<< Background >>Our project EDUCATE is designed to support adult education organisations in 6 countries (LT, LV, GR, IT, HU, TR) and across Europe in their efforts to deliver inclusive education, especially in the field of digital literacy, which is crucial for the employability of their target groups. This will be achieved both through providing with useful and accessible materials, which they can immediately introduce to their work (in the face of the EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit) and through the creation of a network of adult educators, which exchanges best practices (certified according to a specific set of criteria to be developed) and fosters cooperation (through the EDUCATE Interactive hub).Adult education is a key tool for boosting economic, as well as personal growth, and is an indispensable tool for improving the lives of disadvantaged people and reducing inequalities across the board. Yet, as a 2019 report by the European Association for the Education of Adults shows, countries across Europe are struggling with supporting adult educators in different manners. From low levels of participation (especially in Lithuania), stagnation in the incorporation of innovative practices, to lack of inclusivity and lack of consistency from government policies, adult education providers face numerous hurdles to their effective work. The field now more than ever has the chance and needs its actors to be connected and united in the push for its own transformation, evolution and blossoming.The best approach in transformation of traditional adult education methods is through digitalisation, as well as through efforts, which ensure sustaining and monitoring of constant high quality. Improving digital literacy means proactively using or addressing digital media and technology in education, which ensures inclusiveness for adult learners, what is more it contributes indirectly to the development of their digital competencies. Digital technology has implications for adult literacy; therefore, it is essential to adapt how and what adults learn.Alongside the opportunities that digital adult education offers, there is also a lack of confidence, competence, strategic planning and investment to enable the lifelong learning sector to fully embrace these developments. For that reason, EDUCATE aims to increase capacity of the adult education sector to engage with these two areas through recognition, connection, and useful practical materials. EDUCATE also creates opportunities to raise the profile of and showcase the value of digital adult education, aimed at adult learners with no general skills, low qualifications, or other disadvantaged groups.<< Objectives >>EDUCATE aims to promote quality adult education through supporting open and innovative practices in a digital era. The project objectives could be summarised as follows:– Share certification and guidance for high-quality adult education practice across Europe leading to improved practice and innovation within the European lifelong learning community;– Create effective opportunities for connection, collaboration and mutual learning between adult educators;– Build capacity of adult educators to respond to digitalisation through training that meets their needs, based on monitoring and sustainability approach;– Improve planning and development of digital literacy education of high-quality lifelong learning strategies through increasing awareness and digital methodological skills of adult educators and lifelong learning organisations staff for requirements and best practices for practical application;– Raise awareness of digital adult education within the lifelong learning sector and to policy makers and funders nationally and EU-wide.The target groups for the project are:- Adult educators - the main task of EDUCATE will be to benefit this target group. - Adult learners – the project will promote digital literacy of adult learners through educational methods using digital technologies.<< Implementation >>1. EDUCATE Interactive hub2. EDUCATE Certification of quality3. EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit4. Training adult educators<< Results >>The expected outcomes during the EDUCATE implementation and in the conclusive stage can be outlined in two main categories, highlighting both quantitative and qualitative aspects, as follows:Tangible results:1. EDUCATE Interactive hub that includes platform and a co-creation virtual space in 6 partner languages and in English (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)2. EDUCATE Certification of quality in 6 partner languages and in English (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)3. EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit in 7 language versions (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)4. 12 adult educators from partner organisations trained to deliver digital adult education recognised as high-quality to adult learners with no general skills, low qualifications, or other disadvantaged groups (2 from each partner country)5. 120 stakeholders and policy-makers from partner countries will be involved in co-creation process and they will be informed of project results and invited to sustain the EDUCATE Interactive hub through 3 Multiplier events6. 4200 partner staff members, target groups and stakeholders on both national and European levels informed of project results through dissemination activities carried out during the whole project life cycle7. Project social media profiles - Facebook and Instagram accounts for adult learners and the wider public and LinkedIn professional group for adult educators and other relevant practitioners8. 