We are facing very important and long-term changes that go further than the crisis we are undergoing and that have impact in all economic and social changes. These geo-political, economic and social changes are forcing our companies to change their “ways of doing”, to make things better or differently, transforming their value proposals, their international presence and their organisation and management model. They make us innovate permanently in the products and services we offer and question the validity of the business models permanently. We need more and better investment and innovation to back our competitiveness and strengthen economic recovery. Innovation and creativity have to be increased in all levels of Education and Training (ET2020).In this context, the EU has decided to establish for 2020 the objective of achieving a 75% employment rate for woman and men aged between 20 and 64 (Europe Strategy 2020). It is basic to have qualified workers with professional profiles adapted to the new labour market demands and needs in order to reach this objective. The education and training systems should offer the suitable mixture of qualifications and competences to achieve a quick and suitable transition to employment. Talent and innovation are key factors in the equation as a guarantee of employability and competitiveness. In this complex and uncertain context, we use the concept of open innovation as an ally. “In a world that is featured by the disseminated knowledge, we can create more value by integrating external talent and knowledge. When all the talents do not work for the company, it is advisable to find them, get in contact with them and take profit of their capacities” (Henry Chesbrough U:C. Berkeley).Although actual VET Systems are changing the way of doing and starting to collaborate with the business world, it is true than nowadays VET System, in general, are based on a traditional way of doing where the VET student has a passive role and are placed far from the real business world. Our challenge is to address the VET Innovation Systems to generate new opportunities and favour employment creation. Therefore, we need to anticipate the industry/company needs, identify proactively the opportunities to generate new products or productive processes, which improve the competitiveness in the companies and the young people’s employability. We are planning to use all the possibilities and opportunities of the vocational training network, its closeness to companies (particularly the SMEs), to act as a booster for innovation in them, mobilizing the VET young people’s talent. We are willing to use the OPEN INNOVATION MODEL to develop applied innovation projects with companies mobilizing the VET young people’s capacities and talent and strengthening the connection VET–Company (Work Based Learning).Open Innovation is a new innovation strategy under which companies go beyond the internal limits of their organisations and where cooperation with external professionals has a main role. Open Innovation Models combine internal knowledge with external knowledge to develop new and innovative projects and products. Using Open innovation Models, on the one hand, the innovation process is accelerated and the associated costs and risks are reduced and, on the other hand, new possibilities for commercial exploitation of knowledge are opened.The objective of SPACE 4 COCREATE - OPEN AND INNOVATIVE SPACES FOR COLLABORATIVE WORKING BETWEEN VET PROVIDERS AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS project is to create an open model, methodology and tools based on the innovation models, addressed to the VET centre professionals (teachers, mentors, guiders…) to develop innovation projects with companies through young VET teams, stimulating VET young innovation and supporting synergies between education and business world.The main outputs will be:1) SPACE 4 COCREATE MODEL (Open Innovation Model) to develop applied innovation projects with companies and young VET teams. It will define the better way to collaborate between VET Systems and Employment, how to improve synergies between Education, Research and Innovation fields.2) SPACE 4 COCREATE TOOL BOX: methodologies, tools and resources to favour the conceptualisation, design, implementation and validation of applied innovation projects addressed to VET Centres, involving both parts: VET and Business Sector.

