The economic crisis is leading to the creation of many micro and crafts-type of enterprises, especially among women. Not finding employment elsewhere, or worse, losing their current job, leads many women to start their own microenterprise. In addition, the vast majority of firms in EU are microenterprises. Almost 90% of all enterprises in EU are microenterprises that account for 53% of all EU jobs (EU Commission, DG Enterprise, 2014). Micro and craft-type enterprises have a huge social and economic importance and in times of crisis they are a crucial professional and social “buffer”:1) in economic downturns microenterprise are more reluctant to fire employees; 2) starting a microbusiness is often the alternative for people who lose their jobs because of the crisis.Yet, microenterprises are the most vulnerable to the crisis and are the first firms to fall victim of downturns. Many capacity constraints undermine microenterprises’ competitiveness and ability to thrive. The need to define better and more concrete training for microenterprises is best captured by official papers of EU Commission: “Identification of Future Skills Needs in Micro & Craft-Type Enterprises Up To 2020”, DG Enterprise 2011, the EU Commission calls urgently to “develop tools and skills training structures with a special focus on micro and craft-type enterprises”. When put in the context of female entrepreneurship, such need for innovative and concrete training is even more important: “Promotion of Women Entrepreneurship”, DG Enterprise, 2009 identified the following “Soft Obstacles” affecting female entrepreneurship:A. lack of access to technical and general business networksB. lack of business trainingC. Low entrepreneurship skillsIn this context CRAFT aims at developing innovative training solutions to enhance the effectiveness and competitiveness of microenterprises, especially in the context of participation to national and EU markets. This will be achieved by developing relevant training solutions and material to strengthen the capacity of existing microenterprises and craft-type of enterprises to strive in the current economic environment. At the same time, CRAFT is devoted to all those individuals who wish to establish their own micro and craft-type enterprise as a response to the crisis or unemployment. While defined for this enlarged target group, CRAFT has a specific gender focus that privileges the support to female entrepreneurship.The partnership brings together 8 partners from 6 countries and includes target groups’ representatives, HEI, VET providers and entrepreneurship facilitators: the proposal is a platform to complement each partners’ specific expertise in this domain. This composition ensures geographical coverage as well as projection of dissemination and valorisation across the EU.Partners have carried out the following activities:1. identify specific capacity gaps of microenterprises and craft-types of enterprises. The needs and issues identified by EU documents will be corroborated by a survey of at least 120 target groups to pinpoint specific training needs through Output 2 Capacity Gap Assessment2.Design innovative multilingual training content, material and web based tools for the OER3.Test and validate main training modules and content with at least 200 micro/craft entreprisesThe methodology is based on a “collate -> analyse -> develop -> test & validate -> deploy” approach and combines academic pedagogical accuracy with VET demand-driven practical approach.CRAFT is devoted to microenterprises, entrepreneurs-to-be and facilitators of entrepreneurship with a focus on female entrepreneurship. Dissemination and exploitation plans have already been drafted to sustain visibility and mainstream results, both during the project and in the 2 years after completion. Valorisation activities will reach at least 48.000 recipients in 4 years (2 years of project + 2 years beyond). Active and wide exploitation focuses on VET providers, business facilitators and policy makers at all levels of governance, from local to EU.All training courses and resources in multilingual versions will be made freely available to all interested parties through the platform without restrictions of sort. Such open attitude enables CRAFT to generate impact in the immediate term on target groups of micro-craft enterprises, entrepreneurs to be and participating organisations and stakeholders. CRAFT will also produce long-term benefits in support of -female- entrepreneurship across EU.CRAFT is fully in line with Erasmus+Horizontal Priority 1: develop basic and transversal skills (such as entrepreneurship) in all fields of training, using innovative and learner-centred pedagogical approachesHor Prior 2: enhance digital integration in training: promote access to and learning through OERVET Priority 2: increase labour market relevance of VET and reduce skills mismatches and shortages in economic sectors.

