of all employees in the private sector work in SMEs, which contribute more than 50% of the EU's business value added.[2] SMEs are a significant field in which circular economy approaches should be firmly anchored. If you educate circular economy leaders - circular agents - in these SMEs, you establish basic sustainable economic thinking. Eurostat developed an indicator for the EU monitoring framework for CE. The circularity rate is the share of material resources used in the EU which came from recycled products and recovered materials, thus saving primary raw materials from being extracted. A higher circularity rate means that more secondary materials replace primary raw materials, thus reducing the environmental impacts of extracting primary material. In 2019, the EU-27's circularity rate was 11.9%, slightly up compared to the previous year and 3.6 percentage points (pp) up from 2004, the first year for which data are available.[3] So there is definitely a slight improvement in circularity, but it is also clear that there is still a lot of room for optimization. This is exactly where the project comes in. A change in thinking must take place in companies. In the future, the basic principle of the circular economy should be an integral part of all company areas. OBJECTIVES Since SME leaders play a core role within the enterprises, being the driving power for introducing changes and re-calibrating processes, the partnership will focus their aims and activities on the target group of SME managers. Based on the pre analysis as well as intensive consultations within the partnership, partners will pursue 3 main objectives:-Encourage SME leaders to develop CE Policies and Implementation Action Plans for their organisations and to set examples for other SMEs -Develop SMEs’ leaders competencies necessary for successful transition to CE and encourage their development as sustainability change agents -Equip VET providers with ready made learning structures and tools to support the adaptation of their training offers to SME leaders and staff skills needs in the area of sustainable development. A significant advancement can take place if SME leaders have a solid knowledge foundation and appropriate competences and tools to understand, plan and implement the idea of CE. VET institutions can leverage ready-made learning and training elements to attract more SME leaders and support the transition process from the educational side. 1]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:9903b325-6388-11ea-b735-01aa75ed71a1.0017.02/DOC_1&format=PDF2]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:9903b325-6388-11ea-b735-01aa75ed71a1.0017.02/DOC_1&format=PDF3]https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explain<< Implementation >>Accomplishing the objectives will lead to the overall goal of enabling SMEs to become circular economy-oriented organizations by: -inspiring and supporting innovative solutions and practices among SMEs, -mapping relevant skills necessary for implementing CE and -providing SMEs as well as VET providers with appropriate tools, processes and competences. INTERRELATION OF PROJECT OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES & RESULTS Encourage SME leaders to develop Circular Economy (CE) Policies and Implementation Action Plans for their organisations and to set examples all SMEs can follow in their green transition. Using storytelling techniques to present the concept of CE and best practices in its implementation in Result1 (R1) will assure internalisation of this knowledge, which will lead to its adequate absorption and transfer to the companies’ context. Case studies collected here will be presented also in R3 using different attractive learning methods (podcast, video, a case study, etc.). LTTA participants will learn from each other about circular economy and design thinking, innovation and change management. The LTTA will encourage the transnational exchange among its participants and therefore a better adoption of circular economy as well as innovation and change implementation inside their organisations. It will allow participants to reflect upon and define the methods for incorporating CE principles into business strategies, which will be later developed to produce Result 2. Develop SME leaders competencies necessary for successful transition to the Circular Economy, and encourage their development as sustainability change agents. This objective will be developed mostly by R3, which will provide general knowledge about CE, best practices from R1, a guide for implementing circular economy in SMEs using the methods and worksheets developed in the LTTA and procedures from R2 to transfer the circular economy to a particular company, plus the Competence framework for Circular Economy Change Agents and an SLP for the development of these competences. Equip VET providers with a ready made learning structure and tools to support the adaptation of their training offer to changing SME leaders’ and staff skills needs in the area of sustainable development. R2: Linear Turns Circular DIY Policy Portfolio will be created using the tools and procedures developed during the LTTA. It will be later presented in R3. CORRELATION OF RESULTS WITH PROJECT ACTIVITIES Activities R1T1-T4 will lead to development of R1: Collection of circular economy success stories. During the LTTA Partners’ and SMEs’ representatives will define the methods for incorporating circular economy principles into business strategies. These will be later developed in the course of implementation of R2T1-T4, planned to create Result 2. The LTTA makes the development of R2 and R3 possible. R3 will be developed by implementing R3T1-T7. While R3T1-T3 will be concentrated on development of learning modules of circular economy-specific knowledge, R3T4 is based on the deliverables of R1 and R2. The Transnational Project Meetings were planned in the months corresponding to implementation of important tasks and/or start/end of development of each Result. 