<< Background >>Digitalisation is taking place at a fast pace in all European countries and across almost the whole world. The Covid-19 pandemic is also accelerating digitalisation at many levels. Digitalisation is transforming the economies, societies, forms of communication, jobs and the necessary skills for the workplace and everyday life. Digitalisation as a systemic enabling process that has enormous potential to boost the circular economy and contribute to the sustainable transition. On the other hand, as one of the drivers of growth of production and consumption globally, digitalisation is also a challenge for environmental and social sustainability. The scope and speed of the digital transformation varies across European countries, sectors, organisations, and places. For example, less than a fifth of companies in the EU are highly digitised, leaning toward much greater levels of uptake in large enterprises as opposed to SMEs (2020, EIO Biennial report). Despite progress in waste management and recycling across the EU, circularity rates remain relatively low. Digitalisation can help to minimise waste, enable more efficient processes in companies, promote longer product life cycles and reduce transaction costs through significantly improved information. There is an enormous spectrum of possible applications to scale-up and mainstream eco-innovations toward a sustainable circular economy. The commercial benefits of greening stem from the potential to increase market share and capture new markets from eco-innovation, eco-entrepreneurship, and eco-adoption among SMEs. The rationale here is that “green” products, niches, and practices represent previously untapped business opportunities that SMEs are uniquely suited to tackle, especially because of their small size and flexibility. Broadly, sustainable SMEs contribute to the protection of the climate, environment, and biodiversity through their products, services, and business practices. But they do so in different way; some SMEs focus on reducing the environmental footprint of their production process (e.g. resource-efficient processes) while others focus on green outputs and offer green products and services (e.g. renewable energy products). Although there are many SMEs that really care for the environment, that largest portion of them perceives eco-innovations as a burden and pursuit eco innovations only when pushed by the legislator. There is a need to prepare the training scheme for SMEs representatives (employees dealing with digital technologies, managers running business operation, business educators dealing with business education) to enlarge the awareness about possibilities of using digital technologies for green purposes, as well as to show how much SMEs can benefit from implementing sustainable digital technologies. The cost reductions for SMEs generally arise from efficiency gains since less inputs are required to produce the same output. These cost reductions are realized through the following channels. These channels are applicable to SMEs in both developing and developed contexts (OECD, 2018).• Process efficiency: By optimizing current processes or introducing new more efficient ones, SMEs minimize the required inputs and waste production.• Product design: SMEs can re-design their products to reduce the required inputs without sacrificing the product’s utility.• Waste disposal: In addition to reducing waste by improving process efficiency, SMEs can reuse already-generate waste or pass it along to other companies. This reduces cost of waste disposal.• Source of raw material: SMEs can reduce cost of raw materials by switching to recycled materials.• Infrastructure efficiency: SMEs can generate savings associated with energy efficiency lighting, building insulation, and heating systems efficiency.• Packaging and transport: By reducing the volume of packaging and switching to local suppliers to decreasing shipping distances, SMEs can further reduce costs.<< Objectives >>Digital technologies can play an important part in tackling the climate emergency, provided they are designed and deployed with the kind of positive societal impact that the Sustainable Development Goals outline at their heart. Digital technologies bring revolution in the business reality, but there is a challenge on how to target those changes, to be beneficial for the climate, the environment and the society. And how to make those who introduce these changes the most to direct them towards sustainable effects - beneficial for the economy, the society and the environment.General idea of the project is to prepare employees of the SMEs for the sustainable digital transformation. General objective: Improve the skills and competences of employees in small and medium-sized businesses to accelerate the digital transformation for sustainable development.Specific objectives:·Define a profile of expert in sustainable digital transformation with associated knowledge, skills, and competencies.