The project envisages the continuation of the provision of high quality innovation management capacity assessment and support services to SMEs in Cyprus aiming at the enhancement of their competitiveness, smart growth and profitability. Moreover, the project aims at creating a better understanding of the fundamental principles of innovation management and their better integration in the value chain of local SMEs. The services will be provided by the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF), coordinator of the Enterprise Europe Network Cyprus (EEN-Cy) and will be integrated by EEN-Cy services. RIF provides relevant services since 2014 through preceding EU funded projects (KAM2CY1- ΚΑΜ2CΥ4). The project targets two groups of SMEs with a separate services package provided to each group, as described below: (a) Key Account Management (KAM) services to SME-beneficiaries of EIC pilot and its successor in Horizon Europe. The procedure for the provision of KAM services includes the following steps: - identification of weaknesses in innovation capacities of the SMEs; - identification and selection of suitable coaches to address the identified weaknesses; - moderation of the coach-client relationship; - in the case of SME Instrument beneficiaries, accompany the SMEs throughout the implementation of their projects. (b) Services for Enhancing Innovation Management Capacity (EIMC) to promising SMEs with potential for growth via innovation. The EIMC service package includes: - a diagnostic audit / assessment of the SME innovation management; - a root/ cause analysis of the results; - development of a tailor-made action plan; - assistance of the SME in action plan implementation and monitoring. The project foresees the provision of 5 KAM and 12 EIMC service packages. The average duration of each service package provision will be 7 days for KAM Services and 10 days for EIMC Services.

<< Objectives >>The main aim of the project is to offer to organisations which are registered as charitable in Cyprus or Greece (charitable organisation(s)), the opportunity to participate in EU funding programmes, including but not limited to: Erasmus+, CERV, AMIF, Creative Europe, Interreg and Horizon Europe. Specifically, the project's objective is to design and develop a VET course for new-coming or less experienced project managers and project administrators of charitable organisations.<< Implementation >>Activity 1 - Project Management and Coordination of the projectActivity 2 - Quality Assurance and Evaluation of the ProjectActivity 3 - Dissemination, Communication and ExploitationActivity 4 - Mapping of Skills for EU project managers and administrators of charitable organisationsActivity 5 - Design, development and delivery of a VET CourseActivity 6 - Pilot of the VET CourseActivity 7 - Final Training Course<< Results >>The two main expected outcomes/results of the project will be:- the development of a report which maps the required skills and needs of project managers and administrators who are employed or volunteer in charitable organisations (skills report); and- the design and development of the VET course, which will integrate the results of the skills report.The proposed project will build and put mechanisms, knowledge capacity and recourses at their disposal, making the EU funding accessible to them.

Continuation of the efforts of the local Enterprise Europe Network to further enhance the Innovation Management Capacity of Cypriot SMEs (KAM2CY 2) The project envisages the continuation of specialised coaching services addressing the innovation management capacity of Cypriot SMEs in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of investments in research, development and innovation. The Research Promotion Foundation (RPF), is currently implementing a similar project funded by the EC (KAM2CY), which provides the local SMEs with Key Account Management services (KAM). The project aims to contribute to a better and more efficient connection of local SMEs along with the innovation chain. This will result to a smart growth of Cypriot SMEs and consequently of the Cypriot economy in general. The services will continue to be offered by RPF, as a bundle of additional specialised services, aiming to increase and accelerate economic returns of innovation. RPF is the coordinating organisation of the Business Support Centre in Cyprus (BSC-Cy), the local member of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

