SPEED - Social Processes Empowering Entrepreneurship Development aimed to improve entrepreneurial skills of young people with fewer opportunities and promoted and supported their inclusion in the job market, through an extensive set of activities based on Non-Formal Education to start a personal, professional, social and cultural process of growth.To reach the objectives we have structured a Consortium, made up of 2 different University one in Mexico and one in Portugal, an Italian organization with great coordination experience, an expert Estonian organization in non-formal methods and five other organizations with extensive experience in working with disadvantaged youth, from Europe and Latin America, which aimed to:- to train youth workers on Non-Formal Education methods and techniques based on Marketing, Sociology and Economics Theories to support the acquirement of creativity and entrepreneurial skills in young people with fewer opportunity;- to apply contents pertaining to Formal Education schemes into Non-Formal Education systems, activities and contexts;- to promote the acquirement and the improvement of entrepreneurial competencies, communication skills, marketing and creativity in disadvantaged youth;- to create a technological and IT digital system for self-taught learning, based on OER, containing theories and practises on entrepreneurship;- to promote Volunteering Activities as a mean to foster and multiply the impact of project activities, tools and materials on disadvantaged youth.During the project implementation, the two different universities and their departments of Sociology and Economics, cooperated with youth workers to better support and train young people with fewer opportunities, who are facing a lack of opportunities and skills, in entrepreneurship and, to guarantee monitoring and quality to the whole project process.Aims and objectives were reached through the following activities:- Online cooperation between partners;- 1 Kick-Off Meeting + Study Visit in Argentina;-1 Coordination Meeting in Italy, in addition to online cooperation – Study Group Strauss/Universities;- 1 Training Course for Youth Workers in Italy;- Volunteering Activities for 12 Volunteers in EU and Latin America;- Local workshops on social entrepreneurship in 6 countries;- Final evaluation meeting (online).The activities sponsored and powered by the partners of the consortium produced:- An academic study, promoted for publication at international level on “Paper” by the Mexican University;- an E-learning free platform for youth that collects digital contents to support the self-taught learning of young people in relation to Social Entrepreneurship www.speedstrauss.com - A promotional video made out from the experiences of the 12 volunteers involved in volunteering activities.The project suffered from the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the consortium's countermeasures and good cooperation ensured that the quality of its products and activities was not affected and the achievement of its objectives was not precluded.

According to Eurostat, more of 30% of employment in the EU is concentrated in micro companies –fewer than 10 workers. In fact, 90% of EU companies share this size-, a figure that in countries such as Spain goes to 41%. The problem of this kind of SMEs or small entrepreneurs is their sustainability and, therefore, employability. According to the same stats, the survival of this kind of small businesses in the first five years does not reach an average of 50%, with figures which go from 48% in France to 54% in Italy, 58% in the United Kingdom or 61% in Spain. Five years of work, money, effort and hope… and it all just disappears.Why? This is the key question. There's a particular reason for every entrepreneurial failure, but here's one reason we rarely hear: The entrepreneur just didn't have the talent for the job, and it does not mean that he/she does not have the intelligence or the knowledge of his/her sector, but many other concepts which have nothing to do with cognitive factors. So, one thing that's missing in this discussion is the attributes of the individual, the person who is at the center of a company, making day-to-day decisions for running the business in highly uncertain circumstances. This concept follows the line of the European Commission, which in 2018 has confirmed and recommended ‘entrepreneurship’ as one of the eight key competences necessary for all members of a knowledge-based society. This woke up is a growing awareness that entrepreneurial skills, knowledge and attitudes can be learned and in turn lead to the widespread development of entrepreneurial mind-sets and culture, which benefit individuals and society as a whole.Here, in the internal side of the entrepreneur is where EFE works, with coaching and Emotional Intelligence. It does not have to do with financial information, knowledge about the business, tax consulting, etc. but with the management of those other skills such as burnout, lack of motivation, lack of goals or incentives, problems to make decisions, self-esteem…The project is double focused. On one hand, it wants to advice and help entrepreneurs to discover and develop the talents that are vital to start, grow, and sustain a thriving enterprise. On the other hand, it wants to work with coaches and facilitators in order to give them the resources they need to support current and future entrepreneurs in understanding the skills based on coaching and EI. With that guidance, entrepreneurs will develop their talents into strengths to achieve greater business effectiveness and success.The project consortium is composed of 7 organisations from 6 different EU countries (PT, SW, SP, RO, PL and IRL). A comprehensive partnership has been established, taking as departure point the experience of the promoter, CSES, a leading institution dedicated to social entrepreneurship. APSU is the Portuguese Association of Start Ups, so they are in permanent contact with entrepreneurs. The consortium also consists in organizations with long experience in training adults and companies from many different productive sectors, as I&F, GDR or ARID. They have an extensive background in the use and implementation of Emotional Intelligence skills. The project consortium involves INDEPCIE, a Spanish training company specialized in training coaches, coaching and Emotional Intelligence and its application in the workplace, so it will add a plus of expertise to the consortium. To achieve the objectives of the project three Intellectual Outputs will be developed, tested and multiplied: THE FIRST FIVE YEARS ENEMIES (O1) will analyse inner difficulties in first five years of business for entrepreneurs, acting as an umbrella for COACHING FOR SUCCESS (O2), proposing a training system and manual for coaches on entrepreneurship; finally, COACHES FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP will develop a train-the-trainers manual for managers and entrepreneurs to become coaches in their companies. The online system will also feature a platform for interactions between learners, facilitators, mentors and mentees, and other stakeholders. All outputs produced will be freely accessible for the public within and beyond the project’s lifetime.EFE is likely to have sustainable direct impacts within and beyond the project lifetime on three target groups: 1) coaches and facilitators 2) entrepreneurs and managers 3) Companies and organizations active in the field of training and advisory services.The project aims at helping entrepreneurs during the first five years of a new company to overcome the most important difficulties by using coaching and Emotional Intelligence skills and tools. The project wishes to set new tools and methodologies to support entrepreneurs and SMEs in enhancing their productivity, competiveness and efficiency. The consortium will use the outcomes of the project, exploiting them with different targets, in further initiatives of the same topic, disseminating them through all its channels.

