<< Background >>The E(U)-leaders project responds to the EU high priority on boosting the e-leadership and digital competences, thus amending the mismatch between the skills available and those demanded for digital transformation of the economy. Therefore, the aim of the project is to foster the competitiveness and productivity of businesses and organizations through the development of strategic e-leadership skills necessary for entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers ( as well as VET trainers, educators and mentors) to manage their teams effectively and efficiently within virtual working environments. The project will contribute to the development of a complex and reliable set of digital tools and approaches for e-leadership skills assessment, development, evaluation, and certification, thus addressing the needs of the labour market and supporting the digital transformation of businesses. In the current globalised environment, we observe the emergence of a new class of e-leaders, namely leaders who display strategic leadership, business and ICT savviness (www.eskills-guide.eu). Currently, there is a considerable growth of labour demand, as well as a high increase of ICT graduate entries in Europe, leading to an estimated growth of the IT workforce from 8.5 million in 2016 to 9.5 million in 2020. The 2017 Final report of the EC on “High-Tech Leadership Skills for Europe” clearly highlights that “Europe is required to generate around 50,000 additional high-tech leaders per year in the years up to 2025, or a total of around 450,000 until 2025, by providing them with relevant education opportunities and exposing them to the necessary work and leadership experience”. Furthermore, based on the Final Report on “Digital Organisational Frameworks and IT Professionalism” (February 2019), a number of 64,489 posted online vacancies for e-Leaders in Europe is being estimated for the year 2018. However, technology advancements have overcome barriers to communication and it becomes more and more common for business leaders to work flexibly across time zones to ensure the most effective maintaining of business operations. In virtual teams, there is a greater requirement for autonomy and thus, a greater need for communication, trust and cooperation between a team leader and the team members. In Europe, e-leadership skills are a major policy concern for the creation of employment opportunities, innovation, and growth. In more detail, a 2019 JRC report highlighted the necessity in promoting and developing ICT training on digital skills and telework within organisations for keeping up with changing and alternative ways of working. To briefly explain, less than 10% of personnel receive training for ICT skills in Cyprus and Greece, around 10%-25% of personnel in Slovenia and Portugal and above 30% of personnel in Netherlands and Germany. Eurostat published on April 2021, a statistical report on employed persons working from home as a percentage of the total employment from 2011 until 2020, by sex, age (15 to 64 years old) and professional status (%). Focusing on the latest trends, in Germany, the percentage of the employed people working from home increased from 5.2% in 2019 to 14.8% in 2020, in Greece from 1.9% to 7%, in Cyprus from 1.3% to 4.5%, from 14.1% to 17.8% in Netherlands, from 6.5% to 13.9% in Portugal and from 6.8% to 7.4% in Slovenia. With this in mind, the E(U) Leaders project is innovative as it will provide a holistic approach for the development of high-skilled and competitive leaders for the needs of the EU labour market. It will follow a thorough procedure for educating and certifying its target groups and offer a comprehensive package of educational tools and methodologies through a tailor-made E-Leaders High-tech Course which will be free-of-charge, available through a virtual environment and certify their knowledge and skills based on widely recognized quality standards.<< Objectives >>The aim of the project is to foster the competitiveness and productivity of businesses and organizations through the development of strategic e-leadership skills necessary for entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers, as well as VET trainers, educators and mentors, to manage their teams effectively and efficiently within virtual working environments. The project will contribute to the development of a complex and reliable set of digital tools and approaches for e-leadership skills assessment, development, evaluation, and certification, thus addressing the needs of the labor market and supporting the digital transformation of businesses. With this in mind, the objectives of the project are:•To create an e-leadership model by mapping strategic e-leadership skills, competencies and approaches organizations communicate within virtual working environments•To identify common high-tech leadership skills’ needs within virtual working environments, both at personal and strategic/organizational levels•To identify effective web-based tools and approaches in managing virtual working environments and teams successfully•To develop and assess e-leaders’ strategic e-leadership skills through web-based teaching and learning approaches•To create a certification framework which will define both the e-leaders curriculum and the skills assessment process.These indications imply that prioritization initiatives need to be made to support the digital transformation of businesses and enterprises. Therefore, in order to set up or manage a business, technological and business skills should be enhanced by skills that enable change, innovation of societal practices, attract, develop and manage (especially virtually) talents. To address these needs in the labour market, the E(U)-Leaders project addresses the common e-knowledge, e-skills and e-competencies needed by existing and would-be e-entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers/VET trainers/mentors/educators to lead in the digital economy. For this reason, the target groups who will benefit from the project products and take part in the projects’ activities are as follows:Primary:•Entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers leading teams in virtual business environments across different national contexts – prior, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic period: -SMEs (tech-based and non-tech-based organisations such as ICT companies, multinational organisations, etc.) -NGOs •Future entrepreneurs/leaders•Partner organizations Secondary:•VET trainers •VET mentors •VET training centres and other VET organisations•Chambers of Commerce and IndustriesThe expected impact on the target groups:•Improvement of high-tech leadership skills of end-users•Increased availability of reliable and accurate tools for diagnosis and improvement of strategic leadership skills •Increased skills of VET trainers, mentors and educators in using tools for assessment and development existing/aspiring leaders•Increased awareness of SMEs and NGOs on how to seize the opportunities in innovation/new technologies •Increased productivity of businesses, organisations, institutions run by highly-skilled professionals•Mitigating the digital gap in education and labour market•Incorporating new learning/teaching programmes and materialsThe project involves 7 organizations from 6 EU countries - CY, GR, DE, PT, NL, SI. Information about the EU support accompanied by the EU logo will be visible in all project products and in promotion materials used during the project’s implementation and beyond; available on project website as open source and on the project’s e-learning platform, without any financial restrictions.