·Transforming entrepreneurs' thinking to act in the era of sustainable digital transformation.·Promote the skills and operational tools necessary to manage the implementation of new digital technologies that are sustainable .·Improving and fostering a deep understanding of sustainable digital transformation and its impact on business reality, as well as business and social relationships.·Building soft and hard skills to structure, organize and control innovation and digital transformation processes.·Increasing business efficiency through use of sustainable digital technologies.·Improving the understanding and ability to manage change and challenges for digital economy companies.·Introducing new teaching methods such as edutainment, digital case studies, simulations, and games.·Encouraging learners to think critically about the globalising world, looking for lasting solutions and a holistic approach. Hopefully with this project, we make a progress toward greater awareness of the employees of the climate change, but also, we make a great step towards sustainable development of SMEs.<< Implementation >>To achieve all projects objectives, Partnership needs to perform the following activities:·Structuring an innovative blended training scheme on Sustainable Digital Transformation in SMEs, which should prepare companies to adjust to the virtual business environment and take advantage of the participation in the processes of sustainable digital transformation (referring to the indicated professions),·Elaborating and producing Open Educational Resources, build on the following components:a)interactive video pills, which can be freely accessed online for at least two years after the project end, to allow a vast audience of trainees to acquire and maintain technical/managerial/commercial/relational skills, functional to develop the process to increase competitiveness of SMEs, through effective management of processes of sustainable digital transformation.b)Further investigation materials as supporting materials for developed OERs.·Self-assessment tool for checking own skills and assess the required range of the training.·Elaborating the manual on sustainable digital transformation – how to prepare a company to reshape an existing business model, how to use digital technologies to contribute positively to the climate change, environment protection and positive social transformation, how to earn money on the global sustainable digital transformation.·Designing the quality assurance system for inclusive education delivered with the given training scheme.·Validating the developed contents through during the multiplier events.·Managing all projects activities.·Sharing and promotion of delivered outcomes.<< Results >>The project shall produce the following Results:R1 - The methodology and curriculum for the sustainable Digital Transformation Training Scheme for SMEsR2 - Open Educational ResourcesR3 - Self-Assessment toolR4 - Check-upsR5 - Manual and Good Practices Guidebook.

"Le@d 3.0 Academy intends to create a long term knowledge alliance between Academy and Industry (A&I) to widespread the use of Web3.0/OER by adult educational actors (teachers/trainers/coaches/tutors coming from Universities, Business Schools, HR & Corporate Academies) in the development of the soft e-Leadership skills (Se-Ls) of their final end-users (students/managers/entrepreneurs). Le@d3.0 Academy focuses on ""trainers"" as changing agents to develop those Se-Ls that are required by the labour market in the Digital Age. More specifically the project aims at: a) identifying new Leaders’ soft competencies needs (decision making, people management, strategic vision design, creativity, intra/entrepreneurship, innovation) for actual and future leaders and identify how they can be raised making use of innovative learning methods b) identifying trainers’ missing competencies to effectively develop Web3.0/OER based learning programs and innovative learning approaches to develop soft e-leadership skills c) shaping, deploying and testing an open virtual environment & an educational tool kit for trainers enabling learning processes aimed at developing Se-Ls in today’s and tomorrow’s leadersd) setting up a learning community (Community of Practice–CoP) of trainers to effectively employ Web3.0 in soft e-skills education.Le@d 3.0 Academy wants to be the learning virtual platform for those adult educational actors from A&I that work on the development of the Horizontal skills set of the “e-leader” and that want to identify how it is affected by Web3.0/OER.9 Full partners and 2 Associate from 7 countries (IT-DE-FR-UK-B-PL-PT) can assure a wide dissemination of the project outputs and results among primary target group (trainers from Academy and Industry) and secondary ones (students/managers/entrepreneurs). The project is based on an “open flexible approach” to learning processes to be used in formal, non-formal and informal education on soft e-Leadership skills."

