CONTEXT Europe is increasingly a diverse, inclusive, innovative and renewed place. However, due to the globalization process, young people face certain problems that condition their transition to adulthood.Currently in Europe the number of young NEET; unemployed, at risk of poverty and social exclusion, among others, is high, so this project want to combat these problems of young people. The solution to be developed involves the development of the key competences on young people and youth workers and the investment in entrepreneurship and social innovation, taking into account young people's aspirations, creativity, talents and needs. PROBLEMThe social problem is the social and professional exclusion of young people, due to the lack of development of key competences and the lack of stimulation of the entrepreneurship and social innovation.OBJECTIVESGeneral: Foster the social and professional inclusion of young people, namely through the development of key competences and stimulating entrepreneurship and social innovation. Specifics:-Promote the empowerment of youth workers to improve their work with young people, namely in terms of social inclusion, entrepreneurship, social innovation, non-formal education, key competences, employability and education;-Implement non-formal education and informal education in youth intervention, involving the needs, problems, aspirations, challenges and expectations of young people and in complementarity with formal education;-Encourage entrepreneurship and social innovation as a solution for equal opportunities, social inclusion and improving young employability;-Sensitize the associative, school/academic, political, social, among other relevant sectors, to the need to develop synergies with the youth sector, supporting the development of young people;-Develop a guide of good practices, which can be generalized and applied to different contexts, allowing the improvement of the quality of the youth sector, based on social entrepreneurship and social innovation.PROFILEYoung people:-18-30 years;-Preferably with fewer opportunities;-With entrepreneurial potential (young people with a project idea;-Motivated to participate actively in all phases of the project;-Committed to developing their key competences;-With the ability to influence peers and the community and to disseminate the project.Youth workers:-18 years or +;-Professional or volunteer who works with young people to support their development;-With knowledge of @:--social issue;--project themes;--entrepreneurship and social innovation and/or interested in developing competences in this regard;--and/or interest in the non-formal methodology;-With the ability to:--transfer the competences and learning developed and to implement them in the intervention with young people (leading the intervention);--influence other young people, the community and stakeholders to promote personal, social and professional transformation of young people.ACTIVITIESa. PLANNING, MANAGEMENT AND PREPARATIONActivities:-Planning and management:--Internal contacts;--External contacts;--Transnational Meeting 1 (2 responsible for organisation).-Preparation:--Preparatory Sessions.b. MONITORING AND EVALUATIONActivities:-Monitoring and evaluation;-Virtual monitoring meetings;- Virtual closing meeting;-Transnational Meeting 2 (2 responsible for organisation);-Transnational Meeting 3 (2 responsible for organisation).c. IMPLEMENTATIONActivities:-Virtual Mobility;-Training Course (2 Youth Workers per organisation + 2 trainers);-Local Sessions;-E-book;-Blended Mobility (5 young people per organisation + 2);-Good Practice Handbook;-Booklet.d. DISSEMINATION AND EXPLORATION OF RESULTSActivities:-Divulgation;-Dissemination and exploitation of results;-Dissemination events.METODOLOGYThe main methodology of the project will be NFE. It will be applied through the methods: ice breakers, get to know, team builing, group dynamics, reflection, brainstorming, discussion, debriefing, assessment and evalutation.It will be complemented by the methodology IE and FE.RESULTS-Development of learning and the 8 key competences;-E-book;-Booklet;-Good Practice Handbook.IMPACTS-Development of key competences and learning and stimulating the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit;-Recognition of updated, innovative and inclusive practices, methods and methodologies that allow greater intervention capacity among young people (mainly with fewer opportunities);-Promotion of synergies in different relevant sectors in the youth field and between different methodologies;-Value of entrepreneurship and social innovation to promote social inclusion and youth employability;-Improvement of the quality of the intervention provided by youth organisations and youth workers and recognition of European opportunities for social inclusion, employability and equal opportunities.

There is a pressing need to address environmental problems such as resource depletion, climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, etc. and transition to a more sustainable socio-technical system.To address the mentioned challenges the concept of the Circular Economy (CE) has recently gained significant importance. Central to this relatively new sustainability paradigm is the emphasis on new business models (BM).All over the world, mission-driven entrepreneurs are bringing fresh, disruptive innovations to market in response to some of these challenges. The potential is there, and many sustainability-oriented incubators are appearing, but this phenomenon is far from mainstream and not methodologically implemented. On the contrary, even some basic knowledge on how to reactively deal with environmental and social regulatory and societal demands is absent from the training offers and counselling many incubators offer to start-ups. The idea of CircularStart is grounded on the recognition that there is a lack of know-how and training of start-ups and entrepreneurs in the field of sustainability, CE and their opportunities. In order to be successful, this knowledge needs to be easily integrated into the business idea development and decision-making process, i.e. there is a need for training supported by practical tools that are compatible with well-known BM development methods like e.g. the Business Model Canvas.Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop an interactive guidance tool and related eLearning resources as well as a training program for incubators and consultants to support start-ups to understand, evaluate and improve sustainability issues related to their BM. They should offer a comprehensive guide over the whole BM design process, covering the Initiation, Ideation and Integration phase. The tool and training materials will be developed to be used in direct personal context (such as a classroom, a workshop or a counselling meeting) and as self-study-based eLearning resources.Accordingly, the consortium consists of nine partners representing universities and research centres that for many years have been working on sustainable products, services and businesses, and incubators/accelerators or organizations that represent them, from four distinct EU countries (Austria, Spain, Slovenia and Portugal). The partnership represents different socio-economic, regulatory and financial backgrounds which are essential to ensure that the project responds to the start-ups’ needs in a meaningful and reproducible way across the EU.In the long term, the project will promote and support the development of sustainable BMs across Europe and raise awareness among start-ups, their consultants and investors on the need for more sustainable products, solutions and businesses. Accessible, easy to use and internationally founded eLearning materials and competence building support this. Moreover, the implementation of the project results and their impact will directly or indirectly benefit, beyond the project, society (generating new jobs, new skills, international cooperation…), the economy (generating new business models, wealth sharing…) and the environment (extending the permanence of materials in the economy, optimizing the materials and reducing waste).The project is structured to develop three Intellectual Outputs:O1 - Guidance tool for integrating Circular Economy aspects into Business ModelsO2 - eLearning resources on integrating Circular Economy aspects into Business ModelsO3 - Circular Economy Business Model awarding schemeThe intellectual outputs will be developed through a number of activities:• Definition of the methodology for the guidance tool which integrates CE aspects into the development of BM. The structure of the well-known BM Canvas will be used as a reference and sustainability criteria will be integrated along its nine elements• Elaboration of training resources focused on the integration of sustainability in BMs• Definition of the specifications of the tool and eLearning resources and subsequent programming. The guidance tool and eLearning resources with other relevant content such as examples will be programmed and integrated in a web-platform• Testing the training materials. The eLearning resources and tools will be tested at two different levels: expert business coaches' level (internal and external) and start-up level• Development of criteria to evaluate the circularity of BM to identify the BMs with a higher sustainability impact besides other important business criteria• Evaluation of the circularity and sustainability of the BMs developed by start-ups based on the use of the CircularStart guidance tool and training materials• Definition of the award setting and implementation. National Award Ceremonies will take place in each country with the aim of disseminating the CircularStart project results and multiplying the methods and tools for further implementation.