<< Background >>For the project partnership of the #me#us#now project it is absolutely essential to apply for this project, as the focus is set on low-qualified people in VET, VET professionals including external VET trainers and VET schools, and the aim of changing our current situation not only on local, regional, national or EU levels, but also on international level for the better and to include everyone to counteract the effects of climate change in a sustainable and participative way based on common green values.The project #me #us #now focuses on low-qualified young people between 15 and 30[1] years of age in Vocational Education and Training (VET) and VET professionals across Europe.The addressed needs can be clustered according to the two target groups in VET and stakeholders, including professionals and experts, as follows: (1) low-qualified young people in VET -identify the status quo, needs, barriers and awareness levels -raise motivation -reduce given barriers -support them with easy-to-handle and low-threshold activities and measures -use their capacities in peer-group settings -accelerate their self-efficacy -allow for and further the building of common values -create access to societal participation -encourage a sustainable lifestyle (2) VET professionals -meet the need for common guidelines -offer innovative tools and strategies -encourage cross-institutional acting and supporting-provide potential innovative contributions to be incorporated into the curriculae of VET systems -encourage exchange of results, best-practices, experiences and lessons learnt -further exchange on local, regional, national, EU and international levels (3) stakeholders, professionals and experts -meet the need of a common green networking platform -encourage exchange of results, best-practices, experiences and lessons learnt -further exchange on local, regional, national, EU and international levels[1] age range is leaned on the European Youth Guarantee: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1079&langId=en<< Objectives >>The project partnership of the #me#us#now project has set the following objectives to be achieved during the project for the following target groups: 1.low-qualified young people in VET -Identify the awareness, needs and barriers of low-qualified young people in VET concerning climate change by conducting national field studies and desktop research, both enabling conclusions and recommendations for VET professionals (R1) -furthering motivation, identification, development and implementation of effective and sustainable countermeasures that are applicable and adaptable daily and permanently (R2) (R3) based on the results of R1 -further active participation in society (R3) -further the development of shared green values (R2) (R3) - promote the transfer of the planned project results, especially R3 to more representatives of the target group -contribute to effective climate change countermeasures for all groups of young people through the implementation and delivery of the #me#us#now project. 2.VET professionals -support low-qualified young people in VET to increase their awareness and self-efficacy on climate change (R2) (R3), based on the results of R1. -support VET professionals in motivating the target group in the daily context of VET (R2) -providing useful tools, activities and measures that can be easily implemented and adapted (R3)-encourage the incorporation of innovative and sustainable contents in all curriculae, including those in VET schools and the education of VET teachers/trainers - establish a networking platform to promote exchanges between VET professionals on multiple levels 3.experts and stakeholders on different levels -establish a networking platform to promote exchanges between stakeholders and experts (R4) at local, regional, national, European and international levels -provide a Green Policy Paper for public and educational bodies and political decision-makers-encourage education, VET policy and political discussion at a broader level (R4)<< Implementation >>The project activities that will lead to the successful implementation of the #me#us#now project can be divided into the following categories: 1. Project management and implementation activities These activities form the basic framework of the #me#us#now project by defining all the tasks necessary for the proper implementation of the project inside and outside the project partnership and consist of -administration (A.PM1) -monitoring (A.PM2) and -budget control (A.PM3) 2. Quality Management These activities include the -Quality Management Guide (A.QM1.1) which defines quality benchmarks on process, product and impact level and the-Quality Assurance consisting of regular evaluations of process, product, and impact quality on internal and external level. 3. Sharing and promotion, Exploitation and Sustainability These include-Sharing and Promotion Products (A.S1), such as design of project logo, Sharing and Promotion Guide, brochures, flyers and posters, the project website, social media channels and continous sharing and promotion activities sharing regular news about status-quo and product development process through online activities and personal activities at target group and at stakeholder level. Additionally, the-Impact Assessment (A.S2) provides regular sharing and promotion reports of partners. Moreover, there is the development and implementation of the-Sustainability Strategy (A.S3) 4. Transnational Project Meetings Direct and personal exchange between the partners in the crucial phases of the project split up into -TPM1: Trim, IE, Apr 2022 -TPM2: Bilbao, ES, Dec 2022 -TPM3: Graz, AT, Aug 2023 -TPM4: Vicenza, IT, Dec 2023 5. Learning, Teaching, and Training Activity (C1), Aug 2023 and Learning, Teaching, and Training Activity (C2), Dec 2023 In this 3-day short-term staff training each, both target groups involved will be trained in using and applying the #me#us#now project results R3 and R4. 