Context: BuGAM project reflects two aspects, in the context of innovative training methods (game-based training, costructivism) and in the context of education facing COVID-19 pandemic. Education is a key factor of economic development and the COVID-19 pandemic has hit it dramatically, forcing millions of students and teachers into distance learning. Distance learning can be very effective process but it requires correct teaching techniques and tools, skills of teachers and students' shift into online learning. Moreover despite the pandemic, today we observe a specific paradigmatic turn in academic teaching, based on the constructivism approach, expressed in the formula “the shift from teaching to learning”, which emphasises shifting the focus from the approach based on the transmission of educational content towards students and the role of the teacher as a facilitator. Constructivism assumes active and emotional involvement of learners in the process, based on their pro-knowledge and social interactions. Virtual business strategic game which we will develop in BuGAM project reffers to both aspects. Game-based training offers exactly the approach indicated in the literature and EU policies. As games offer people engaging and motivating experiences, incorporating game elements into the training, let the learners to be motivated and engaged, student/employee is in the centre of the event, reality is all around. By all that, our virtual strategic game refers to the contremporaty consrtuctivism approach in education. On the other hand, our virtual strategic game is based on software, is played online, is supported by ICT with orientation on work-based learning and action-learning approach. All theses are needed in distance learning in COVID-19 pandemic time. To make the game better suited to students, we intend to combine it with movie education.Objectives: We will develop a virtual business strategic game which was initially created by PUEB and sucessfully used in face-to-face lectures. Our first experience with the use of our game in online education shows its high effectiveness in answering COVID-19 challanges but also it shows the improvements needed to be done to make it more self-playable for students by combining it with movie education.Main aim is to deliver the sophisticated business simulation tools by combining the game with movie education - virtual business strategic game supporting online education at universities in COVID-19 pandemic time.Specific aims:-To develop the architecture of the strategic games while adjusting the tool to the requirement of online teaching process, together with quality assurance and effectiveness assessment,,-To develop the engine of virtual strategic game (new functionalities for teachers and students)-To create, test and implement new game scenario-To create movies introducing the logic of the game and the user panel-To develop education movies supporting in business education as integral part of game engineTarget groups:-University teachers in the field of entrepreneurship, business, management - need to get teaching tools suitable during COVID-19 pandemic -Business students - need innovative learning tools to be able to learn without participation in the classroomThe main result of buGAM project is game-based training tools with edcuational movies supporting the development of entrepreneurial and managerial skills of business students. It will consists of several elements:1. Development of the virtual strategic game engine (IO1)2. New scenario of virtual strategic game (IO2) 3. Movie tutorial for students to present the game logic and game interface (IO3)4. Movie education on entrepreneurship, business and management (IO4)5. Quality assurance (IO5)We expect the following results:1) Higher competencies of the target group representatives (business students) such as business system thinking, internationalisation, strategic thinking, decision making, performance management, problem resolution, strategic management, teamwork, employee and stakeholder development, communication skills2) Higher competencies of the teachers using developed curricula and business simulation games3) Higher efficiency of higher edcuation facing the COVID-19 pandemic,4) Increased understanding and interest for the business simulation games used as the teaching technique5) Enriched training resources, publicly and free of charge available for academic community.Project's direct impact is foreseen in consortuim countries but it should impact the education sectors widespreaded in other countries, mostly European.- Short -term impact - participants and participating organization, business students, universities, business trainers and educators, business consultants, employees from consortium countries- Long-term impact - Enhanced awareness on new needs and expectations of managers, employees; quality services of business teaching, network of instructors

IFI project aims to systematically align the Israeli HE system with global changes and develop capacities to extend the role of sustainable Finance (SF) beyond its current disciplinary boundaries, defining gaps between European and Israeli in three main parameters: (a)Eco-system & infrastructure (b)case studies and prototyping and (c)practical activities and collaborative training. In response to growing social needs in Israel, there has been increased interest in how EU SF innovation can facilitate development and scaling of effective solutions. The prevalent model is designed to mainly maximize short-term results and to address mostly shareholders. One of the biggest challenges for financial sector will be to take a more integrated and long-term approach to add value in the long run, learning how to balance financial concerns and incorporate sustainability into asset pricing and valuation rather than simply maximising profit. IFI agenda to promote such change is integrating different aspects (finance, legal, innovation, design, education), and adopting perspective seeing social challenges as grow engines. Addressing this, IFI brings an interdisciplinary approach, stressing shifting focus is needed not only in finance but also in economics, law, technology, design and education. Gathering EU and IL experts, IFI project will act as a platform to foster integrated community and cultivating evidence-based standards and practices, building a scope of knowledge and case studies digital platform, training institutional investments, regulators and innovators, letting students practice ESG investments (via demo students-led fund) and encourage innovation (via SF ventures). All practices are key components of a thriving sustainable finance ecosystem and HEIs capacity building. IFI is the first national consortium created explicitly to provide infrastructure, knowledge and innovation to further develop the sustainable and inclusive finance ecosystem in HEIs and field.