30 info items related to project goals and results, published on the online platform and social media profiles within project lifetime9. Project management documents - Implementation plan, Quality Assurance plan, Risk management strategy, Dissemination and exploitation plan, Interim progress reports, and Final report.10. Other documents - research synthesis reports, visual identity guidelines, events agenda templates, feedback forms, online statistic reports.Intangible results:1. Adult learners will improve their:- awareness of their qualifications and guidance, mentoring, and further opportunities for adult education;- engagement in the social life of their local communities;- recognition of adult education means to increase the engagement of other adult learners from disadvantaged groups and facilitate their participation;- knowledge and skills of digital literacy through the EDUCATE Interactive hub and open-educational materials.2. Adult educators and lifelong learning organisations staff will improve their:- knowledge and skills in delivering digital adult education as innovate practice through the use of digital technology and media to actually engage adult learners from differentcommunities with the aim of personal and professional development;- skills in using digital adult education tools;- skills in planning, designing, and evaluating digital adult education;- motivation and skills to engage in international collaboration work with other adult educators in;- different skills in the field of community-building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive network or adult education initiative.3. Other partners’ staff will improve their:- awareness on planning, designing, and implementing adult education with recognised certification for high quality;- motivation to use the EDUCATE Interactive hub and engage in the project activities.4. Other stakeholders (adult education providers, lifelong learning platforms, mentoring communities) will improve their:- awareness as to the methodological aspects of engagement of adult learners from different communities;- understanding of the benefits of high-quality education for enhancing and facilitating the environment for sustainable lifelong learning organisations across Europe;- cooperation prospects with peer organisations from different countries and sectors.5. National and EU policymakers will improve their:- evidence base to promote, multiply and mainstream high-quality adult education;- understanding of the needs for strategic investment in adult education

<< Background >>The circular economy is an enormous challenge for developing and emerging countries, in terms of capabilities to ensure efficient treatment of waste, the responsibility over social behaviours. Moreover, what can be observed across the EU, is the struggle of municipals over waste management, which is no longer the management of municipal waste, but industrial waste. The responsibility over this lies on the entrepreneurs themselves, which in most cases is the result of their unawareness on how to tackle the problem. The question is how to foster symbiosis and cooperation between municipalities and entrepreneurs to include their waste into those closed streams represented by the circular economy. Environmental and Fight Against Climate Change: The European “Green Deal” is the new strategy that targets transformation of EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource – efficient and competitive economy with zero net emissions of greenhouse gasses by 2050. Under this priority, energy used in EU should derive only from Renewable Energy Resources and carbon footprint of products should be zero. The project proposal is aligned with this priority as it will contribute in minimizing the carbon footprint in the tourism sector. VET: Contributing to innovation in vocational education and training: Within this context, TOUCAN project wants to promote environmental learning in VET establishments, by developing a new curriculum for hotel staff that will address environmental aspects for the tourism industry in line with the European environmental policies<< Objectives >>Circular Economy under the “Green Deal” will set up minimum requirements to prevent environmentally harmful products or services to enter the EU market. As such, the target of climate neutrality will be set up for 2050, however with current legislation will only reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2050. Tourism plays an important role in global economy and in EU alone, 12 million people work in the tourism industry and inbound tourism generates an annual revenue contribution of 326 billion euros (Overview of EU’s Tourism Policy). Two of the four priorities of actions set up in the EU’s tourism policy are the development of sustainable tourism and the projection of EU’s destinations as sustainable touristic options. The great numbers of touristic influxes cause great environmental burden in local communities, such as overuse of single-use plastics, excess waste, surplus food leftovers and higher carbon dioxide emissions due to extra energy used to cover additional needs.In view of the above, the project aim is to strengthen professional development of SMEs and young entrepreneurs and VET trainers through adoption or improving knowledge and skills in the field of implication Low-emission concept to modern tourism industry reality. This aim will be achieved through development of the following results: PR1 TOUCAN m-learning solution for tourism industry sector to reduce carbon footprint and PR2 TOUCAN Recognition and validation OER.