The overall and long term goal of BIOPOLIS proposal is to upgrade ICETA-CIBIO (Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources), a Research Unit in the field of biological sciences from a low-performing Member State (Portugal), to a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for R&D&I in Basic and Environmental Biology, Ecosystem Monitoring and AgroBiodiversity, through the TEAMING with Porto Business School (PBS) and the University of Montpellier (UM), an institution of research and innovation excellence from an advanced performing Member State (France). The proposal builds on the rising performance of ICETA-CIBIO over the last decade, which has been significantly boosted by a FP7 CAPACITIES Project funding the installation of a Next-Gen Sequencing Platform, and the award in 2015 of an H2020 ERA Chair. The proposal also builds on a formal working relationship between ICETA-CIBIO and UM established in 2014 through a Laboratoire International Associé (LIA), supported by FCT (Portugal) and CNRS (France). Based on these previous achievements and collaboration experience, ICETA-CIBIO, PBS and UM produced in this TEAMING phase 1 proposal a consistent and streamlined work program to prepare the operational plans for BIOPOLIS, by (i) establishing the communication, dissemination and exploitation strategies; (ii) strengthening relationships with public and private stakeholders; (iii) establishing a research program; (iv) evaluating needs, costs and funding opportunities; and (iv) developing a business plan. The proposal was designed to harness the unique atmosphere of Excellence Towards Innovation existent in the R&D&I ecosystem of Montpellier. This will be used to effectively promote the upgrading of ICETA-CIBIO and foster the development of cutting-edge research, and its downstream applications to propel innovation in agricultural and forestry systems while sustaining ecosystem function and biodiversity under climate change, thereby addressing H2020 societal challenges and contributing to regional and national smart specialization strategies.

UniverCity Action Lab – embedding Europe’s education and knowledge institutions into their urban environment to unlock their innovation potential and address metropolitan challenges.BackgroundToday more than 70% of Europe's citizens live in cities, which makes European Union one of the most urbanised areas in the world. While these areas are considered to be the engines of European economy with extensive job opportunities, and the educated population they attract, they are also places where social and environmental challenges are concentrated, concerning mobility, sustainable land and energy use, inclusion of migrants, digital transformation and poverty. Without doubt, universities hold great potential to act as key actors in fostering dialogue among regional stakeholders to initiate and sustain joint actions towards creation of smart and sustainable cities. However, despite efforts, urban engagement is not an inherent component of HE systems, nor are they a part of ongoing academic programs. HEIs lack relevant strategies, tools, resources, and knowledge to apply to engage in city initiatives. Hence, it is crucial to expand the bottom-up support for the cities to co-develop, test and implement the solutions, and thus consolidate efforts. HEIs can support anchoring innovation by raising interest in the urban areas they are based in, offer resources, and facilitate change. HEIs should also exploit cities as living labs incorporating the open spaces, institutions, and local community in their research and teaching programs. To support this change, UCITYLAB has set the following objectives: 1. increase the knowledge and understanding of HEIs in establishing urban partnerships (IO2) 2. support societal relevance of the HEI curriculum and enhance ties with civic community (IO4) 3. develop relevant skills set among students by exposing them to the real-life societal problems (IO4) 4. strengthen links among the stakeholders of urban community, including HEIs, to facilitate knowledge exchange and better flow of resources for urban development (IO2) 5. widely disseminate results to foster adoption of city engagement practices in European HEIs (IO5)In order to achieve these objectives, the following horizontal activities were undertaken, guiding the whole project:A1. Project Management and CommunicationA2. Dissemination And SustainabilityA3. Further Exploitation – SustainabilityA4. Quality Management and