Traditional and artistic crafts are part of a valuable European cultural heritage that deserves to be protected and cared, for which it is necessary to preserve the knowledge, skills and competencies of traditional trades, as well as to promote the economic and commercial viability of this sector companies avoiding their practitioners to live from it.ARTCademy is a knowledge management based project born with the aim of helping to preserve and strengthen the European artisanal sector and its trades, through two ways: first, preserving and protecting ancestral knowledge typical of traditional trades, especially those at risk of disappearance; second, providing companies in the sector with tools and skills for their survival and development as profitable businesses.ARTCademy aims at artisanal micro-enterprises, future entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship facilitators who are committed to recognizing the added value of the artisanal sector and its contribution to balanced and sustainable economic and social development.The project methodology has been based on the approach of quality management systems following the process of the well-known EFQM matrix (collect, evaluate, develop, execute and review) and combines conceptual and academic rigor with the practical approach required by vocational training.To achieve its goal ARTCademy has developed two types of actions:1. The conservation of traditional knowledge of craft professions has been supported by the management of information and knowledge, through the creation of a repository of artisanal knowledge called CraftPedia2. Improving the business and management skills of artisanal micro-enterprises to promote their competitiveness in the global market has been implemented through the development of an OER platform for business training material called Biz-Training.The consortium of 9 partners from 7 European countries includes representatives from target groups, higher education institutions, VET providers and entrepreneurship facilitators by creating a group of partners with complementary skills and knowledge that ensure the availability of knowledge for project development, extensive geographical coverage and adequate dissemination of results and their value across the EU.In accordance with the approved grant proposal and grant agreement, the partners have implemented 99.53% of the budget through the following activities:1. Development of an OER platform and a virtual community named Green Art House.2. Creation of a CraftPedia artisanal knowledge repository that was priory designed organized into 10 categories (150 trade fiches) and has been completed with 11 categories and more than 200 fiches in each of the 7 languages of the project, an increased achieved thanks to the transfer of budget not consumed due to the Covid-19.3. Development of Biz-Training, a multilingual business training package in text, audio and visual format available in open on the OER platform, which in the proposal compromised the development of 10 courses and has finally completed 12, at 3 levels (basic, intermediate and advanced). These courses are displayed in fiches following the methodology of micro-training and add up to 60 training fiches, 5 / course, plus two videos (one basic course and one of an advanced one).4. Testing and validation of intellectual products (OER platform, CraftPedia repository and BizTraining modules, among 250 participants of the target groups). This output, not funded by the grant agreement, has been carried out under pandemic status in a virtual way in order to ensure the quality of the results.The project has displayed dissemination and exploitation plans to ensure visibility of the results, both during their development and in the 2 years after their end. Valuation activities have far exceeded 600,000 measured direct impacts, thanks to active exploitation focused on target groups of entrepreneurs and craftsmen, VET suppliers, business facilitators and policy makers up to European level, as well as among the general public.All training resources and consultation materials in multilingual versions are available free of charge without restrictions through the OER platform and will continue for two more years, allowing ARTCademy to generate a greater-than-immediate impact on target groups, participating organizations and other stakeholders.ARTCademy is fully in line with Erasmus+ priorities such as the social and educational value of European cultural heritage, strengthening key VET skills and using open and innovative practices in a digital era.

<< Background >>The European Community has a strong commitment to support the development of the “Sustainable Blue Growth”, as a sector working as an engine of human and economic development. This is such a high priority that the United Nations proclaimed 2021-2030 “The Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development”. According to the European Commission, European coasts and seas have potential to deliver sustainable growth and jobs in the coming years and contribute towards the Green Deal objectives. The way to achieve this is investing in new, blue skills and career development. One of the key features for this blue development is the digitalization: Intelligent sensorisation and monitoring, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data analysis, all based on three main skills: electronic, communication and programming. The last Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Ministerial declaration on Sustainable Blue Economy (2 Feb-ruary 2021) reaffirmed “the need to prioritize education, vocational training and scientific capacity, in-cluding technology transfer, to anticipate transformative technological trends and promote just transi-tions”, as well as “the importance of working closely with the private sector to promote innovation and identify and address skills gaps”.The report “Strategy baseline to bridge the skills gap between training offers and industry demands of the Maritime Technologies value chain, 2019” (part of the MATES project, funded by Erasmus+) showed that the main paradigm shifter on the skill requirements is the digitalization and Smart Grid and Sensor, having answered more than the 85% experts from different European institutions and companies related to shipbuilding and marine renewable energy that this skill will become mainstream and more than 75% that it will affect the job situation. It will have an impact on a wide range of occupations, from marine engineer to electronical maintenance and repairing. The main actions proposed in this study were train-ing, reskilling/upskilling workforce in digitalization skills and enhance ocean literacy.The education provided by the Vocational Training centers to their students despite ensuring getting some of these skills and the competence needed to work for example in electronic or equipment mainte-nance, does not cover the marine environment peculiarities, the requirements of the emerging compa-nies related with the Blue Growth or the new job opportunities, losing a wide range of job opportunities. This project will design a specialization online course focused on the students in vocational training cen-ters. It will provide them with the knowledge needed to increase their opportunities to work in the blue economy sector. They will learn how skills learned during their education need to be adapted to an envi-ronment as the ocean, the special requirement that the marine and maritime companies have and what the sustainable blue growth initiative is. Besides, they will be introduced to the blue entrepreneurship opportunities available in this sector. The concrete objectives of this project are:- Follow an in-depth research and analysis at a European level of the demands and needs of the labour market to detect what the requirements of these companies related with the digitalization of their com-panies are.