6. Multiplier Events The national multiplier events further the sharing and promoting of project results, include relevant stakeholders and are split up into -E1: AT, Jan 2024 -E2: IE, Jan 2024 -E3: ES, Jan 2024 -E4: IT, Jan 2024 The project consortium of the me#us#now project will produce four high-quality and easy-to-use project results for the beneficiaries of the project and for further use on regional, national, European and international level. These consist of - the #me#us#now Research Report (R1), including national Field Surveys, a Transnational Report concerning low-qualified young people in VET and a video summary subtitled in all project partners’ languages. - the #me#us#now Methodological Collection (R2) providing activities and measures for raising the motivation and awareness of low-qualified young people in VET concerning climate change, including national motivational workshops. - the #me#us#now Action Plan for Eco-Pro’s (R3) offering a practical guidebook to VET professionals, a peer-group setting with role models of the target group of low-qualified young people in VET, and implementation activities. - the #me#us#now Green Merge Networking Platform (R4), allowing for a long-lasting exchange between professionals and experts on local, regional, national, European and international level and providing a Green Policy Paper to political decison-makers and public and educational bodies to accelerate discussion on multiple levels.<< Results >>(R1) Research ReportGathering relevant national information about the target group - low qualified young people - and the professionals who work with them, is necessary for providing tailor-made further results. This will help the project consortium to understand the perspective, needs and awareness of low qualified young people concerning topics such as climate change, sustainability, and their self-efficacy. Additionally, professionals working with the target group in the context of e.g., VET, youth coaching, counselling, will be asked as well. The project consortium will need to meet low qualified young people in VET and VET professionals alike at their current state, to create a deeper understanding of their situation and perspective. All project partners will conduct desktop research concerning existing activities/measures on national levels in the context of climate change and sustainability. The Transnational Research Report will serve as an important basis for the following project results. Video summaries will be available in all partner languages.(R2) Methodological CollectionBased on the findings and conclusions of R1 the project consortium will implement a collection of activities and measures for raising the motivation and awareness of low qualified young people regarding climate change. This can be used and implemented by VET professionals who support the target group. Due to the implementation of feedback loops with the target groups and further developed as an opportunity to motivate the youth for taking action. The main purpose of this project step will be to nominate one role model per country for the further project process. These will help the project to create a new approach for counteracting climate change. Raising self-efficacy and social responsibility of the role models will help spreading the idea of climate-awareness through peer-groups and will be ensured that not only professionals will motivate low qualified young people, fostering awareness, participation, and acting in a sustainable and self-efficient way by implementing motivational workshops in all partner countries.(R3) Action plan for Eco-Pro’sThe findings of (R1) and (R2) will be compiled in a guidebook that will help and support professionals to integrate climate change activities and measures into their work with low qualified young people. They will learn how to motivate them to become active and to take their societal role in counteracting the negative environmental results. The Action Plan for Eco Pro’s will be the core output of the project and will include practical advice and case studies. The result will include the important findings and conclusions of (R1), but also on the other hand recommendations and guidelines for a step-by-step implementation of the defined activities and measures of the result for professionals. Role models will be consistently included to offer a deeper understanding of the target group and their motivating factors and barriers regarding the topic and together with them custom-tailored ways in peer-group settings will be developed and implemented to reach the target group.(R4) Green Merge Networking PlatformAs the European Union underlines the importance of exchanges beyond experts, the project partners will elaborate the structure of setting up an online platform. This will include the creation of the design, the functions and an easy-to-handle user interface. It will provide free access to all results and findings collected in the project, and the Green Policy Paper. In addition, professionals, experts, stakeholders and interested parties will have the opportunity to get in touch with each other and exchange views on the content and practical implementation. In this way, the results will even be more spread and accelerated across borders, bringing together interested experts and will therefore create international impact and good opportunities for a follow-up even after the projects end.

