<< Background >>“The Commission strongly supports a human-centric approach based on the Communication on Building Trust in Human-Centric AI”EC, COM (2020) 65 final, Brussels, 19.2.2020, p.4Hedy partnership includes 5 partners/countries, coming from different geographical areas (central, southeast and southwestern Europe), related to different socio-historical and cultural backgrounds, core business and type of organisations. Join HE Engineering and Technology entities (Obudai/HU and UPC/ES), a Research-action, HR consulting & education and training provider (AidLearn/PT), a consulting NGO focused on applied science (AI) (BAEHF/BG) and a SME international quality assurance body (ACEEU/DE). Hedy interdisciplinary team provides the perfect framework for innovation, once combining creativity, variety and expertise.Background: The digital is invading our world, with technology being used in all dimensions of life, from education to work, health or governance. Knowledge and skills development is now a lifelong process, demanding growing digital literacy. But for some members of society, such as ‘digital natives’, using technology is natural, but this is not necessarily the case for the non-native digital adults (the so-called digital immigrants). How do we ensure that every citizen develops the necessary skills to remain included in an increasingly digital society? And how achieving fairness rather than amplifying inequalities?Assuming that AI will transform the labour market, it is relevant to imagine the education system in a world where work is not a central factor in life or where jobs, as we knew them, do not exist. What would be the role of education? How could we organize it? What would be its aims and what needs would it address?And nothing better than proposing the use of technologies to raise awareness of life in the digital age and to develop skills to enjoy the benefits but also face the challenges that this new age offers. This is the leitmotiv of Hedy which, in its own title, provides tribute to Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian actress and inventor (1914-2000), co-creator of wireless communications technology, adopted to control torpedoes during World War II and currently still used in mobile networks, Bluetooth devices and Wi-Fi.<< Objectives >>Hedy stands for being a free and accessible source of information regarding the digital technologies of the 4th industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), namely Artificial Intelligence (AI), by enlightening its possible positive future applications, whilst clarifying the possible impacts, including threats to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and democracy, being of “utmost importance that AI is discussed and that the public is informed if we are to embrace whatever opportunities it creates in a manner that is human-centred, ethical, secure, and true to European values” (EC, 2020).Hedy’s main goal is to offer a comprehensive and shared view of how AI is affecting our lives and reshaping our socio-economic, cultural, and human environments by promoting critical reflection, self-based learning and debate on these issues.This goal to be reached by some specific objectives:To establish Hedy theoretical framework by building up the project position about the topic: life in the AI EraTo spread out the awareness of main developments and future AI impacts, by offering the Hedy MOOCTo collect a set of tools to be used flexibly in AI related activitiesTo provide concise and easy-to-read guidelines for the best use of the assets producedTo create a solid foundation for ensuring the usability of the Hedy results by a wider community of practice networkTo provide the target audience with open educational resources in AI related topics.Target Groups: HE providers (learners & professors), civil society organisations and AE & VET providers (learners & staff)<< Implementation >>The activities to be implemented fall in five main areas:1) Coordination and Management;2) Monitoring, Evaluation & Quality Assurance;3) Dissemination;4) Exploitation, Sustainability and Impact5) Development of Hedy resultsThese activities will be performed to reach the project goals:Joint activity at Kick-off meeting for making a shared visionTransnational & regular face-to-face and virtual project meetings plus online collaboration toolExternal feedback evaluation about the Results; multiplier eventsResearch into R1, R2, R3 and R4Group interviews, phases for the evaluation of the ResultsPartnership agreements are signed between the Coordinator and partnersQuality management guideDissemination planProject visual identity elements<< Results >>The Hedy results:Booklet: Essay defining the Hedy position on Life in the AI Era and the rational for that positionToolkit: Collation of influential AI audio-visual related tools, including films & expert talks, of which five to be produced under HedyMOOC: a massive open online course to promote extensive knowledge, critical reflection and debate on AI and its key impact on society (business, governance, skills and daily life), covering the main and future progresses of AIGuidelines: easy-to-read guidelines for: 1) use the MOOC; 2) further use of Toolkit; 3) create a MOOC for the first time. Plus, a Glossary with AI related key terms.To underline finally, as a relevant outcome, the Hedy Community of Practice Network, to be built throughout the life of the project, based on an interactive section (blog) at the Hedy website, that will remain available at least 5 years after the end of the financing period and with free and open access to all.It will be possible to share news, upload visual assets or documents on the achievements made on the way for a better and more critical awareness of the digital society in which we live in.IMPACTLocal & regional: The adoption of the Hedy materials by adult learners will result in their better awareness of life in the AI Era and to face with greater confidence the challenges it presents, while improving their digital literacyNational: Partner countries will benefit from raising the number of adult learners to use the countless AI applications with greater confidence. Hedy MOOC will be an easy and free way for AE providers to enrich/update their offerEuropean: Results will be widely applicable, available in 7 languages and can be used beyond the countries involved in the Hedy.