- Design and develop the complete online curriculum for VET, developing a pilot training for the students as well as a training for the trainers. - Launching a professional mentoring program for those students who are interested in entrepreneurship initiatives, as well as providing guidance in order to select mentors.- Design and launch of an online collaborative platform in order to foster the networking among students following the course and the companies where these skills are required and other potential stakeholders.<< Objectives >>This project will design a specialization online course focused on the students in vocational training cen-ters. It will provide them with the knowledge needed to increase their opportunities to work in the blue economy sector. They will learn how skills learned during their education need to be adapted to an envi-ronment as the ocean, the special requirement that the marine and maritime companies have and what the sustainable blue growth initiative is. Besides, they will be introduced to the blue entrepreneurship opportunities available in this sector. The concrete objectives of this project are:- Follow an in-depth research and analysis at a European level of the demands and needs of the labour market to detect what the requirements of these companies related with the digitalization of their com-panies are.- Design and develop the complete online curriculum for VET, developing a pilot training for the students as well as a training for the trainers. - Launching a professional mentoring program for those students who are interested in entrepreneurship initiatives, as well as providing guidance in order to select mentors.- Design and launch of an online collaborative platform in order to foster the networking among students following the course and the companies where these skills are required and other potential stakeholders.<< Implementation >>The main activities to be developed in the frame of BLUEDIVET project are:1) Follow an in-depth research and analysis at a European level of the demands and needs of the labour market to detect what the requirements of these companies related with the digitalization of their com-panies are.2) Design and develop the complete online curriculum for VET, developing a pilot training for the stu-dents as well as a training for the trainers. 3) Launching a professional mentoring program for those students who are interested in entrepreneur-ship initiatives, as well as providing guidance in order to select mentors.4) Design and launch of an online collaborative platform in order to foster the networking among stu-dents following the course and the companies where these skills are required and other potential stake-holders.5) Organization of 4 face-to-face and 3 online Transnational Meetings for the project partners (every five months).6) Organization of a Short-term joint teacher training event to ensure that all mentors are aligned with the strategy of BLUEDIVET using some procedures and approaching for supporting the students.7) Organization of the BLUEDIVET final conference to be held in Cartagena (Spain).<< Results >>OUTCOMES DURING THE PROJECT:- Bringing a common knowledge of: * The level of offer in education provided by the Vocational Training centers to their students in order to acquire the competences required for the blue digitalization based on electronic, communication and programming. * The skills needed by the marine and maritime companies.The aim is to analyze the digital competences demanded by the labour market within the blue growthfield and compare them with those actually acquired by the professionals hired to develop these func-tions. Then, a complete curriculum for vocational training will be proposed to narrow this gap and thus improve the employability levels. This result will contribute to build evidence on the skills needs of the society through skills anticipation.- Design and implementation of an innovative educational package based on the information collected after the finalization of the research followed for the first outcome. All the educational materials will be designed and developed in order to be implemented in an online scheme, using an e-Learning platform. This innovative educational package will be tested on the ground through a pilot experience developed in the four countries involved in the project in order to improve it and obtain a definitive version that could be easily exportable and transferable to other geographical contexts and European countries.- Design and launch of a Mentorship program in order to encourage and accompany those students who are willing to start their own blue businesses. In this way, a complete common and shared methodologi-cal manual will be designed to guide entities to select mentors, fulfilling a set of agreed criteria, who will be accompanying them for taking first steps in their business adventures within the blue sector, not only to those that have participated in the training program. Mentorship will enable these entrepreneurs to gain as much autonomy as possible, thus contributing to the successful implementation of their business ideas.- Create, through a collaborative platform, a European Network of Experts on blue digitalization, blue skills and, all in all, blue growth. This action will be supported with the design and spread of an online collaborative platform in order to foster the networking among students following the course and the companies where these skills are required, as well as key stakeholders and experts from different coun-tries.OUTCOMES ON ITS COMPLETION:- Ensure that VET curricula and training programs are actually meeting blue industry needs in terms of digitalization.- Ensure that students are equipped with blue digitalization skills as well as soft skills enabling them to develop new ideas and products, and possibly launch their own start-ups, updating their skills even for future needs that are still unknown.- Create a network of the workforce being trained on blue digitalization and the entities related to the blue growth in order to cover the job opportunities in the sector with a good specialized knowledge.

