The integration of many refugees is currently an urgent and outstanding task in many EU countries, and the accomplishment of this task requires the commitment of all social groups. Refugees who have sound professional experience and good entrepreneurial potential can be trained as entrepreneurs in the host country in a comparatively short period of time and integrated into working life as successors or founders of small businesses, thereby making valuable contributions to economic development. The project pursued this innovative and promising approach.Many SMEs experience a critical moment when the business has to be handed over to a new entrepreneur for age or other reasons. In fact, each year more jobs are lost due to failed business transfers than are created by start-ups. One of the main reasons for the failure of transfers and the associated high job losses in many EU countries is the large and growing shortage of qualified successor entrepreneurs under status quo conditions. By qualifying and integrating refugees as entrepreneurs, the project made important contributions to securing SME handovers and business start-ups. Against this background, the project pursued the outstanding goal of achieving the integration of refugees and securing SME handovers as far as possible by a) rapid integration of refugees into working life through training and promotion as entrepreneurs. b) attracting additional target groups and increasing the number of potential SME successors and founders. (c) improving entrepreneurial skills in order to attract qualified entrepreneurs, ensure innovative success and safeguard and increase the number of SMEs and jobs.The project was carried out by 5 partners from Germany, Italy, Austria and Hungary. The internationally active lead partner is particularly experienced in training and promoting SMEs. Three partners are chambers of commerce and associated institutions, which have been dedicated to the training of entrepreneurs and the promotion of SME handovers and business start-ups for many years. One university is successfully involved in the training of entrepreneurs and is particularly experienced in the development of curricula and evaluation processes.The project comprised 7 work packages with the following main activities. 1. Project management and implementation of 6 workshops and 2 international consulting and transfer conferences. 2. Identification of individual competences and entrepreneurial potentials of refugees. 3. Specialized language training and training promoting motivation and creativity. 4. Training as an entrepreneur, which can be completed with an official further education degree. 5. Training in preparation for an SME takeover or business start-up. 6. Inclusion of the trained refugees in existing support programs as well as accompanying coaching and integration programs from the competence assessment until after a successful business takeover or start-up. 7. Transfer of the project results to 70 chambers and higher education institutions/universities from 13 countries, which were involved in the project implementation as associated partners and received sustainable implementation advice, and implementation of further dissemination measures. For these main activities, instruments, methods, curricula, examination regulations etc. have been developed, tested and evaluated which can be used in all countries. Individual instruments and curricula have been so successful that they are already being used in all Baltic Sea countries for domestic and foreigners, for the recruitment and qualification of entrepreneurs. For the five products of the project - Blueprints for the reliable identification of entrepreneurial skills and for advising individual career and educational planning, - Curricula for language training as well as training promoting motivation and creativity for activities as entrepreneurs, - Curricula and examination regulations for entrepreneurship training, - Curricula for preparatory training and blueprints for the implementation of SME takeovers and business start-ups and - Manual with distribution via bookstores high sustainable uses are ensured with a process-oriented expansion of the implementation regions including financing.The project pursued a bottom-up strategy: By means of a rapid, successful qualification and integration of refugees as entrepreneurs or specialists in SMEs, companies and their organizations were to gain their own experience with foreigners on a broad basis and thus bring about sociopolitical changes in behavior. This strategy has had its first effects, particularly in Hungary.

In many EU countries there is a severe shortage of young skilled workers, especially in SMEs. This has a negative impact on the growth prospects and competitiveness of SMEs. Even countries such as Germany, with its dual vocational training system, which has traditional strengths in attracting young talent, are having increasing difficulties in meeting the shortage of young skilled workers. (Capterra, 2019)At the same time, many SMEs also have problems integrating the new recruits they have acquired into the company properly and building a relationship based on mutual satisfaction. The fact that this is increasingly not achieved on both sides is shown by both surveys on employee satisfaction and employer surveys. The high prevalence of mental illness, such as burnout and depression among young people, which is the reason for 50% of all dismissals in Millennials and 75% in Generation Z, is also worrying (Mindsharepartners, 2019). The overall aim of this project is to improve the situation described above, taking into account both the employer and the employee side. Instruments, best practices and digital models for human resource management as well as various training programmes with different measures for SME managers lead to the implementation of a modern human resource management in SMEs. The toolbox to identify competencies, skills and life aspirations will help to ensure that employees' concerns are recognised and adequately addressed. It will also make it possible to compare personal ideas with company goals.A train the trainer programme, which is continuously carried out by colleges and universities, ensures that the digital models and the toolbox are used properly and that SMEs receive high-quality training and advice. With a further training programme, SME managers acquire all the necessary skills. While learning on the job, modern human resources management in SMEs is simultaneously realised by using all models and the toolbox. The mentoring programme is particularly intended to work towards better understanding between employees of different age groups. With the project contents compiled in this way, the aim is to achieve a holistic, forward-looking human resources management and to offer SMEs all the instruments, qualifications, advice and support they need to implement the programme from a single source.The seven partners of this project from Denmark, Germany, Estonia and Poland were selected according to their special skills in developing concepts, designing teaching materials and programmes, individual implementation and dissemination skills and project management knowledge. The result is an experienced, transnational consortium of qualified research and vocational training institutions. The partners are characterised by their broad catalogue of skills, competences and experience. Personnel expertise as well as management capacities are available to a sufficient extent. A mature project management concept ensures that all objectives are achieved on time. The communication between the partners is supported by a communication concept. The content work is carried out according to the highest academic standards. Sophisticated work is carried out by proven experts. The meticulous development, testing, evaluation and improvement of the project results ensures validated and transferable intellectual outputs. These methodologies ensure a favorable cost-benefit ratio when implementing the project. The composition of the partner structure is important for estimating the potential longer-term benefits. The direct implementation of the project results with individual project partners ensures the emergence of positive implementation examples. These lead to high adaptation rates. From the beginning of the project, 68 associated partners from 13 countries will be involved in all project activities. They receive all project results and comprehensive advice, so that a very large number of SMEs are addressed and the project results can be used on a broad regional basis. Further dissemination of the project and its results, for example on websites, through press releases, social media channels, etc., is also very important and is explicitly addressed in the dissemination concept. International dissemination and use in as many regions and countries as possible plays a major role at the beginning of the project, as all digital models, best practices, toolboxes, concepts and curricula are designed for international use in order to promote transfer and implementation in other countries.

