The idea of the project is to excel entrepreneurship education in higher education by creating effective knowledge alliances (KA) between higher education institutions (HEI) and businesses. It is focused on developing students’ entrepreneurship competencies (ECs) to meet the labour market expectations towards professional competencies of employees and entrepreneurs taking into account the macro-level developments such as globalisation, technological advancements and demographic shifts. The project includes both diagnoses of divergences between employers’ needs and actual students’ entrepreneurship competences (ECs), proposition of the new entrepreneurship education (EE) framework embedding ECs together with innovative teaching and learning approaches and its application in practice. The novelty of the project is guaranteed by cooperation of diverse partners interested in different but innovative teaching and learning approaches for students and future workforce with competences meeting societal challenges. The Project includes new and innovative tools and teaching and learning opportunities, which are different from the existing experiences in HEI and businesses today. These include: self-assessment tools to assess the level and need for ECs according to societal needs; new innovative study and training programmes relying on entrepreneurship competence-based approach; innovative teaching and learning approaches based on embedding the development of ECs in EE and subject-specific courses; roadmap for the development of expansive entrepreneurial learning environment at the workplaces supporting ECs development. The project is focused on providing innovative solutions for both, universities and businesses and is supporting the development of innovative and reflective European societies with an innovative HEIs and businesses in a context of growing global interdependencies.

EU is dependent on the import of Raw Materials, if we consider that in Europe there are between 150K to 500K highly variable landfills, it is easy to understand that the SRM potential of various landfills is significant. Valuable Raw Materials disposed in landfills are mostly lost due to inefficient waste management practices. Existing knowledge, reporting standards and inventory on SRM seems to be inefficient. In this context, the SMART GROUND project intends to foster resource recovery in landfills by improving the availability and accessibility of data and information on Secondary Raw Materials (SRM) in the EU, while creating synergies among the different stakeholders involved in the SRM value chain. SMART GROUND involves the 3 main players of the process: End-users (waste management companies),RTD institutions (Research centres, Universities, SMEs), and Technology Transfer providers (Networking, training organizations and public authorities). Thus, the consortium will integrate all the data from existing databases and new information retrieved in a single EU databank. SMART GROUND will respond to the needs of coordination, networking and cooperation between stakeholders, through the creation of a databank enabling the exchange of information among them. It will improve data gathering on SRM from different types of waste, by defining new and better data acquisition methods and standards; it will cooperate with other EU ongoing activities and support the implementation of the EIP on RM. The project also aims at improving the SRM economic and employment potential, by i) providing training on the assessment of landfill sites material recovery targeting end-users, ii) forming a dedicated network of academic, industrial and other stakeholders and regulators committed to cost-effective research, technology transfer and training; iii) developing and implementing a dissemination and exploitation plan to maximise the impacts and benefits of the SMART GROUND action

Concrete is the most significant construction material and C&D waste stream globally and in the EU. ReCreate aims at closing the loop for concrete at the highest level of utilization by demonstrating the deconstruction and reuse of precast structural components, which retains the secondary material at its highest value. Compared to virgin production, aggregate recycling and backfilling, reusing can reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint by 93-98%. The main objective is to pilot deconstruction and reuse towards maturity as a socio-technical system. The project develops the transition towards circular construction by investigating the systemic changes needed in the whole ecosystems of construction and demolition. Drawing from partnerships that cover the entire value chain, ReCreate will demonstrate deconstruction of intact precast components from condemned buildings and reuse thereof in new buildings in four real-life innovative pilots. The pilots examine the challenge of circularity against the feature of the industry being relatively local, taking into account differences in precasting technologies, building types, construction industry structures and regulatory environments in the different countries. To develop technology and integrate the value chain so that the businesses can become viable, the project advances smart pre-deconstruction audit and deconstruction methods; rapid low-cost quality assurance and standardization; logistics, traceability, and BIM and digital market place integration; and novel design practices and reassembly techniques. In addition ReCreate analyses the potential volume of the supply and demand for secondary concrete components in the EU; reviews how concrete reuse can help the EU to reach its ambitious energy and climate targets for 2030; investigates how secondary components can become socially acceptable for relevant stakeholders and citizens; and elaborates on the changes needed to the regulatory environment to support reuse.