<< Objectives >>RE-FEM wants to empower women entrepreneurs through non-formal education and support them in adapting their businesses in the post-Covid era. The project aims to develop trainers’ capacities, improve women entrepreneurs’ competencies to maintain resilient enterprises, improve access to specific knowledge related to entrepreneurship throughout Europe, provide international networking opportunities and recommendations for policy and practice that stimulates women entrepreneurship development.<< Implementation >>The project implements activities to gain in-depth knowledge on women entrepreneurs’ situation and needs (comparative research), develop up-to-date, transferable educational tools (Training Manual, Online Course), create networking opportunities for the target groups and engage national, regional and EU-level policy-makers, decision-makers through project activities (inter/national multiplier events, international networking group) and aims to enhance the development of women entrepreneurship.<< Results >>The project has 4 tangible results: Research Report, Training Manual, Open Education Platform and Final Policy Study. The results will equip women entrepreneurs with digital competencies, higher resilience and crisis management capacity; provide trainers with non-formal and digital training methods and tools; improve project partners and other stakeholders capacity to better support adult education and reinforce cooperation of quadruple helix and interaction between practice, research and policy

iFEMPOWER aimed to empower female students to get engaged in entrepreneurship by reinforcing their skills and mindset needed for self-employment. The project addressed the lack of entreprenerial motivation and attitude among HEI students and the gender gap in entrepreneurship. Female entrepr.s face several challenges, i.e. the lack of equal access to capital and training, access to business networks, and the need of reconciling business/family. The lack of a supportive environment and financial background, and the specific sociocultural attitudes towards women entrepreneurs negatively affect the entrepreneurial spirit too. As a consequence, students often do not receive competitive knowledge valuable in the labour market. Creative and innovative learning environments are also missing.The project was implemented to achieve the following objectives:1) empowering potential female entrepreneurs among HEI students from any field to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills (both soft and hard) to launch their enterprises,2) developing innovative tools, educational & training methods for the empowerment of female entrepreneurs in HEIs,3) promoting entrep. mindset, making entrep. attractive for youth and raising awareness on the importance of improving conditions of female entrep. by building a strong network among HEI and business.iFEMPOWER gathered important organizations from the knowledge triangle to build a bridge between the academic and business sector. The partnership consisted of 4 HEIs: Bifröst University (IS), Corvinus University of Budapest (HU), Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (RO) and Sigmund Freud University (AT), 3 business actors: ONECO Consulting (ES), Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (PT), Steinbeis GmbH (DE), 1 business support organization: Andalucía Emprende Foundation (ES) and the Coordinator, HÉTFA (HU), a private research institute. During its 3 years, iFEMPOWER implemented interlinked activities. First, exploratory research was carried out on female entrepreneurs and SMEs in Europe; the findings were summarized in a Research Report (IO1). Second, an International Module consisting of a Curriculum (IO2) and Teaching Material (IO3) was developed and tested at HEIs and accomplished by students from several fields. The courses were backed by a Mentorship Programme (IO4) to provide background knowledge on the usual hindrances of being a female entrepreneur and potential solutions. Students with the best business ideas had the opportunity to participate in 2 intensive study programmes (IO5), where their ideas were further developed and presented to investors and mentors. In addition, each PP set up Entrepreneurship Support Points (IO6) to provide personal counselling for anyone interested in women entrepreneurship. An Online Toolkit (IO7) was developed to provide specific suggestions to visitors’ problems. The toolkit is available in 7 languages on the project’s website ifempower.eu. Lastly, iFEMPOWER monitored and assessed all activities and prepared a Final Study (IO8), highlighting the transferable practices and formulated policy recommendations. 2 LTTs (training activities) for university teachers in ES and PT, 2 multiplier events in ES and PT and 3 online multiplier events ensured that outcomes were channelled into the relevant stakeholders. All activities and outputs are publicly available at www.ifempower.eu, as well as on the EPALE and WEgate platforms. Thanks to the project more than 250 students got familiarized with entrepreneurship and acquired high-level, transversal and case solving skills enabling them to launch their businesses, while min. 8 students have actually started their enterprises, thanks to the project. HEIs established intensive cooperation with partners from the business sector during the development of an international curriculum and teaching material that includes non-formal education, interactive work, mentorship, hence bringing academia closer to answering the needs of the labour market. 20 university teachers were involved in teaching and other project activities, out of them 13 teachers were trained to teach the iFEMPOWER module by raising their skills too. More than entrepreneurs were involved in the mentorship and made contact with students by establishing long-term cooperation with them. 22 university students worked with mentors and started to build up the necessary network for their businesses. The online toolkit and the support points have addressed at least 160 students by giving counselling. In the long run, HEI partners will keep teaching the iFEMPOWER modules and organizing summer schools sustaining the project’s achievements and contributing to raising the number of female entrepreneurs in the future as well. Findings summarized in policy recommendations channelled to stakeholders will improve the business and educational environment for female entrep.s and policy changes in HEI, entrepreneurship, business support fields.