"The need for energy saving and for use of renewable energy is particularly high in some Baltic Sea Region countries, given the very high proportion of old buildings greatly in need of refurbishment; e.g. until 1993 99 % of the buildings built in Latvia had a very low energy efficiency. SMEs in various sectors, especially the crafts, are therefore predestined to function as an active contributor to this process, as they carry out such works in old and in new buildings and thus they fulfil important functions related to render assistance in direct contact with final consumers, such as information and consulting. SMEs in Germany and Scandinavia have systematically developed energy as a growth area. While SMEs in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and Russia are strongly interested in this area, however, a systematic business development is almost completely lacking in these countries. According to the ""build-up skills national reports"" for individual countries, the number of concerned professionals has to increase up to 50 % until 2020 in order to meet the EU's energy goals. In addition, SMEs in all Baltic countries are in high demand for training on energy-related issues, particularly in Poland and in the Baltic countries. SMEs account for 99 % of all enterprises and almost 70 % of all jobs. The existing shortage of skilled labour, which will increase in the future still strongly influenced by the demographic development, however, is increasingly becoming a major barrier to growth. The training of existing staff and the recruitment of qualified professionals is therefore the most crucial task for the promotion of SMEs in general, and in particular for the realization of the energy targets. To secure skilled-labour supply and to increase skills in the energy sector in the Baltic Sea Region countries, the German advanced training model ""Building energy consultant"", issued 2012 by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, may be particularly suitable. It is not just a 1:1-adaptation that matters, but the creation of opportunities in the Baltic Sea Region states and the set-up of comparable information and advisory services for energy conservation and for alternative energy sources, to make available a holistic approach, with a complete package of legal, technical and economic content, depending on national conditions and needs. Studies on the development of economy, population, education and labour markets will be evaluated for the energy sector. In the partner countries qualification demand analyses are to be performed. On this basis, as well as based on the German “building energy consultant”, concepts for a dual training model are to be developed. a) A compact course with to 70 - 80 hours, a survey primarily addressed to company owners that may initiate an effective entry of companies into energy conservation and the use of renewable energies. b) A comprehensive course which consists of core and elective modules. The obligatory modules contain all relevant issues concerning the assessment of the building envelope and systems engineering, identification of potential savings, investment and profitability calculations, legal foundations and consulting expertise. Each elective module deepens the knowledge to execute building works, such as proper installation of insulation materials, installation and maintenance of renewable energies, etc. Depending on local conditions and needs, further training courses are to be combined with at least 300 hours of obligatory and optional modules. Target groups are managers and experienced professionals from the SME sector, architects and engineers. For both courses, curricula, teaching materials, etc. will be developed. Tests and evaluations are planned in five countries in order to identify varied national conditions and to test all combinations of modules. A ""train-the-trainer""-program, targeted for lecturers of universities, chambers and other education providers, will be developed, tested and evaluated. The goal is to offer this program at universities on a permanent basis, so that teachers get qualified for the ongoing independent implementation of courses in all regions. The project under the lead of the Baltic Sea Academy will be carried out together with six universities, chambers and training institutions from Germany, Poland, Estonia and Hungary. 67 chambers with their educational institutions as well as several educational institutions and universities from 13 countries are involved as associated partners. All project results, such as concepts, curricula, teaching materials, application notes, etc. will be published in a handbook and forwarded to the associated partners, advice will be given on the implementation. Diverse dissemination models will be implemented in various countries to achieve a sustainable demand for the courses aimed to secure supply of skilled labour and to increase skills in energy issues on a large scale."