<< Objectives >>The DICE Project will develop a scalable acceleration program to advance digital CE courses for university educators and programme directors to design and implement their own courses. The project will gather the latest knowledge, build the acceleration program, and pilot the accelerator. Creating a unique support tool, DICE will dissect the complex challenge of digitalising community engagement into smaller parts and translate it into enhanced student learning and social impact.<< Implementation >>The consortium will RESEARCH how digital community engagement courses enhance student learning and social impact, and take it as a basis for DESIGNING (1) two Value Maps (student learning and social impact), (2) a CREATING a course design manual and (3) PROGRAMMING a web-based accelerator platform. Finally, by PILOTING, REVISING and DISSEMINATING the platform, , we will ensure the project wide impact.<< Results >>The DICE RESULTS are two Value Maps (WP2), a Manual for digital CE courses (WP3), a digital accelerator platform (WP4) a Handbook (WP4) and a Best Practices Report (WP5). They will ensure an evidence-based guidance for designing digital community engagement courses. Aiming to IMPACT student learning and universities’ social impact, the OUTCOMES are identifying value drivers, develop trustful and sustainable processes, and build capacities for community engagement and digitalization.

"The DECODE Sustainability project aims at fostering the institutionalisation of Sustainable Development in university department to spearhead their contributions to sustainability, aimed necessary for addressing challenges in European societies, industries and economies. The DECODE Sustainability project will develop a tool-based process to ensure an innovative, relevant and dynamic upskilling and collaborative approach that stimulates entrepreneurial and engaged thinking and acting in deans, aiming at strengthening their commitment and decisions towards increasing sustainability impacts.Higher Education is considered a pre-requisite in the advancement of sustainability due to their mandate of creating knowledge and forming new leaders with the competences and vision to foster change (EC 2019; Cheeseman 2019). However, HEI efforts, although echoed across national strategies and policies, remain at an operational level that has yet to transcend to a systemic embeddedness (UNESCO 2015). The DECODE Sustainability project addresses the need of strengthening the link between HE and sustainability by providing HEIs with a suitable tool-based process to institutionalise SD at the department level and contribute to its impact.To accomplish its primary goal of institutionalising SD at departmental level, the project puts HEI deans in the focus. HEI deans are often regarded as the main driving force behind strategic initiatives such as SD, yet the assumption that HEI deans possess the relevant skills to ensure strategising and operationalising SD often does not hold waters. In the practical domains HEI deans struggle to pursue this aim, due to the lack of clear goals, and unknown barriers and strengths (GUNi, 2019). Currently, HEI SD initiatives hinge on curricula development and student initiatives (Mula 2017). However, a lively enacting of SD in HEI is scarce and demands a transformation starting from individual mind-sets towards SD, fostering departmental change. DECODE Sustainability pillars are entrepreneurship and engagement as the vehicle to enable such change as it empowers staff to create public value, as prioritised by the Renewed EU Agenda for Higher Education (EC 2017).The principal aim of the DECODE Sustainability project is creating departmental governance changes that are effective and efficient in the creation of sustainability impact. For this purpose, the project will:1)Facilitate the identification and understanding of key challenges and opportunities in integrating SD into HEI departments 2)Create a vibrant ""sustainability community"" of deans and their representatives 3)Dissect the complex task of departmental SD integration into smaller pieces (process steps, tools)4)Foster deans’ abilities to integrate SD as a corner stone of their academic unit 5)Create a clear path and decisions to increase departmental contributions to SD Project approach and outputsThe DECODE Sustainability project will (1) establish a baseline report to ascertain SD needs in HEI, (2) design innovative tools and training program to upskill deans and representatives in SD through entrepreneurial and engaged thinking and acting, (3) facilitate communication and share of experiences of deans and representatives towards enhancing SD impacts in their departments, and (4) provide a tool-based process to roadmap future action towards SD impact. The project includes five intellectual outputs:IO1 – DECODE HEI