1 European Seminar in Germany and 5 National Infodays in Germany (1), Poland (2) and Italy (2) to share L2C results are meant to introduce L2C Results to a wider audience of.<< Results >>The following list provides an overview of the Results and Multiplier Events of L2C, described in detail in their respective sections: R1: Storytelling – Collection of circular economy success stories from SME R2: Linear Turns Circular- DIY Policies Portfolio and Action Plans R3: Short Learning Program - Learning and transferring process into own business model including: competence framework for Circular Economy Change Agents learning modules of circular economy specific knowledge a guide on implementing Circular Economy in SME using Design Thinking methodology instructions on using methods and tools developed during the LTTA and procedures from R2 to transfer the circular economy in the particular company ‘Going Circular’ LTTA providing knowledge, skills and tools for transition to CE 1 European Seminar in Germany and 5 National Infodays in Germany (1), Poland (2) and Italy (2) to share L2C Results. Through active participation in R2 activities 6 Partners’ organisations and 3 SMEs will develop at least 9 state of the art policies & action plans for introducing CE. Non tangible results: SMEs will learn about CE, the methodology necessary for the transition to it and implement the transition process. Partners’ organisations staff will broaden their knowledge about CE and the tools and methods for the transition towards it, as well as their implementation. RESULTS SUPPORTING PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION The following results are expected to: a) facilitate project management and implementation, and b) assist in the evaluation of project results: 1 Quality Assurance Plan 2 Quality Assurance Reports.RESULTS SUPPORTING SHARING AND PROMOTION The Partnership will deliver tools and materials for the promotion of project Results. They will be addressed to a transnational audience, in order to: a) inform, promote, and build a solid case for the uptake of results by sectoral stakeholders, and b) stimulate the cross-sectoral adaptation of results and/or the development of corresponding materials in the fields of VET and CE. To this end, all promotional materials will take into account intercultural considerations, and will be available in EN, PL, DE, IT. 1. Project website 2. Online social media pages 3. Newsletters & press releases 4. Printed materials: Brochures/flyers and posters Results expected after project completion: -Success stories will encourage organisations to transit to CE. -DIY Policies Portfolio and Action Plans will allow SMEs for the transition process. -SME leaders will be equipped with knowledge and tools to design CE implementation plans in their organisations and with skills to deliver and promote that change as well as to become the true sustainable development believers -VET providers will be equipped with tools and methods for working with their clients Partners will be implementing CE in their organisations

According to the Survey on Access to Finance for Enterprises (SAFE, 2018), one of the most relevant challenges for 25% of Europe’s SMEs is limited availability of skilled workforce. In front of increased competition from developing countries, unpredictable global crisis, internal production process changes caused by digitalization, access to skilled labour is pivotal in helping SMEs to adjust to changes, to boost innovations and to remain competitive at global market. However, SMEs experience problems in hiring skilled workers due to competition from large companies and financial conditions. An alternative is upgrading skills of existing staff through in-house or external training that is considered as a crucial factor to improving companies’ performance. Many statistics reveal that EU SMEs do not invest enough in staff training. The reasons are lack of awareness of managerial staff of company’s benefits from skilled workforce, but also mismatch between training formats/methods offered by SMEs trainers, and real needs of SMEs staff. SMEs prefer informal workplace-based training supported with social interactions between employees that stimulates creativity, participation, critical abilities and innovation spirit. SMEs trainers indicate that they urgently need access to innovative professional development services in order to boost their initiative, taking responsibility