Cultural and Creative industries drive innovations in other sectors and contribute to improving the competitiveness of the economy as a whole due to their strong orientation towards innovations. Cultural and Creative industries (CCI) can offer traditional industries valuable input for innovation processes, especially at the interface between human and technology. CCI also include a range of occupations in the VET sector, which have the potential to link with other industry sectors.CreO project had the following main objectives:1.Develop the capacity of the Cultural and Creative VET teachers to teach their students the new competences and skills in line with current industry development, in order to enhance their employability to sectors outside Cultural and Creative Industries.2.Increase the competences of mentors and HR staff of industrial companies for enhancing the cooperation between VET schools and companies through implementing work-based learning of CC VET students.The main Intellectual Outputs developed during the project:IO 1: CreO Training curriculum and training materials for VET teachers of CCIIO1/A1- Description of CreO Training Curriculum. In this Activity the partners elaborated the templates to use in order to develop the Training Curriculum.- Validation of training curriculum by 14 teachers (5 in Slovenia, 3 in Spain, 3 in Portugal and 3 in Austria). IO1/A2- Development of the 4 training modules according to the areas defined. The 4 training modules have been defined according to the training Curriculums developed in the previous phase. Module 1: Mindset of companies in Advance Manufacturing sector and overview on current trends in manufacturing sector.Module 2: Virtual and Augmented Reality in the industry 4.0Module 3: Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printers in the industry 4.0Module 4: Graphic design for marketing in industry 4.0IO1/A3-Assessment of CreO training materials:The assessment was as follow: M1-ISQ (PT)-3 teachersM2- Slovenia-3 teachersM3-Austria-3 teachersM4-Spain- 8 teachers.IO1/A4-mplementation in real context in the participant countries. This activity has 2 subactivities:•C1 short term training held in Bilbao from the 11th of November until 15th of November of 2019. •National Training session with VET students. One training module has showed to the VET students in each partner country.IO 2: CreO WBL Guide and Training Contents for CompaniesIO2/A1: Description of CreO WBL Guide for Companies.IO2/A2: Development of the 5 training modules and each Training Curriculum for companies: The training modules has been developed taking into account the training curriculums discussed by the partners in the meeting in Ljubljana.Module 1: Problem based learningModule 2: Creative and innovative thinkingModule 3: Critical thinkingModule 4: Collaborative learningModule 5: Virtual Collaborative environment (tools 2.0)IO2/A3: Assessment of CreO WBL Guide and materials for companies: The Guide have been assessed in the partner’s countries. In the evaluation participated VET providers; HR experts and or responsible of industrial companiesIO2/A4: Implementation in real context in the participant countries. One National Training testing session was implemented. Each country has developed one testing session with 69 participant in total ( AU 21, PT 10, SI 31, SP 7)Intellectual Output3: CreO Learning Virtual Environment.IO3/A1-Development of CreO Virtual Environment- http://creo.sc-celje.si/?redirect=0IO3/A2- Assessment of CreO Virtual Environment. Internally by the partners and externally by the users- Quality Management Handbook. Document for the quality management of the project. It contains information about how to implement quality assurance in CreO project. It has detailed information about: indicators, tools, responsible, outputs, timetable for the quality activities,..- Dissemination Dossier. The dissemination dossier contain the dissemination activities such a articles, publications, ... that the partners made along the project and used in different steps to ensure a permanent dissemination. The partner´s also developed a Dissemination plan with scheduled activities per partner in order to ensure constant dissemination of the project.- Sustainability Strategy. The Sustainability Strategy contains all necessary information and basis for the sustainable maintenance of the project results after the end of the project funding. The strategy analyzes in detail the possibilities of further support in the partner countries. The Sustainability Strategy is meant to complement the exploitation strategy developed in the project with a long term impact perspective relevant for achieving the set long term impact targets in the project.For futher and more detailed information visit project´s Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uga4jiXuHwpz4KQfpWfPY4WN2lgqTA95

