The Europe 2020 strategy for the present decade has as goal the creation of favourable conditions for “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”. In this frame, in December 2015 was launched the Circular Economy Package which contains the guidelines to move from a linear economy, based on consume and exhaustion of natural resources, to the circular economy model. This will assure the creation of 580,000 jobs, reduction of EU carbon emissions by 450 million tonnes by 2030 (Circular Economy in Europe, EEA 2016, Sustainable Development Goals 2015 -2030) and, in the end the achieving of sustainable European economy by 2050. The circular economy represents the new vision of the treatment of resources, energy, value creation and entrepreneurship. The overall objective of the project is to assure a modern, multidisciplinary and innovative formation of the students in circular economy for rural area, to promote a new business model with smart valorization of resources, to develop the high-level entrepreneurial knowledge’s and skills of the students, increasing them employability and opportunities for career development.To specific objectives of the project are:•To strengthen the role of universities in regional development by an innovative study and analysis to offer tools for economic decisions of the authorities•To improve the connection between universities and SMEs concerning the formation of the students in accordance with the labor market requirements•To enrich the staff knowledge in accord with circular economy paradigm and the new learning ICT tools•To increase the labour market opportunities for students through the creation and implementation of multidisciplinary training courses in circular economy for new business models in rural area and through an innovative and interactive training for the development of personal needed skills •To modernize the learning process introducing innovative methods as blended learning, ICT and audiovisual tools and to assure the practical formation of students in real economy in an international and national environment through the support of SMEs.The MULTITRACES project will produce the most important results at the level of the students, who are also its main beneficiaries. Their participation in the project will lead to a high level of transnational training of students in line with the needs of the labour market. They will get in contact with the real economy and will have a better understanding of the economic mechanisms. They will have access to entrepreneurial training which will be experienced and tested through practice, develop their spirit of initiative and leadership skills in solving concrete problems, develop the ambition of initiating their own business in the studied field.The universities will provide a high-level training program which will increase their impact on the educational offer market and enhance their role in the sustainable development of the region. The connection that will develop with the economic environment and the rural realities will allow a better identification of the labour market requirements and an orientation of the study programmes to meet these needs The participating SMEs will benefit from new information in their field of activity, will be part of an international network working in rural areas, developing business on the principles of circular economy, and exchanging good practices and experiences. The connections between the universities will allow them faster access to scientific advances and new technologies. The practical training of the students to be hosted will allow the development of business plans or business optimization without additional costs and also access to trained personnel according to the needs expressed. Project results -2 international studies: comparative analysis on the implementation of the circular economy in the partner countries; study concerning the needed knowledge and skills required by labour market;-1 course developed for teachers and SME staff; -16 teacher and SME staff members trained in circular economy;-1 guide for the eLearning platform; -5 courses developed in circular economy for rural area and personal skills development for a successful entrepreneurship in the field; -56 students follow the online courses, from which : - 8 students will perform a national practical training in SMEs; - 24 will participate in an international blended-learning mobility; -2 assessment methodologies of the students ;-5 video-presentation of courses and teachers; -25 video testimonials of the students; -4 national practical projects of the students;-10 international practical projects of the students;-6 transnational meetings of the partners;-12 multiplier event-4 national networks of the collaborative partners-4 visits with students in SMEs and meeting with the entrepreneurs-1 video presentation of the project -project website and Facebook.

At the present, 60-70% of all soils in Europe are in unhealthy conditions, mainly because of poor land management practices, pollution of soils, intensive agriculture, and the constant effects of climate change. This situation is further aggravated given that 25% of land is at a high or very high risk of suffering desertification in most parts of Europe. MarginUp! proposes a strategy to secure use and return profitability on marginal lands. Its main objective is to introduce climate-resilient and biodiversity-friendly non-food crops for sustainable industrial feedstock in marginalised and low-productivity lands. The project will focus on producing biomass to be used as raw material for the production of bioproducts and biofuels, which in turn, will create a sustainable and circular value chain, increasing the farming system resilience in rural areas. To further enhance the biodiversity beneficial impact, MarginUp! is focusing on understanding which marginal lands are suitable for low ILUC biomass production. The knowledge gathered in this project will be put into practice in 5 different use cases located in 5 different regions across Europe: - Mediterranean Lands (Spain) - Mine Lands (Greece) - Boreal Lands (Sweden) - Wetlands (Germany) - Central Europe (Hungary) Moreover, international cooperation has been considered and examination and identification of marginal lands will extend to non-European countries such as Argentina and South Africa. To ensure the success of the project, MarginUp! will have a replication network to address the needs and requirements of relevant stakeholders, including, policymakers, land managers, farmers, the bio-based industry, environmental authorities, the academia and the civil society. MarginUp! is directly contributing to European policies such as the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy action plan and the Bioeconomy and Biodiversity strategies.