Sustainability Analysis: a mapping of the status of the integration of SD within academic units at HEIsIO2 – DECODE Deans Council and Platform: an implementation framework for the Council creation, and a web-based platform (DECODE Connect) for interaction, collaboration and peer-learningIO3 – DECODE Toolkit: a collection of instruments and best practices supporting systemic change in university departmentsIO4 – DECODE Impact Pathways and Impact Roadmaps Framework: a framework for generic Impact Pathways to advance departmental contributions to sustainability, and a framework for the creation of department-specific Impact Roadmaps (based on generic Pathways) which will outline the guide actions to promote positive changeIO5 – DECODE Empowerment Program for Impact Roadmap Design: a training program aimed at equipping deans and their representatives for sustainability with the right knowledge, skills and tools to design a department-specific Impact Roadmap The outputs will(1) decode the complex task of SD integration in academia into a comprehensible and manageable tool-supported process(2) contribute to positioning SD at a tactical level and equip deans and their representatives with the right knowledge, skills and peer-learning mechanisms(3) create substantial advancements in SD integration in departments through a holistic framework that is comprehensive in scope whilst easy to implement in practice"

<< Background >>RELEVANCE OF THE TOPIC AND NEEDThe relevance of and need for 21CS has been dictated by the phenomena such as rapid change of technology, growing globalisation and internationalisation, and shift from industrial to knowledge-based economies (Voogt & Robin, 2010). A New Skills Agenda for Europe (EC, 2016) voices a clear need for a diversified skill palette focusing on qualities such as flexibility, resilience, entrepreneurial mindset to combat challenges such as rapidly-shifting labour market & digital demands, skills mismatch and demographic changes. Right skills are also underpinning sustainable development as Target 4.7 of the SDGs underlines the need to ‘ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development' (UNESCO, 2015); whilst EU 2030 Agenda makes a clear connection between 'equip[ing] people with 21st century skills' and attaining the greener economy (EC, 2019). Furthermore, well-rounded 21CS are vital in battling uncertain future and aiding Europe in being more resilient and responding better to looming threats. Possesion of these skills is thus seen as a key to economic and post-COVID recovery. CONNECTION TO STEM & PROBLEMSTEM graduates are often reported to lack 21st century skills by employers, which in turn prevents them from innovating, developing, and adapting in uncertain, volatile times. And lack of these skills often is seen as more critical than the possession of hard-skills (EPSC, 2017; Microsoft, 2019; World Economic Forum, 2018). 21CS are reported as less developed in STEM fields than in non-STEM fields (European Schoolnet, 2014). At the same time, HEI STEM teachers who are seen as instrumental to growth and development of HEI students are report to lack 21CS themselves and generally often lack relevant professional training (Global Partnership for Education, 2020). Simultaneously, female STEM students are ever underrepresented in STEM Europe-wide and they have drop-out rates. The project argues that the introduction of 21CS and their integration into existing curricula has a potential impact to, one hand, create more competent, job-ready STEM graduates and specifically foster a support system and by extension retention rates of at-risk female STEM students.<< Objectives >>To address the above-mentioned problems and meet the needs, BE-21-SKILLED ambitiously sets out to achieve the following objectives: 1) Facilitate the understanding and identification of 21CS in region-specific and labour-market relevant contexts through multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts (via PR1- Regional Skill Councils Blueprint and Skill Panorama)2) Foster the HEI teachers' abilities to instil 21CS in their students via training and feedback loops (via PR3: BE-21-SKILLED Teacher Empowerment Program)3) Enhance the skills among students to increase their employability and capitalise on their innovative potential (via PR5: BE-21-SKILLED Student Pilot and Playbook)4) Improve the understanding of non-female STEM actors (students, teachers, employers, etc.) on the need to support female STEM students and instil 21CS in them4) Innovate the curricula by embedding tools targeted at developing particular skills in students (via PR2: BE-21-SKILLED Toolkit)5) Actively participate in the dissemination of results and good practices (via PR4: BE-21-SKILLED eCompass)<< Implementation >>The concrete activities undertaken to meet the above-mentioned objective and close