for the task, social competences, communication and presentation skills. The fact is, there is a lack of such training offers for SMEs trainers, or company trainers are unaware of them, or they are not attractive enough. Based on these observations, THENOVA aims at exploring potentials of creative industry for their integration into professional development of companies’ trainers and training services for SMEs staff. Nowadays, professional artists are successfully discovering new markets towards providing training services to companies (i.e. in personnel development) and are incrementally recognized as innovation drivers for other branches. The impact of organizational theatre towards supporting innovation processes in enterprises was also investigated at research level and successfully demonstrated through a few cooperation initiatives. THENOVA partnership also considers performance techniques and approaches used by professional actors as a powerful tool for creating thought-provoking and inspiring training for SMEs staff. Therefore, the project’s main objectives are: 1.To boost skills and competences of SMEs trainers towards designing and delivering theater-based staff training;2.To raise awareness of SMEs employees and managerial staff for theater-based training;3.To diversify access to training services for SMEs trainers and Europe’s SMEs.4.To promote an innovative cooperation model between SMEs, training providers, and creative industries.Under SMEs trainers we understand both, internal specialists who work for companies, and external trainers who provide training to companies’ staff outside of itTo achieve these objectives, 3 core outputs will be designed and tested during the project’s lifetime:1.theater-based training program for SMEs trainers: 1 training program will be designed in English that will aim at enabling SMEs trainers to use theater-based techniques when designing and delivering their training sessions to companies’ employees, validated in terms of its pilot delivery to 15 SMEs trainers from participating institutions, translated into partners’ languages DE, EL, PL, and made available to other training institutions for adoption and further use; 2.theater-based training courses for SMEs staff: 25 theater-based training sessions will be designed by trained trainers, delivered to approx. 250 SMEs’ employees from participating countries, and evaluated in terms of employees’ satisfaction with the innovative theater-based format and trainers’ skills; 3.sample of theater-based OER: 30 theater-based training sessions will be performed by trained trainers in front of camera, recorded, edited, and made freely accessible to wider audience in terms of OER. Envisaged short-term project impact is: -improved professional and transversal competences of SMEs trainers;-access to an innovative theater-based training program for SMEs trainers;-increased opportunities for work place learning and training for all: in enterprises, training institutions but also to general public;-increased professional and transversal competences of SMEs employees. Long-term, the project has greater potentials to contribute to modernizing training services for trainers and staff employees at regional, national and EU level, improving companies’ performance and innovation potentials, reinforcing cooperation between SMEs, creative industries and training providers, increasing investments from managerial staff into staff training.

The SCALE project has achieved the objectives proposed in the project, developing and implementing an online training programme for the acquisition of transversal competences in the field of Smart Cities previously identified. This training programme consists of two clearly differentiated modules, the first one contains some theoretical topics that will facilitate the student the acquisition of the mentioned competences. The second module implements a project-based learning methodology (taking as a basis and example different real projects, which were previously selected), in itself, this module is innovative because it is implemented online; on the other hand, students were organised in international and interdisciplinary teams and the evaluation of the same was carried out through a video that each team had to develop. The elaboration, structuring, approach and application of the teaching methodologies in this training programme were innovative and novel, which allowed it to be published in a high impact journal. This training programme is designed for university students and recent graduates as well as for students participating in continuing education programmes. To date, two editions of this training programme have been held, with a total of almost 800 students from 25 different countries and from the three profiles mentioned above. Just under a third of the students enrolled successfully completed the programme.The student mobility programme foreseen in the project has also been successfully completed. These students have spent their internship period working on one of the selected projects (which were used in the second module of the training programme), selecting those who have obtained the best marks in the first edition of the training programme.