BACKGROUND:The DITOGA project started on 01/09/2018. The background of the project was to meet the demands of the working world regarding the offered VET programmes of VET providers/institutions for VET students/VET graduates across Europe. Thus, the main idea was to align and adapt the offered VET programmes with the constantly changing demand of the world and therefore the labour market outside the educational institutions across Europe. A fact is, that the demands of the world of work and the labour market are constantly changing and in the context of contemporary challenges like digitalisation, individualisation and internationalisation, the skills and qualifications that were and are expected of VET students/graduates were and are constantly changing as well. VET providers have to face these challenges, but it seems that as soon as they have gathered enough relevant data and are ready to adapt their VET programmes accordingly, the world outside the VET institutions has already evolved again.This is where the DITOGA project tried to catch up with this evolvement.OBJECTIVES:That challenge of skill gaps was and still is increasingly addressed by the European Commission. In alignment with the objectives defined by the ET2020 Strategic Framework, the EQUAVET recommendations, and especially by the Riga Conclusions, the main priority of the DITOGA project was to enhance the quality and sustainability of vocational and educational training (VET) programmes across Europe in order to provide VET learners with a modern, comprehensive, and resilient skill set. By establishing continuous feedback loops on personal level with VET graduates using digital technology, new sets of meaningful qualitative and quantitative and consequently and most importantly interpretable data were generated and used complementary to existing data pools which allowed VET providers to increase their performances and efficiencies in a progressive way.Due to conducting the DITOGA project and making its products relevant and usable to and for all EU member states, their policy makers, and in particular their VET systems, the transparency and comparability of said data as well as the deductions drawn from them were ensured by committing to European transparency tools available (e.g. ECVET).PROJECT RESULTS:IO1 DITOGA VET Graduate Tracking Strategy, leading partner: Jugend am Werk Stmk. GmbH, AT:The first intellectual output (IO1) the empirical-theoretical part, in which VET providers learnt how they could use the collected data to improve their training programmes.IO2 DITOGA Mobile App, leading partner: ENTER GmbH, AT:The second intellectual output (IO2)) dealt with the creation of an app, which was used by VET students/participants and was created in cooperation with an external programmer in the project partnership.IO3 Analytics Software, leading partner: Co&So, IT:The third intellectual output (IO3) ensured the usability and accurate filtering of the data entered in the app (IO2) for the training providers in the individual project countries in the form of a database, in order to be able to adapt or re-adjust their training content accordingly and to keep a finger on the pulse of the changing requirements of the economy.In the overall context of all three intellectual outputs, the distribution of tasks in the project partnership - excluding the main responsibilities for the different IOs - was always well distributed. The tasks were accordingly well perceived and productively fulfilled by the project partners. The partner organisations with main responsibility for the individual IOs always performed their tasks very well and productively to date.The involvement of the individual project partners was in line with the original planning, except for the Belgian partners who left the project.PROJECT ACTIVITIES:Several activities were conducted during the project period by the project partnership, including five transnational project meetings (MTG1-5) the last two of which were virtual ones due to Covid-19 restrictions. Additionally, a Learning-Teaching and Training-Activity was conducted (virtually) covering the training of VET professionals for IO3 in March 2021, close to the project's end. Moreover, the Multiplier Events in the respective partner organisations took place between 31/03/2021 and 27/05/2021 as an individual handling of the different dates was more effective for the partner organisations to due Covid-19. Overall, there were 115 VET students, 96 VET professionals and 108 stakeholders involved.PROJECT PARTICIPANTS:31 professionals/external stakeholders and 60 VET professionals participated in the conducted survey of IO1, 163 VET students/graduates tested the app during the pilot phase of IO2, 12 VET professionals were involved in the LTTA and 319 persons were involved in the MEs. This shows that there was a huge variety of people beside the project partners involved to make the project become a success.

<< Objectives >>The EduChampions project aims at nourishing edupreneurship and championing innovative, active, learner-centred pedagogy practices leveraged by a meanigful use of digital resources for learning, thus creating conditions to effectively address learners’ diversity and foster inclusive and equitable approaches in educational settings. The project recalls the crucial role of educators in driving and sustaining innovation and flexibility of opportunities in the VET ecosystem and beyond.<< Implementation >>To accomplish these goals, EduChampions partners will create an inspirational interactive board of edupreneurs stories, a learning path for educators and edupreneurs on pedagogy, technology, and edupreneurship, and a set of five online learning stations on an online open-access hub to enable flexible learning paths for those willing-to-be edupreneurs and champions for inclusive, equitable, and diversity-responsive practices in education.<< Results >>The three project results - edupreneurs case studies, learning path, and online learning stations with a toolkit of learning resources - will be made available at an online open-access platform, enabling learners to create their personalised learning and exploration journeys by deciding to explore the whole package or a combination of relevant modules and tools either for personal learning and continuing development purposes, or for specific uses supporting current professional practices.