the need gap are as follows: 1) PROJECT RESULTS DERIVED FROM ACTITIVTIESPR1 - BE-21-SKILLED Regional Skill Councils Blueprint and Skills Panorama: Documents where 1) one details the modalities and aspects of setting up a successful diverse multi-stakeholder constellation tasked with assessing the 21CS requirements guided by the labour market needs, technology trends and any differences stemming from gender, and 2) the other one details the actual skills required by the labour markets informed by Regional Skill Councils and EU-wide surveyPR2 - BE-21-SKILLED Toolkit: A comprehensive set of tools aimed at developing skills of both teachers and students, and which have been previously identified in PR1PR3 - BE-21-SKILLED Teacher Empowerment Program: A comprehensive set of modules with integrated tools from PR2 which are geared towards comprehensive development of skills in HEI STEM teachers and their competencies in teaching the same skills to HEI STEM studentsPR4 - BE-21-SKILLED eCompass: A fully digitalised, interactive platform that would amass all the knowledge accrued in the lifetime of the project (and beyond) and serve as a collaboration platform between project partners, Regional Skill Council members and other stakeholders PR5 - BE-21-SKILLED Student Pilot: Undertaking aimed at developing students' 21CS skills(2) MULTIPLIER EVENTSThe results will be further supported with 1 international and 2 national MULTIPLIER EVENTS that will take place at each HEI partner location and in Brussels, deemed to be the hub of international stakeholders. The events will result in a) increased understanding and awareness on the 21CS skill development and its implications for regional development b) expansion of the BE-21-SKILLED Councils to establish and deepen collaborations c) further dissemination of the major project results and to be taken up and exploited by more HEIs outside the project partnership, thus enhancing the sustainability of the project. (3) PROJECT MANAGEMENT Activities related to project management will be coordinated through Project Management Handbook (M1) that includes guidelines for partners regarding communications, meetings, and administrative and financial arrangements. (4) QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND EVALUATIONThe quality control will be ensured and guided through: 1. Quality Management and Evaluation Strategy (M1)2. Impact Vision Plan (M1)3. Progress Reports (every third month, 12x5 reports by the end of the project)4. Interim Evaluation Report (M18)5. Final Evaluation Report (M36)6. BE-21-SKILLED Teacher Empowerment Program Evaluation Report7. BE-21-SKILLED Student Pilot Evaluation Report5) DISSEMINATION AND EXPLOITATION The activities pertaining to dissemination and exploitation efforts will be captured in Dissemination and Exploitation Strategy, contact database comprised of 2,500+ target groups and stakeholder contacts of the partners, social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), BE-21-SKILLED eCompass, project brochure, flyers, banners, promotional videos, 1 media pack comprising a press release and notes for editors on project results, 6 e-mail newsletters distributed to a wide-ranging stakeholder database. Each partner will take a set of sustainability measures throughout the project lifetime to ensure that the desired exploitation targets would be achieved after project completion.<< Results >>Project approach and resultsThe BE-21-SKILLED project will (1) establish 3 regional councils to ascertain skills needs, (2) design innovative tools and training programs to upskill educators and students in STEM, (3) facilitate communication and share of experiences of different stakeholders towards enhancing their learning outcomes. A particular characteristic of the project is that it aims at integrating the 21st century skill development into existing lectures, instead of creating separated new lectures (or lecture series). The project includes five Project Results:PR1 – BE-21-SKILLED Regional Councils Blueprint and Skills Panorama: definition the most demanded and underpromoted 21 century skills in STEM fields in each participating region;PR2 – BE-21-SKILLED Toolkit: development of innovative training tools to upskill STEM educators and students in the 21st century skills;PR3 – BE-21-SKILLED Teacher Empowerment Program: Train the trainer with training and reflection sessions for STEM educators in each participating region, using the BE-21-SKILLED Toolkit (PR2);PR4 – eCompass: development of an interactive online platform containing the toolkit (PR2) as well as the online train the trainer course (based on PR3) to facilitate STEM educators across Europe to develop 21st century skills;PR5 –BE-21-SKILLED Student Pilot: the trained educators (from PR3) will integrate the BE-21-SKILLED Toolkit (PR2) in their classes to teach students the 21st century skills. The results will(1) bridge graduate skills with the job markets demands, so to increase graduate employability; (2) promote the student-centred approach at university teaching, while empowering educators with improved teaching methods and tools;(3) foster innovation in teaching methods for skill training