"<< Background >>Digital era is advancing through every facet of social, economic, and even biological life, driving major personal and professional changes and the way people interact, work, learn, and create knowledge. The concept of digital competence has emerged concurrently with the technological development and as society has recognised the need for new competences. The digital competence is now acknowledged as one of the eight key Lifelong Learning competences sought in Europe and one of the essential resources for the recovery of economy and society after the pandemic.Alongside, digital transformation is steadily moving about and reshaping one industry and sector after another. Education is not an exception. Digital technologies are expected to have fundamental impact on all segments of business and society. For educational institutions, it is an opportunity to process curricular, methodological, technological, and organisational changes by absorbing new digital culture and approach to the strategic redesign of all aspects and structures of the sector. There is a recognised need for HEIs to integrate and effectively use digital technologies in order to achieve their core mission: to educate students to be successful in a complex and interconnected world that faces rapid technological, cultural, economic, informational, and demographic change.In Europe, recent work on capacity building for the digital transformation of education has focussed on the development of digital competence frameworks for educational organisations (DigCompOrg) and for educators (DigCompEdu). DigCompOrg pinpoints the main factors enhancing digital readiness that are structured in seven thematic elements and are common to all education sectors. DigCompEdu is a scientifically sound background framework which can be directly adapted to implementing tools and training programmes.The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the digital transformation of education that raised the major need to enhance the digital readiness of institutions and imposed some immediate responses to be given. On one hand, the crisis emphasised the potential of online teaching and learning, but it also revealed huge gaps in the delivery capacities of educational institutions as well as gaps in the capacity of individuals to actively participate and take up what is being offered.Notwithstanding exceptions, many institutions were not prepared for this radical switch. They found out that infrastructure was lacking, the digital skills of lecturers were not up to the challenge, and that even the familiarity of students with digital tools and platforms was lower than expected. There was no time for instructional design and conceiving a new format of lectures and assignments. As a result, the quality of the educational delivery and the learning experience of students suffered. A tremendous effort was and will be still required to ensure that education needs are met in a satisfactory manner using virtual means as a main mode of delivery.In fact, the digital gap, and the lack of preparation for online teaching have actually increased educational disparities and created social distress, especially among vulnerable students. Goal 4 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals states, “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning”. In order to achieve this goal, there is the need to embrace modern digital learning methods that provide effective ways to increase access to quality educational opportunities.The COVID-19 crisis revealed major needs and indicated what can aid the transition to online education. The needs analysis conducted during the proposal writing revealed the main difficulties for this transition in terms of digital strategy, digital pedagogy, and digital competence. The DigiTransformEdu project will rely on DigCompOrg and DigCompEdu in order to foster the digital transformation of educational institutions and promote effective digital-age learning.<< Objectives >>The DigiTransformEdu project aims to foster the digital transformation of HE and tertiary VET institutions. This objective will be reached through a six-step approach (operational objectives):1. Mapping the digital readiness and resilience of educational and training institutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis (project results 1 & 2)2. Promoting the development of a digital culture by supporting institutional leadership to pursue digital strategy at institutional level (project result 3)3. Encouraging the digitalisation of educational processes and promoting effective digital-age learning by integrating the DigCompOrg framework (project results 3 & 4)4. Based on the DigCompEdu framework and the concept for the different roles of educators in an online environment, defining the knowledge and skills needed by the digital educator (project result 5) 5. Raising the digital competence of educators by organising training activities and preparing training materials (project results 5 & 6) 6. Enhancing international networking and cooperation and contributing to the EU Digital Education Action Plan (project result 6 & four multiplier events).The primary groups that the DigiTransformEdu project will target involve:• Institutional leaders responsible