<< Implementation >>The project will train professionals in the touristic sector to promote circular economy solutions in their businesses in order to make the touristic sector more sustainable and in compliance with the environmental goals set up by the EU. The project's transnational dimension will facilitate the exchange of good practices and ideas in all participating countries. Lack of environmental skills amongst tourism industry professionals is a European phenomenon and should be tackled in a transnational manner. The Working Thematic Groups (WTG) will created by project partners in their own countries. Their role will be to work on the content for the foreseen modules. It is expected that WTGs will meet at least 4 times during content preparation phase in order to check the progress and to ensure smooth preparation of the materials. Each WTG will be chaired by a representative from the partner institution, but all decisions need to be taken in agreement with the majority of WTGs.Each of WTGs will have five members. The lead role will have the representative of the partner institution, supported by four additional members: one representative from VET provider (or similar) organisation and three SME from tourism industry. Apart from the member coming from partnering institution, other members will agree to contribute to the development of the content on voluntary basis. These arrangement have already been made at the time of writing this proposal with the associated partners. The first arrangements of this activity are planned to take place even before the start of the project to ensure that the contacts and arrangements are still valid. Such approach will make sure that through WTGs the access to target groups is secured.All six planned modules will be divided across all partners, who with the established WTGs will be responsible for the content preparation. All training materials will follow the template produced by PRz. The six modules will be divided across project partners taking into account the experience in specific areas. The process will be subject to periodic checks to make sure that the development goes smoothly. The m-learning solution will be tested in both virtual and real devices to make sure that the compatibility with different devices is met. Once the first modules are published, all project partners will be invited to take part in the internal testing to enable for early identification of any issues that should be corrected.Once the EN modules are finalised, all project partners will be asked to translate the training content. This approach will ensure that the translated modules correspond to already tested versions of training materials.The innovative character of this PR is based on the fact that there are no similar tools that would validate the competences online in the area of Circular Economy related aspects applied to SMEs form tourism industry. Innovation can also be observed on two main target groups. SMEs will be able to use the tool that will help them engage into non-formal learning by validating their competences, whereas VET teachers/providers will have access to the tool that will enable them to perform validation whenever needed.<< Results >>The main results of the project are its two Project results: PR1: TOUCAN m-learning solution for tourism industry sector to reduce carbon footprint consisting of the following seven training modules:-Green reception basics of low-emission tourism activity,-Low-emission planning of tourist activities and services,-Energy saving at the place of accommodation,-The role of agropreneurs in the low-carbon process,-The role of tour operators and guides in the low-carbon process,-Digital technology for sustainable development,-Rethink the business model for sustainable development.PR2 TOUCAN Recognition and validation OER. The TOUCAN Recognition and validation test could be used independently, but in the framework of prepared training modules within PR1, this will act as a pre- and post- questionnaire to allow for progress comparison. The estimations are that on average the level should increase by about 55-60% when comparing the pre- and post-results.- “SMEs and validation – benefits and importance” user guide.It is of utmost importance for SMEs form tourism industry to be aware of the benefits and importance that validation of skills, knowledge and competences in the entrepreneurship setting can bring. Unfortunately, the available reports state that the general awareness among SMEs form tourism industry and young entrepreneurs is quite low (see European inventory on validation of non-formal and informal learning, 2018). In light of this, the guide will act as an important resource for SMEs form tourism industry to make them aware of possibilities for validation of non-formal learning and will explain in details the benefits of this process. In addition to that, the project will create results in the management area (the plan, project space in AdminProject on-line management system, meeting programs and reports, etc.), in the promotion area (promotion plan, logo, website, social media accounts, leaflets, newsletters, articles, multiplier events’ materials, sustainability plan, etc.), in the evaluation area (evaluation plan, questionnaires, reports, etc.).