Evaluation.Moreover, specific activities linked to the IOs were performed:IO1: UCITYLAB Status-Quo Report & Collection of Good PracticesIO2: UCITYLAB Network RoadmapIO3: UCITYLAB Challenge Teaching Toolkit IO4: UCITYLAB Challenge Pilot Implementation ReportIO5: UCITYLAB Online PortalRegarding the target reached, UCITYLAB reached Higher Education Institutions, businesses, VET institutions, public institutions, supranational organisations, media and others. In terms of number of participants, we can say that:-5000+ people were reached through email dissemination-600+ people have downloaded project outputs-40+ people engaged in our network-500+ people were achieved on social media (facebook, linkedin, twitter)-200 people have downloaded our newslettersThe project has developed new curriculum in partner HEIs, that can be transferred to other HEIs and countries. City alliances were also established in 4 major cities in Europe (Porto, Ljubljana, Barcelona, and Paris), which might also be replicated in other contexts. UCITYLAB has, therefore, instigated a potential European approach towards fostering solutions towards urban challenges. Particularly, the major results are:-the fostering of social innovation, entrepreneurial and urban development skills development among HEI students, enhancing responsible citizenship-the improvement in entrepreneurship curriculum at HEIs -the development of problem-based programmes in real context, which represent new innovative educational methods-the strength of relationships between HEIs and their urban communities, through meetings, national events, online networks, and e-mail dissemination The impact and long-term benefits are directly linked to the priorities addressed:-Contribution to innovation through the development, implementation and test of the effectiveness of approaches to promote creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and skills -Development of relevant and high-quality skills and competences-Supporting the civic and social responsibility of students and institutionsIn fact, during the project, partners have experienced the establishment of partnerships with the cities they are located through municipalities, public institutions, companies and NGOs, and have reported this in a Network Roadmap to help further institutions in engaging in similar processes. Besides, developing students’ social entrepreneurship skills will result in the economic and social development in the cities where the HEIs are located.

The BIOPOLIS proposal of ICETA (Institute for Research in Agroenvironmental Sciences and Technologies), an institution from a Widening Member Country (Portugal), addresses the upgrade of its research unit CIBIO (Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources) to a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for R&D&I, through a teaming with a leading scientific institution, the University of Montpellier (France), and with the participation of a business partner, the Porto Business School (PBS; Portugal). The proposal results from a successful application to the call H2020-WIDESPREAD-2016-2017, under the topic WIDESPREAD-04-2017. Rooted on an ambitious Business Plan, the project envisions to establish BIOPOLIS as one of the best international Centres of Excellence in Environmental Biology, Ecosystem Research and AgroBiodiversity, with the capacity for spreading excellence towards innovation in the areas of Environment, Biodiversity and Agriculture, and thereby contributing to socioeconomic development at the regional and national levels. The CoE will advance biological understanding from genes to ecosystems, and to use this knowledge to address pressing societal challenges through the development of world-leading research, the establishment of long-term strategic partnerships, the engagement of stakeholders, and the transfer and exploitation of research outputs. This will be achieved by attracting talented researchers, providing excellent conditions for research, training, internationalisation and networking, aligning research with societal challenges and smart specialisation strategies, engaging in ambitious advanced training programmes, developing strong communication, dissemination and exploitation activities, and setting a strong affiliates programme and other mechanisms to promote the translation of research and innovation into applications and business opportunities. BIOPOLIS will thus upgrade excellence in a widening country and promote sustainable economic development.