for the digital agenda• Programme managers responsible for the digitalisation of pedagogy• Digital educators who belong to A2 and B1 levels of DigCompEduThe secondary target groups are:• HEIs• Tertiary VET providers• Associations of educational and training institutions• Businesses and their learning departments• Professional associationsStudents, participants, and learners in general are the main beneficiary of the project. They will profit from the enhanced digitalisation at institutional level and at individual level from the improved digital competence of their educators.By achieving its objectives DigiTransformEdu will impact the target groups and the relevant stakeholders. Thanks to the project, institutional leaders of both HE and tertiary VET institutions will have better capability and vision on how to lead their organisations through digital transformation, programme managers will be equipped with guidelines and operational tools to be able to make the transition from a traditional class-based pedagogy to a blended or pure digital one while educators will see their digital competence improved.The expected achievements of the DigiTransformEdu project can be summed up as follows:1. Increased knowledge about the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the transition to digital education2. Better comprehension on how to deal with the digital transformation at strategical level3. Increased familiarity with approaches and operational tools on how to design, deliver, and assess digital education4. Better understanding of the new roles of the digital educator and the knowledge and skills needed for their implementation5. Increased capacity to design training starting from profile descriptions6. Increased digital competence of educators.In the long run, the desired achievements can be summarised as: 1. The overall quality of education is increased because by becoming more digital it becomes more relevant and able to better develop students’ capabilities and practical skills, as required in a digital world.2. The development of virtual culture is enhanced by supporting institutional leadership to pursue digital strategy at institutional level.3. The digitalisation of educational processes is accelerated by assisting educators and administrators in the design, delivery, and assessment of digital education.4. The framework for the digital competence of educators is enriched by complementing it with analysing the different roles of the digital educator and looking for similarities with the T-shape model for e-leadership.<< Implementation >>The activities leading to R1 and R2 correspond to the achievement of the first objective that is to map the digital readiness and resilience of educational and training institutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis. In R1 first HE and tertiary VET institutions will be shortlisted. Then potential respondents will be identified and invited to participate. The survey participants will be from institutional management and enabling services in R1 and educators, students, and ICT staff in R2. The survey methodology will be defined, and the surveys will be administrated. The data will be first analysed and collected in national reports, then compiled and further analysed to produce a synthetic report.The second objective to promote the development of a virtual culture by supporting institutional leadership to pursue digital strategy will be achieved through R3. Starting with currently available concepts on digital transformation in education, the analysis will be taken further to study the institutional reactions to the pandemic from the strategic perspective. The study results will be presented in reports and examples of best practice will be selected. Using the exploratory and analytical work, a blueprint to guide HE/VET institutions in the development of a long-term digital strategy will be developed.The third objective to encourage digitalisation of educational processes and to promote effective digital-age learning by integrating DigCompOrg will be pursued through the accomplishment of both R3 and R4. Once digitalisation is taken at strategical level (R3), the activities in R4 will look at the digitalisation of pedagogy. Building upon the exploration done so far, successful practices, approaches and tools, used for the design, delivery, and assessment of digital education will be analysed. The insights will be used to define a set of guidelines and operational tools to support educators in making the transition from a traditional class-based pedagogy to a blended or pure digital one.The fourth objective defines the knowledge and skills needed by the digital educator and will be achieved through R5. Starting from a range of sources, including DigCompEdu, and relying on identified learning needs, R5 will further explore to reach a better understanding. For each role of the digital educator, the components of skills related to methodology, technology and tools will be studied and defined. This analysis will lead to a model that can be used to design training. In this respect, a role will be selected to design a training programme to be put into practice in R6. A learning and collaboration platform will be also designed and maintained to serve training and collaboration.The fifth objective is intended to raise the digital competence of educators by organising training activities and preparing training materials. R6 is meant to achieve it by first organising a three-day joint staff training event. 