<< Background >>Artistic freedom and expression are closely linked to the social and economic conditions of cultural professionals and institutions. An analysis of labour market data for culture and arts professionals provides an insight into the nature of the employment and livelihood which the sector provides. In other words, while the number of cultural professionals and artists is growing steadily, their employment conditions become more and more unstable. This is evident by, the frequent incidence of short-term contracts, part-time jobs, seasonal employment and two or even more parallel jobs for people with university diplomas. Meanwhile, In Europe, the cultural and creative sectors are characterised by self-employment, small- and micro-enterprises whose value creation is mainly based on intangible assets, such as original ideas, knowhow and creativity, and cultural and linguistic diversity. At the same time, the mobility of artists and cultural and creative professionals, the circulation and translation of European content, training and talent development, fair pay and working conditions, access to finance and cross-border cooperation are issues of specific interest for research and exchange at European level. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has made all this conditions worse for cultural and creative professionals, indicating that now it is the time to address the shortcomings in their skills and equip them with tools which will help them to have a stronger professional backbone.<< Objectives >>The project’s main objective is to improve the employability skills and work opportunities for Culture and Creative Young Professionals (CCYPs) working and/or living in rural areas and to reduce the existing gap between the educational world and labour market by diversification of career paths and skills recognition. Essentially with this improvement CCYPs will have the opportunity to have increased access to national and EU funding programmes which will enable them to start their own company, or share their artistic know-how in projects for fostering arts and culture in education or even using art and culture as a means to achieve the objectives of several EU programmes, for example the AMIF or CERV programmes.In addition, the project aims to provide the CCYPs with the opportunity to exchange best-practises and know-how and at the same time connect with business partners and cultural and artistic institutions on a national or European level.<< Implementation >>In order to achieve the project’s objective, the consortium will create Business Academies by designing and delivering training programmes for CCYPs. Essentially, the approach of the project will be on the one hand to identify skill needs for CCYPs who live in rural areas through surveys, desk research and discussions in focus groups emphasising on digital, leadership and management skills gaps and needs. These results of the activity to identify these skills will be integrated into the design of an innovative training programme, which will include open e-learning and work-based learning methods.Moreover, as part of the project’s activities, a Prototype Hub and a Guidebook, containing guidelines on how to set up a Hub will be created. The aim of the Hubs will be to provide to CCYPs with all the necessary information in relation to EU and national funding opportunities and also inform them about any possible partnering opportunities. The Hubs will also be able to host the Business Academies which offer the training programme.The partners will also create an e-community platform and an elearning tool, where all training material will be available. The elearning platform will form part of the whole training course development, a meaningful learning tool will be developed to create e-learning courses and e-learning contents, collecting the learning material used for the project.The project partners will finally engage themselves in communication and dissemination activities so that the project results can reach the project’s target groups and the general public.<< Results >>The expected results during the life of the project are the following:- Employability challenges faced by the CCYPs in each one of the participating countries and consolidated report with the state of the art.- Analysis of the educational and training needs of CCYPs living and/or working in rural areas in each country and creation of a consolidated report. - Creation of a Prototype cultural Hub and the creation of a Guidebook for setting up a Hub.- Creation of Business and Innovation Academies by designing and delivering an innovative training programme for CCYPs. The content of the training programme will correspond to their needs in the respective countries.- Creation of an e-learning platform, as part of the whole training course. The platform will be a meaningful learning tool developed in such a way to create e-learning courses and e-learning contents, collecting the learning material used for the project.Furthermore, the project will include all the necessary results in order to be coherent and successfully implemented:- A concrete management plan which will describe all the necessary steps and procedures for the smooth implementation of the project (structure, tasks per partner and responsibilities, project milestones, communication arrangements and reporting);- A quality assurance strategy covering the overall course of the project, to make sure all activities are undertaken in an effective way, leading to the desired results based on the quality standards agreed. ;- An interim and a final evaluation report, with an overview of the qualitative and quantitative objectives reached and what course of action is expected by the partners;- A dissemination strategy, with detailed description of the dissemination tools and activities necessary to reach the target groups and a final dissemination activities report at the end of the project;- Project Website and logo;- Creation of informative printed material;- Newsletters developed and disseminated after important project milestones;- Feedback questionnaires from members of the target group who will be involved in the local events;- Database of stakeholders who would be interested in the project and are in contact with the main target group.