"<< Background >>Youth unemployment has become one of the main problems to be tackled in Europe. Although youth unemployment rates in EU countries in February 2020 (14.9%) improved compared to 2019 in the same month (15.5%), due to the COVID crisis it has increased again to the 17,1%. Moreover, they are still very high compared to the adults' unemployment rate according to the last figures released by European Union, 8,1% (March 2021).Regarding its distribution by country, in Spain it has become one of the most important problems in terms of employment policy since we are the country with the highest unemployment rate, 37.7%. As for the rest of the countries that make up the consortium, their rates are also high: Italy 33%, Portugal 23%, and France 19.5%, (March 2021). In addition, the distribution of this unemployment rate at the national level shows differences depending on the regions. Obviously, due to the concentration of the population in large urban areas, these show higher unemployment rates. However, in rural and insular areas there is also a similar behavior, being highly difficult for young people to access the labor market given the relocation of the industry close to large urban centers.Taking these figures into account, FLY2WORK will face different needs depending on each target group:- Currently, the high youth unemployment rate is a very discouraging problem new generations have to face. Besides, the quality of jobs they get is low and not very long-lasting. Youngsters need to find jobs that enable them to have a fully independent adult life- Youngsters and companies need to transform the adaptation period into a more effective process, an opportunity to learn from each other instead of an unproductive needed period for both sides.- Social organisations need new tools that they could offer to companies to encourage them to hire youngsters and also to youngsters to help them to get their first opportunity.- Academia needs to offer their students those soft skills requested to have a good career.- Public Administrations and authorities need more practical tools that help them to stop this problem and change the trend.<< Objectives >>Fly2Work aims at fostering youth employability by creating a methodology jointly with a set of tools and good practices that will help companies and, in general, all sorts of employers (social enterprises, foundations, associations, etc.) to design good onboarding plans adapted to their own needs. This way we want to contribute to the solution of the current situation by helping to create better jobs for youngsters in terms of quality, durability, and stability.Our specific objectives are:1. To improve youngsters' employability. At the end of the project, we will have a methodology ready to be implemented in every organisation in Europe willing to improve their processes of hiring young people, improving their employability.2. To encourage employers to hire youngs by providing tools that help them to design good onboarding plans. A practical set of tools will be developed enabling youngsters to adapt better and in a short time to the work environment and encourage employers to give youngsters their first opportunity. 3. Help companies to retain talent. 4. Reduce the gap between the expectations of youngsters regarding work life and what it is in reality. A practical set of tools will be developed enabling youngsters to adapt better and in a short time to the work environment and encourage employers to give youngsters their first opportunity.5. To involve public administrations at a more practical and ""close to the reality"" level. The inclusion of all stakeholders in the equation will promote the social dialogue that will lead to a set of experiences, best practices, success stories, and materials that will help administrations to elaborate more practical and focused instruments.<< Implementation >>The activities planned are:1. Conduct field research to establish the state of the art of unemployment youth situation and to generate a practical and easy-to-use methodology for those organisations that wanted to do it themselves.2. Establish a direct and practical way of working with local public authorities in the field of youth employment to better know their needs and to create a common space of dialogue for exchanging experiences and knowledge.3. Elaborate a practical boarding handbook based on our own methodological approach.4. Finally, create an online digital course in order to maximise the impact of the project and get the interest of relevan stakeholders.<< Results >>We have divided the outcomes of the project between those that are tangible and intangible.1) TANGIBLE: - PROJECT RESULTS. Fly2Work is structured in 4 project results:PR1. Toolbox for identification of needs.PR2. Social Dialogue Roadmap.PR3. Handbook onboarding plans methodology, training materials, and KPIs.PR4. Online digital Course.- OTHER TANGIBLE OUTCOMES:-- Best practices related to the experiences and the work done in each project result.-- Success stories.-- Communication materials: infographics, leaflets, website, press releases, news, etc.-- Increase the number of youngsters hired in the partners' local areas.-- Achieve 16 direct participants in PR3:--> 12 youngsters, at least from 4 different countries--> 4 companies, at least from 2 different countries-- To reach out 257 direct impacts (apart from those reached by our diffusion activities):--> # social entities, at least 90--> # teachers, mentors, trainers, experts, etc., at least 60--> # companies involved indirectly, at least 50--> # chambers of commerce, at least 6--> # training centres and universities, at least 12--> # regional and/or local public administrations, at least 122) INTANGIBLE:- Participants' experiences and a better understanding of the other's point of view on the same problem.- More active participation in adult life by those youngsters participating directly in the activities of the project.- Improved competencies not only by youngsters but also by employers, public administration, and stakeholders directly involved in the project.- Increased motivation and satisfaction in daily work by those youngsters participating directly in the project.- Increased sense of motivation towards work-life by those who benefit from the impact of the project.- Sharing practical experiences and potential solutions among the most relevant stakeholders: youngs, employers, social organisations, and public administration.- Increased sensibilization by all participants about youth unemployment.- Creation of a constructive social dialogue among all participants.- Change employers' mindset about youth commitment, skills, and capabilities."