16 master trainers will participate and get familiar with the training programme, its facilitation and the use of the online learning and collaboration platform. Then 60 educators will work together in collaboration sessions to improve their digital competence and develop self-training materials for the digital educator.The sixth objective is intended to enhance international networking and cooperation and contribute to the realisation of the EU Digital Education Action Plan. The sessions organised in R6 will expose the participants to new international contacts. Networking and cooperation opportunities will be encouraged through the organisation of four multiplier events and by promoting involvement and active participation in the existing eLeadCommunity, a collaborative knowledge building community of practice devoted to digital education and e-leadership.The achievement of the six operational objectives will foster the digital transformation of HE and tertiary VET institutions that is the main objective of DigiTransformEdu.<< Results >>DigiTransformEdu will result in a comprehensive and complementary set of outcomes that cover the seven thematic elements of DigCompOrg (i.e., Leadership & Governance Practices: R1 & R3; Teaching & Learning Practices: R2, R4, R5 & R6; Professional Development: R5 & R6; Assessment Practices: R4; Content & Curricula: R4; Collaboration & Networking: R3, R6 & 4 ME; Infrastructure: R2, R3 & R4)The project follows a logical sequence and starts by mapping the digital readiness and resilience of about 30 HE and tertiary VET institutions in response to the COVID-19 crisis that will help identifying best practices and learning from failures. These institutions will form the core, on which the exploratory work will be based. In Result 1, the survey will target people able to evaluate institutions’ response at the level of governance and enabling services. The findings will be collected in national reports that will be further analysed to produce a synthetic report compiled with the findings from Result 2.Result 2 will study the perceptions of educators and students. At teaching level, the use of digital pedagogy and assessment as well as digital competence will be explored. Students will be targeted to dip into their perception in terms of effectiveness, adaptation to online provision, digital inclusion, engagement, quality of communication and collaboration. The picture will be complemented with mapping digital infrastructure. This mapping will trigger tangible changes in digital strategy (Result 3), digital pedagogy (Result 4) and digital competence (Results 5 & 6) thanks to the provision of guidance, tools, and resources.Result 3 will focus on the strategical aspect of digitalisation. Starting with qualitative research, the team will also analyse the survey results. Based on that, examples of best practice will be selected and included in a collection of case studies. Using the exploratory and analytical work, a blueprint to guide HE and VET institutions in the development of a digital strategy will be developed.Result 4 will address educators and managers and guide them in the successful operationalisation of effective digital instruction. The project team will map successful practices, approaches and tools used for the design, delivery and assessment of digital education. The data and insights will be used to define a set of guidelines and operational tools in the form of a blueprint to assist in making the transition from a traditional class-based pedagogy to a blended or pure digital one.Starting from a range of sources that reflect on the different roles of the digital educator and relying on the conducted analyses and identified learning needs, Result 5 will explore further to collect inputs about the knowledge and skills needed for each role and ways to assess them. The analysis of the different roles leads to a model that can be used to design training. Within this result a role will be selected as a basis to design a training programme. A learning and collaboration platform will be devised and maintained to serve the training.Finally, result 6 will implement the training programme and inspired by it will develop self-training materials to assist educators in implementing the different roles. Sixteen educators will be selected to participate in a three-day joint staff training event to get familiar with the training programme and its facilitation. They will later lead 60 educators through the training programme by using the platform designed in Result 5. In addition to improving their digital competence, they will work together to replicate the training designed for one role and turn it into a comprehensive range of solutions applicable to the individual training objectives of each role.Four multiplier events ""Foster DigiTransformEdu"" gathering about 140 participants will be organised in Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, and Italy with the aim to promote the project results and foster their up-taking."