<< Implementation >>A short-term Joint Staff Training Event (C1) will be implemented, addressing entrepreneurs, employers, leaders, managers, as well as VET trainers, mentors and educators of the project partners with the aim to enrich their competencies and skills so that they can transfer in a self-sustaining way the training/learning approaches of the E(U)-Leaders’ project products in each partner country; it will provide added value to the E(U)-Leaders’ project in the following ways:•Transfer the training methodology and project results (materials and tools) to end-users: 14 in total•Each participant of the C1 activity will elaborate an evaluation report by assessing the products’ methodology and materials through providing their practical feedback and experience based on which the fine-tuning of the project products will take place•Based on the evaluation, EUROSC, with the contribution of TUV Cyprus will elaborate a summative report on the sessions, where the overall activity will be thoroughly described. It will also provide the partners with recommendations and conclusions for the successful practical implementation/transfer of the products in each country in the next phases of the project.The selecting criteria are as follows:•Proven experience in leading and managing virtual teams •Proven experience in the field of digital skills and other soft competencies•Experience in non-formal education methodology•Fluent communication in English (oral and written)•Good communication and interpretation skills•Good digital skills•Highly-motivatedEach participant (in case of external expert/collaborator) will have to sign a voluntary agreement with the national partner, who will then have to provide a copy of the agreement to the project coordinator and an official contract with the sending organisations, defining their involvement in the projects’ activities and the responsibilities of each party (participant and partner organization) regarding the mobility. Concerning the support and safety of the participants, every sending organisation will be responsible for organizing transport for participants, accommodation and money to cover transport, accommodation and subsistence costs. During the implementation of the mobility, the host organisations will assign 1 contact person who will be in constant contact with participants to guide them, solve any occurring issues and monitor the results and impact. Whenever additional actions prior traveling are needed (i.e. official document/ invitation from the hosting partners to the specific participant partner), these will be communicated in time among the two partners (participant & hosting organizations) and will be arranged within the needed deadlines. The participants of C1 will obtain Europass Mobility issued by hosting partners (EUROSC). Also, all project results will be pilot-tested be all project partners in the project countries, for improving the quality standards of the outcomes based on the end-users needs at national and European levels. Moreover, 6 MEs (5 national events and 1 international Final Conference) will be implemented towards the end of the project implementation, to implement the final version of all results to target groups, stakeholders, authorities, and end-users. All implemented activities will be enhanced through the use of various dissemination tools and channels, implemented by all project partners. Dissemination will maximize the promotion and exploitation efforts, through using social media, webpages, digital materials, articles, and press releases. Finally, to evaluate and fine-tune all elaborated materials and products, the partners will implement internal reviews with staff members of each partner organization, as well as piloting activities with the participation of target groups and stakeholders. Through these activities, remarks, comments, and suggestions will be collected in order to improve and fine-tune the materials of the project<< Results >>Five main project results will be developed: PR1: Guidebook of inclusion of best practices on suitable digital working environments •The Guidebook will include examples of good practices already established at a national and European level, promoting e-strategies and e-tools organisations adopt in their daily management for ensuring the efficient virtual working environment of their employees•The Guidebook will be addressed to entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers PR2: E-Leadership Model adopted within tech-based and non-tech-based organisationsThe aim is to identify the training needs, challenges and gaps entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers face when managing virtual working environments and teams. It consists of a set of focus groups implemented in the project countries, which will mainly focus on:•e-leadership styles•web-based teaching and learning approaches•remote strategies and culture •monitoring individuals progress remotely •the use of web-based tools (for measuring productivity, engagement, work progress, etc.)•managing virtual team interactions and well-being The results of the focus groups will be used for the development of the PR3: E-Leaders High-tech Course for entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers/VET trainers/mentors/educatorsPR3: E-Leaders High-tech CourseA set of modules developed to enrich high-tech leadership skills for entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers/VET trainers/mentors/educators (incl. mentoring methodology for mentors)•The High-tech Course will be available on the e-learning platform (PR4) •The High-tech Course will be developed based on the results of PR1&2PR4: E-learning platform for Leaders This will be basically the platform which will host the developed training materials of PR3 for the end-users (entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers/VET trainers/mentors & educators)PR5: Certification framework of e-leadership skills for defining the certification scheme, quality standards and requirements based on ISO/IEC 17024:2012, addressing entrepreneurs/employers/leaders/managers/VET trainers/mentors/educators