Fostering Rural Resilience through Creativity and Arts-driven Entrepreneurship (RURAL CANVAS) is a project that aims to bring the two worlds of arts and creative industries on one hand, and rural areas in Europe on the other, to boost employability and entrepreneurial skillset of artists and creative workers, foster interdisciplinarity and facilitate rural resilience as a result. The onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the future of artists, creators and cultural workers in an unprecedented manner. Social distancing and other precautionary measures have hampered the job prospects of this group, creating postponements and cancellations of performances, exhibitions, events and other modes of securing livelihood and having a sense of purpose that one gains through their work. Arts, culture and creative industry is the third largest employer in the EU, following behind construction and food sectors (European Commission, 2016). Therefore, the closure of various venues, institutions and companies and pushing professionals from this industry out of jobs has sent a major shockwave to the economy and has threatened significantly EU’s further growth. As another area has been hit massively by COVID-19, namely rural areas, the project will aim to have artists and creative workers conceive of creative solutions for these areas.However, for that to happen, it is essential that artists and creative workers first upskill themselves in entrepreneurial skills and 21CS. It is widely known that a large proportion of artists lack entrepreneurial skills and mindset (Artenprise, 2018). Collision between artistic skills and creativity on one hand, and entrepreneurial, hands-on knowledge together with the right attitude has a great potential for generative innovative solutions and business models. Given that rural areas suffer in particular from the lack of innovation and have been hit immensely by COVID-19, artists and creative workers will be equipped with entrepreneurial hard skills as well as entrepreneurship-focused 21st century soft skills and use this knowledge to conceive of solutions to the challenges faced by the rural areas.In this manner, artists and creative workers will be ignited with new skills to complement their primary profession, which in turn would foster their employability skills; they would make valuable contribution to the rural development and rural community coping mechanisms; they would garner more garner a bigger sense of meaning and purpose. The project will heavily rely on project-based and problem-based learning to upskill the artists and creative workers and will be highly collaborative, as one of the key outcomes of the project would involve teams of artists and creative workers to create implementable projects in the rural areas. The processes of upskilling artists and equipping them to create projects will be driven actively by Rurart Alliances, a group of relevant and competent stakeholders set up at the beginning of the project. In addition, each team will be assigned a mentor either from Rurart Alliances or consortium partner network, who will guide the team in their project creation. The overarching objective of RURAL CANVAS are following:-Equipping artists and creative workers with entrepreneurial and 21st century skills to complement their primary profession-Contributing to resilience and innovative solutions to rural challenges through co-creation, mentorship and project-based initiatives driven by artistic and creative approaches of artists and creative workers-Forging synergies between arts and creative sector representatives, rural stakeholders, entrepreneurship actors and local authorities-Enhancing employability and mental toughness of artists and creative workers-Inspiring novel approaches in using art and creativity as a vehicle to tackling societal challengesThe project will attain the objectives above via 4 IOs:(IO1) Rurart Alliance Blueprint and Skills Prioritisation Map(IO2) RURAL CANVAS Toolkit IO3) RURAL eCANVAS and Mentorship Compass(IO4) RURAL CANVAS AcademyDue to interdisciplinarity and complexity of the project, different institutions are brought together: research-intensive university, university of applied sciences, vocational training centre, international innovation organisation and international quality assurance body focusing on engagement and entrepreneurship. Coming from different regions of Europe they will bring different expertise, perspectives and realities to make this a truly European undertaking.