"The project ""Partnering for refugees. Europe for you!"" brings out the importance of the topic of refugee crisis and migration to young people on European level. Refresh Luxembourg and its partners have noticed the need of a project of this kind for young people. This project has confirmed the huge need for education of young people about refugees and who they are, what happened to them and what is their living situation in the countries that they have got to. These elements are not often discussed with the young people. This project has proven that young people are full of empathy and ideas how to react on the issues related to refugee crisis and how to improve the process of migration. The two mobilities of young people organised in Luxembourg and North Macedonia, as well as the events organised in Spain and Romania have brought the information about the project topic to over 4 000 people. Another element of importance for this project has been the project platform: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/ built to raise the awareness of young people around Europe about the importance of being well informed about the refugee crisis, and if possible, taking actions towards improving the current situation. Around 6.000 visitors have been able to review the website content and learn more about the refugee crisis and migration. The main project objectives were fully achieved including the following: 1. Directly educating over 40 young people who will bring 40 innovative ideas how to educate their local community about the situation with refugees and their inclusion into the communities. 2. Maintenance of 4 national researches from the 4 countries involved in the project. The researches will examine the attitude of the citizens related to refugee crisis and treatment of refugees in the countries. These researches will provide results on which we, national agencies and bodies may examine the topic.Luxembourg research: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/2019/10/14/insights-from-the-luxembourg-team-on-the-refugee-crisis/North Macedonia research: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/2019/10/14/refugee-crisis-in-the-republic-of-north-macedonia-report-from-macedonian-participants-2019/Romania research: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/2019/10/14/overview-on-the-refugee-crisis-in-romania/Spain research: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/2019/10/14/country-comparison/3. Over 10.000 people reached through dissemination activities and usage of the project platform: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/4. 300 direct users of the services of the project.5. Created digital platform with outputs in all formats: video, text, pictures and sound. The platform provides information, lessons, stories and reliable resources. 6. Facilitated cooperation with schools, municipalities and local televisions and media in general in order to improve the project promotion. More about the project supporters on the following link: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/project-supporters/36 young people coming from 4 different countries and 10 people as organisational staff have been involved in the project directly through the two mobilities organised in Luxembourg and North Macedonia. These young people coming from different social, economic, geographical and cultural background have been able to discuss and learn more about the project topic, as well as to come up with ideas related to improvement of the current situation. These young people have been students at schools and universities in Spain, Romania, North Macedonia and Luxembourg. There also were people working in companies or organisations, as well as young people who volunteer in different actions related to refugees. The compilation of this group of young people that have been included during the past 2 years of the project has made a massive contribution to raising awareness about the topic of refugee crisis. Moreover, the project included organisations though Europe, local partners and media that have been also included in the process of spreading the voice about the project. A total of 10000 direct and indirect users have been included in the project. The project involved several main events which are listed below together with the generated results: 1. Kick off meeting in Spain - at this meeting the plan for the project was designed and confirmed. Also, the web platform design has been approved and initiated. 2. Blended mobility of young people in Luxembourg - the first participants at the project have been involved and they created the first stories of the project, initiated the usage of the web platform and created a huge media archive that has been used throughout the project. 3. Blended mobility of young people in North Macedonia - the media campaign in North Macedonia and the dissemination of the story of the project have been in the focus of the group of the people attending the mobility 4. Dissemination event in Spain - Spain has been informed on a high level by having the young people from Alora doing numerous events in schools and having included over 128 people in their dissemination activities. Please find the full link to the internal report by the Spanish partner on the following link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xCvsdSR3DYUJaL5miuA0DSZvEwDQO8i8?usp=sharing and website post: http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/2020/01/13/dissemination-in-spain/. 5. Change Festival in Campina, Romania - the young people of Campina organised a festival with over 150 attendees to raise awareness about the project topic in the area and in Romania as a whole. Huge media coverage of this event raised the voice about the project in Romania. Also, an NGO fair has been another prove for support of the project topic by the Romanian non-governmental organisations. Link to more information http://re-fresh.lu/strategic/2020/01/13/change-festival-campina-2019/6. Evaluation meeting in Romania - The project partners representatives have been part of the final event of the project concluding the project results and elaborating the joint work in the past 2 years.The long term impact of the project is visible through the project platform that continues to be updated and used by the visitors. This platform ensures the future sustainability of the project and provides content for the future activities."