AgTech7 addresses the lack of inter-disciplinary knowledge and multi-actor mobilisation for future agri-tech disruptive applications on the entire farm-to-fork food-chain. The project will directly engage the following target-groups: 1) European HEIs’ and Research Institutes’ students, and, ‘in-house’ incubator managers; 2) Agribusiness companies; and 3) Angel-investors. The project will advance their knowledge to facilitate: 1) inter-disciplinarity in agro-education, integrating engineering innovation, agricultural know-how and entrepreneurial skills, while at the same time, 2) advancing European angels investors’ and startup service providers’ understanding on the emerging agri-tech future market opportunities.Despite the recent increase in agribusiness ventures by global conglomerates, many European small-scale entrepreneurs, angel investors and incubator managers, are still not aware of the benefits the adoption of farm-to-fork disruptive agri-tech can provide in terms of growth and innovation. In parallel, while many European HEIs have shown interest in agri-tech recently, their training curricula lack practical cases from an inter-disciplinary approach that will allow them to deeply understand and exploit the innovation potentials of agri-tech applications.AgTech7 will follow a multi-actor co-creation approach into designing a comprehensive Curriculum with 7 agri-tech learning modules. The Curriculum will be put to test, following an agile and lean-training Methodology, into 4 face-to-face training deployments and one online MOOC-style e-learning platform with open-access and practical knowledge, adapting to the learning habits of each identified target-group. The project’s outcomes will undergo thorough quality assurance and external evaluation examination. Deep-impact dissemination actions and detailed sustainability planning will be put to practice. The project will conclude with an Agri-Tech Training Foresight report and a final Agri-Tech conference.

The project MISSILE is focused on extremely hot topic, developing key competencies, related to awareness about the information security vulnerabilities, threats and countermeasures. The main goal of the project is to develop a methodology for raising awareness of the information security vulnerabilities, threats and security solutions through learning and training and therefore increase overall security level of users and organizations. It can be achieved by the following objectives: - to define user needs and requirements in the field of the information security training; - to develop a concept for information security training, covering the major issues regarding the contemporary information security issues; - to develop platform, which represents an actual implementation and actualizes the created methodology in a feasible and reliable way; - to create learning materials, related to information security issues, social engineering, users’ beliefs and understandings about sensitive data and information security, as well as selecting and applying properly defined security policies, mechanisms and countermeasures; - to conduct effective valorisation of the created concept and its realization by conducting of piloting with a selected target group of users.By basing our solution into iterative working platform and user trials, we will push our system into piloting for testing and evaluating the created methodology. Apart from the innovative methodology for information security training and learning, we also foresee the formulation and exploitation of security and awareness training methods’ synergies as a major outcome of the MISSILE project. This view is supported by our approach to allow dynamic definition of training and learning and by enabling novel methodology ahead of the state of the art.The MISSILE information security and awareness training / learning strategy is properly designed to have a multi-purposed impact, by (directly or indirectly) affecting the:- creating new ideas and practical results in science;- development of a methodology for training / learning in the field of information security;- reaching a wide public of specialists and non-specialists and new audiences at both European and local levels;- ensuring visibility across Europe, covering different countries and languages;- ensuring further dissemination and strong follow-up.

<< Objectives >>The general objective of the project is; to increase the quality and multicultural dimension of Higher Education in Europe. The specific objectives are;1. to develop an innovative short-term staff training curriculum, a didactical guideline, and a set of teaching materials for HE teaching staff for better management of multicultural and diverse classrooms. 2. to develop an innovative Learning Management System (LMS)3. to develop, implement and test short-term staff training courses<< Implementation >>Development of course curriculum and didactical guideline, teaching Materials for Management of Multicultural ClassroomsDevelopment of LMS (Learning Management System) and Short Term Staff Training (Face to face and virtual), website, newsletters, articles, multiplier events, and an international conference for multicultural and diverse education.<< Results >>-Increasing awareness of multicultural education in higher education-Widespread use of project results and outputs by faculty members of other universities-Open resources (course, course contents, and methodology) on strengthening the dimensions of multiculturalism and inclusive education in higher -education is open to sharing and contributing to the literature-Increasing awareness of university administrations on the dimensions of multiculturalism and inclusive education