Circular Economy Entrepreneurship Competences for youth
15-11-2021
Duration 01-11-2021 – 01-11-2023
Project number: 2021-1-RO01-KA220-YOU-000028700
The new Circular Economy Action Plan ‘For a cleaner and more competitive Europe’ is a key priority of the EU (European Green Deal 2020) stating ‘the transition to a more circular economy, where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and waste minimized, is an essential contribution to the EU’s efforts to develop a sustainable, low carbon, resource efficient and competitive economy’. To boost Europe’s development, the economy must transform so today’s goods and wastes will be tomorrow’s resources. Circular economy is a solution to grow EU’s competitiveness by protecting businesses against resources’ scarcity and unstable prices, initiating new business opportunities and more sustainable ways of producing and consuming, creating local jobs at all skill levels and opportunities for social integration It aims to contribute to practices’ exchange and the creation of a favorable digital environment to encourage and enable youth to foster the entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship idea in Circular Economy industry in their communities. In an increasingly volatile and complex world, suddenly overwhelmed by the global pandemic of COVID-19, non-formal education could prepare young people to take on the challenges they face rather than overcome. These challenges of young people may be supported by the following additional arguments: – According to the Eurobarometer 40% of young Europeans emphasize the importance of changing behavior through environmentally friendly initiatives, placing it second in EU development (after education and skills acquisition-by 50%), – Developing youth initiative and entrepreneurship can improve the economic situation in the partners’ countries by creating their own businesses and realizing innovative ideas -The 2/11 Youth Goals-Sustainable and Green Europe and Quality Learning, formulated during the BG Presidency of the Council of the EU after consultation with 50,000 young Europeans, serving as a basis of the updated EU Youth Strategy, highlight the need for: a) a society with eco-friendly and educated young people capable of changing their daily lives; b) integrating the various forms of training that prepare them for economic transformation in the 21st century. The transition to a more circular economy where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible and the generation of waste is minimized, is an essential contribution to the EU’s efforts to develop a sustainable, low carbon, resource efficient and competitive economy. The C-ENTRY project will tackle the specific training, development and transfer of innovation needs of selected sectors in industry and its attempts to adapt to the requirements of the Circular Economy (CE). The main project activities will focus on concrete, real and measurable actions such as the provision and testing of cross-border training and the developing new and innovative CE self-assessment business tools. C-ENTRY aims to promote employment and entrepreneurship in EU rural areas by empowering young people with the capabilities to create co-working & start-up incubators exploiting potentialities offered by the Circular Economy with concrete examples in specific areas: furniture, agro-business & building/housing, as these economic sectors represent strategic fields for European smart economic and social development. The project is based on the European’s new Circular Economy Action Plan, which is one of the main blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth. The target groups of the C-ENTRY project they will benefit from the experience gained and the opportunity to increase their knowledge and acquire new business and technical specific as well as transversal skills. Such benefits will allow young people to establish new initiatives active in CE, SMEs and their management staff to communicate with other European SMEs with similar activities, share experiences and establish links potentially leading to transnational business collaborations of various types. The project is innovative as it is based on the Circular Economy Action Plan (European Green Deal). The transition to a greener economy can bring jobs, but this requires greater integration of greening policies with education and training measures. Circular Economy will provide high-quality, functional and safe products to the public, which are efficient and affordable, last longer and are designed for reuse, repair, and high-quality recycling. A whole new range of sustainable services, product-as-service models and digital solutions will bring about a better quality of life, innovative jobs and upgraded knowledge and skills. C-ENTRY’s specific objectives are: – to promote employment and entrepreneurship in EU rural areas by increasing young people capabilities to reconvert empty spaces to host co-working & start-up incubators, exploiting potentialities offered by circular economy; – to promote youth skills and competencies for the development of co-working spaces & start-up incubators focused on specific areas: furniture, agro-business & building/housing; – to equip young people with relevant circular economy skills, that are at a cross roads between citizenship competencies and entrepreneurial competences; – to foster youth capabilities to operate at transnational level for developing joint concrete circular coworking projects; – to promote the learning of CE related subjects through creative and innovative teaching methodologies and training tools – to develop a training curriculum and schemes in the subject of CE – to develop a business self-assessment tool regarding the adoption of CE practices for further training (VLE and blended learning)
EN