The implementation of SDGs on the regional level are a major step toward sustainable development and objective of numerous policy programmes of the EU, to its member states and individual provinces and regions. Additionally, supranational organisations like the UN or the UNESCO commit their member states to the implementation of SDGs. Large-scale protected areas as model regions for sustainable development are expected to be at the forefront of the implementation of SDGs. The SDGimp project aims at developing decision making capacities and promotes the implementation of SDGs by providing high quality learning system and decision support materials for regional stakeholder and entrepreneurs. The direct target groups are (a) regional stakeholder, e.g. from large-scale protected areas, municipal administrations, regional development initiatives like LEADER LAG, sustainability initiatives and alike (b) individual entrepreneurs like farmers, crafts and business sector, service providers in the tourism sector or catering trade. Provided online the content is easy accessibility and a simple to apply. In total 7 organisations from 5 different EU countries (DE, ES, LT, PL and RO) form the SDGimp consortium. It facilitates the collaboration of organisations from new and old European Member States. The comprehensive partnership bridges the gap between science and practice as it represents research and consulting organisation (Institut für Ländliche Strukturforschung – IfLS, Panstwowa Wyzsza Szkola Informatyki I Przedsiebiorczosci w Lomzy - PWSIP), adult education organisations (Biosphären-Volkshochschule – BVHS and Community for Lifelong Learning - CPIP), a LEADER Local Action Group (Asociacion para el Desarrollo Rural del Litoral de la Janda - GDR), the European umbrella organisation for protected areas (Europarc Federation – EPF) and an institute of ICT and education technologies (Baltijos edukaciniu technologiju institutas - BETI). Furthermore, large-scale protected areas will participate as associated partners. Their role is to support the project partners and contribute to testing and applying the SDGimp outputs as well as to contributing to the dissemination activities of the SDGimp project.To achieve the objectives of the project two Intellectual Outputs will be developed, tested and used in close collaboration with five associated partners as well as multiplied to relevant stakeholder groups. The ‘Learning Platform for the Implementation of SDGs’ (O1): Main results produced within O1 are a learning platform about the SDGs and challenges regarding their implementation. The second intellectual output ‘Decision support material for the implementation of SDGs’ (O2) provides members of municipal administrations, of administrations of large-scale protected areas, regional development initiatives, land users and other entrepreneurs with decision support material. It will consists of tools and instructions on how include SDGs into professional decision making processes. All outputs produced will be freely accessible for the public within and beyond the project’s lifetime.The project will increase the capacity of regional decision makers regarding the implementation of SDGs. It will enable them to successfully develop innovative strategies for considering impacts on SDGs in their professional decision making processes. Overall, the project will support the implementation of SDGs on the regional level. Thus, it will contribute to the sustainable development of regions, social and environmental justice as well as the implementation of European and international agreements.

HarWASTing aims to develop innovative business models based on circular economy (CE) principles to promote bioeconomy in rural areas, by implementing a set of scalable and replicable technological solutions to efficiently exploit underutilised biomass from forestry and agriculture to develop innovative and high-value products. These models will support sustainable management practices and will promote an efficient use of natural resources, reducing overall waste generation and post-harvest losses by implementing valorisation processes and fostering CE principles. To this end, a methodology will be implemented to collect, treat and revalorize biomass from forest and agricultural harvest, pruning waste and bioethanol process side-streams, respecting the cascade principle for biomass use. A one-fits-all technology, Hydrothermal Carbonization, for a higher energy efficient treatment of lignocellulosic biomass residues will be combined with Pressurized Hot Water Extraction and innovative post-treatment technologies, to develop high-value added products and avoid any non-valorised side-stream. The whole concept will be demonstrated at small-scale pilot, built-upon existing wood, food and bioenergy value chains to further strengthen their economic and environmental sustainability through synergistic interlinkages between them. Mediterranean, Boreal and Continental bioregions will be studied. The holistic concept is based on the central valorisation route of Hydrothermal Carbonizationand its solid product, hydrochar, that is converted into hybrid wood-hydrochar panels with less than 10% of bio-adhesive for special applications such as fire protection or electromagnetic shielding. A novel support AI-based digital tool for forecasting agroforest feedstock availability will be developed. Innovative digital passports will help to commercialize the panels and bioadhesives. The hydrochar will be offered on a new digital platform which also serves for networking and for publishing of best-practices.